My job is very boring, I'm an office clerk

No, you don't have to thank me for the earworm! 

Actually, I've been wanting to use this snippet from Martha and the Muffins' Echo Beach as a post title ever since I started my blog back in March 2016.  I never got around to it though as, frankly speaking, my job isn't in the least bit boring, even if I often moan about its trials and tribulations. And nor, generally speaking, is my life! It's just that lately not much has been happening in it, with one working week segueing seamlessly into another, so that once again my post will be mainly about the outfits I've been wearing. 

In the meantime, we have been to Bruges and back, which means I've got a couple of travel posts up my sleeve. However, as these trips back and forth in the time machine are doing my head in, I thought I'd save these for later and continue posting about October until I've caught up instead.

We slept late-ish on Friday the 10th of October, waking up to sunny spells which soon made way for a gloomy grey sky which would remain with us for the rest of the day.

With the day's highs of around 17°C, I could still get away with wearing one of my lighter and unlined long-sleeved dresses. It was plucked from the Think Twice rails, where it had been hanging for all of 30 seconds,  back in October 2019. While I was browsing, I'd noticed the shop assistant hanging it up and, having seen a flash of its fabric out of the corner of my eye, I went over to investigate. As it is clearly handmade, it didn't have any labels whatsoever but, as luck would have it, it was exactly my size. 

I picked up the colour of its buttons and green hexagons of its pattern with my belt and opaques and paid tribute to its burnt orange hexagons with my beaded necklace and Autumn leaf brooch.

I pottered upstairs, switching over some skirts, in the morning, then after lunch we drove down to the massive three floor charity shop in nearby Duffel.

A maxi dress from high street shop LolaLiza, green King Louie cardigan, and grey-ish green chunky knit H&M cardigan ended up in my cart. Oh, and two pairs of opaques, in honey and burnt orange, for € 0,50 each!

Back at home I continued with the changeover, putting away the last of the sandals and reacquainting myself with the bulk of my boots! 

Saturday was another gloomy but warm day on which the mercury climbed to 18°C. As it looked set to remain dry, we decided to bite the bullet and go for that long-overdue leaf-kicking walk in the afternoon.

Our destination of choice was Walenhoek, a nature reserve about 10 kilometers from Dove Cottage, in the village of Niel. 

Walenhoek is one of several local nature reserves established on former clay pits, which were reclaimed by the forces of nature after the industry's decline in the late 1970s. There's still the odd relic from the past hidden among the wilderness which seem to have crumbled away a bit more with each visit.

The perfect place for a bracing walk whatever the season, we have been coming here on and off  for many years. The off-times were when the place was inundated with illegal fishermen who'd set up their tents at the edge of the reserve's plethora of ponds. Case in point was the last time we walked here back in March 2024.

Much to our relief, we didn't spot any of them this time around, although back at the car park we came across one who was putting a cart full of professional looking fishing gear into his van. 

My red and grey tartan circle skirt - with pockets! - was charity shopped a couple of years ago.

It was joined by another charity shop find, a vintage blouse with a Jugendstil-influenced pattern, found in November 2022.

In fact, I think that the majority of my outfit - including my super comfy crepe soled Mephisto boots - were charity shop finds, except for perhaps the brooch, which I suspect was picked up at the indoor flea market.

Our wanderings took us to one my favourite parts of the reserve, a fairy tale-like wooded area between two ponds. Here, we delighted in the the crunch of the layers of leaves under our feet, the earthy  fragrance typical of Autumn adding to the sensory delights of the season.

We spotted this graceful pair of swans towards the end of the walk and I surreptitiously stalked them until they'd emerged from among the reeds and were gliding in open water, which was gently rippling their reflections.

We caught up on chores on Sunday, after which I changed into the outfit I would repeat on Monday.

The dress I'd pulled from my wardrobe was a petrol blue retro print King Louie I charity shopped back in April. The cropped cardigan with its elbow length sleeves is by Zoë Loveborn, a label which used to be sold in a Belgian chain of high street shops called LolaLiza. Although it doesn't seem to be in existence any  longer, I keep finding their often quirky, retro style clothes in the charity shops all the time.

My matching opaques were a sales bargain and the burgundy boots yet another charity shop find.

I met up with Inez for our weekly cappuccino-fuelled catch-up on Monday. 

She'd already done the rounds of the rails before I arrived and in passing mentioned that she'd seen a lovely green handbag. 

It completely slipped our minds to go and have a proper look at it, but I suddenly remembered it as I was on my way back to the office during Tuesday's lunch break. As I still had some time to spare I decided to check it out.

There it was, calling me from afar the minute I set foot inside the shop. Walking into its direction, I was just a couple of meters away from the handbag display when someone else beat me to it. The girl in question swiftly unhooked the bag from the display, opened it, sniffed it, and draped it over her arm. Damn! I hung around for a while, mindlessly rummaging through a rail of blouses in case she'd change her mind. But then she walked into the main part of the shop with the green bag still on her arm.

A couple of minutes later, I saw her again in front of one of the fitting room mirrors. She was still studying the bag intently, opening it and sniffing it again. Decision apparently made, she then proceeded to walk into the direction of the till ... but taking a right turn instead of left towards the till.  Feeling like a proper Miss Marple, I surreptitiously followed in her footsteps and, rounding the corner, noticed that she'd hung it back on the rails. Obviously I didn't waste another minute and grabbed it as by that time I needed to have it, no matter what. And yes, I did open and sniff it, and it turned out to be perfectly alright!

On Thursday, I layered yet another charity shopped red Zoë Loveborn cardigan - with full length sleeves this time - over a dress I found at Think Twice before my blog was even a twinkle in my eye. With its pussy-bow and its trellis-like pattern upon which tiny white, red-hearted flowers are growing, it's been a long-time Autumn and Winter favourite.

You can find a close-up of its pattern here. Funnily enough, I was wearing the exact same brooch back then. I'm such a creature of habit!

It had been quite gloomy all week, with the temperature gradually going down from 17 to 15°C. Thankfully, it hadn't been overly busy at work, even if there were a couple of issues which needed my full attention.

My lunch time diversion on Thursday took me to Melting Pot, the vintage per kilo shop, again. And again, I was in luck, finding two vintage dresses.

I'm loving the simplicity of this denim blue poly-blend knit with its chevron-striped neckline and collar.

You'll get to see the second dress I found in a minute.

As my colleague was on holiday, I needed to go in for a couple of hours on Friday the 17th of October.

I was wearing a vintage chevron striped wool skirt in black, brown, white and bluish grey. I fell head over heels with it at Think Twice in October 2020. I almost did a double take when I was reading Sheila's post that day and saw that she was wearing a maxi skirt with a very similar pattern. It's in this post of hers!

My blouse is Zara by way of a charity shop. The squishy stag's head brooch I pinned to it was a charity shop find as well, and so was my belt. The necklace came from the indoor flea market.

My well-worn chocolate brown boots - which were found on the high street a couple of years ago - have been working overtime. They were definitely made for walking as they even came to Bruges with me!

Bess: Aren't you bored yet?  I know I am! What about joining me for a nap? 

Me: In a minute, Bess, I've still got to show them the other dress I found at Melting Pot!

And here it is! This flower-infused Diolen Delight made my heart sing! 

I wore it with a pair of purple opaques and the purple Western-style ankle boots I scored in a pop-up shop near my office last December.

Both my necklace and stretchy belt were high street finds while my brooch, which I picked for its purple background as well as to add some more flowers into the mix, was another one which found its origins on the indoor flea market.

I will be back with a final October catch-up soon as I can't wait to tell you about our Bruges adventures!

See you soon!

Gloomy October

I've been counting the days and then the hours until our next little adventure and, finally, we will be off this afternoon. In order to pass the time, which for once seemed to go unbearably slowly, I set myself the task of writing a quick blog post in another attempt to bridge the gap between the past and the present.

It's not that I had a better offer to spend my time last weekend anyway, as it was mostly wet and miserable. In fact, most of the month of October has been particularly gloomy.

One of the headlines in the news on the 1st of November proclaimed that October was the second gloomiest month since records began, with only half as much sunshine as average.

We'd been looking forward to going for walks and enjoy the sensory delights of Autumn, including a good old stint of leaf-kicking, which was something we sorely missed last year when Jos was in hospital. In hindsight, however, we only managed to indulge in this pleasurable pastime twice in the last month ...

Although the days went off to a chilly start at the beginning of the month, it had often warmed up to 18°C and more by the time my lunch break arrived, so that I was able to ditch some of the layers I'd started out with that morning.

I wore this tried-and-tested skirt and blouse combo on Wednesday the 1st of October. 

The blouse, which is from retro brand Zoë Loveborn, was a flea market find in October 2016. I was instantly drawn to it, as I already owned a much-loved dress in the same print, but with red trim and buttons instead of yellow. I think it found its perfect partner in the black vintage skirt printed with a yellow, red, green and blue flower and leaf design. 

A turquoise belt and ring, pale blue cat brooch and orangey red beaded necklace completed my outfit.

Hesitant sunshine bathed Antwerp's cathedral in a short-lived golden glow on the morning of Thursday the 2nd of October. I was just in time to whip out my phone to catch it on camera. Blink, and it was gone!

That morning, I very daringly decided on short sleeves, albeit that they belonged to a fit and flare 1970s does 1940s number in a heavy knit polyester. I'm in two minds whether it was a charity shop or a Think Twice find.

Another wardrobe stalwart, its first appearance on the blog dates from November 2016, almost exactly nine years ago to the day.  

With Think Twice's sales prices being down to € 2 by then, I wasn't really expecting to find anything. In fact I was just about to leave the shop empty-handed when my eyes alighted on this groovilicious polo neck blouse, which I suspect had started life as the top half of a dress. 

Friday started with a mix of clouds and sunny spells accompanied by highs of 17°C. All too soon, however, angry-looking clouds were appearing on the horizon and it didn't take long for them to let go of their liquid load.

Apart from a food shop in the afternoon, I spent most of the day indoors, pottering and repairing the € 2 top, as it had its fair share of split seams and a wonky hem. 

My forest green pleated skirt - a retail buy in between Lockdowns in 2020 - was joined  by a blouse with a groovy yellow, green and brown pattern. It's by the Belgian Wow To Go label, and was charity shopped in the same year. My mind boggles at the fact that the infamous year 2020 is now well over five years ago!

My caramel cardigan and ditto No Stress shoes were charity shop finds as well, while the belt was a fairly recent sales bargain from Think Twice.

I find myself reaching for this necklace, bought from Accessorize many moons ago, quite a lot lately. Finally, in honour of the season, I pinned one of my favourite brooches to my blouse. I fell in love with the duo of enamelled mushrooms at a flea market in February 2024.

I've got a drawer full of Autumn flavoured brooches in my collection. Aren't they delightful? Must make the most of them while the season lasts!

I finally finished the yawn-inducing  The Shoemaker's Wife  and started the much more enjoyable The Strawberry Thief by Joanne Harris. It was only after I'd finished it that I found out that this was the 4th book in the series which started with the award-winning bestseller Chocolat. Published to much acclaim in 1999, I was obviously aware of its existence, but for some reason never got down to reading it.

As I was engrossed by The Strawberry Thief - which, yes, does refer to the famous William Morris design - I did wonder about the fact that chocolate had such a prominent role in this novel as well. Plus, there were quite a few references to the past which weren't elaborated on ... Anyway, I've now got Chocolat in my reading pile and I'm on the lookout for parts 2 and 3 of the series.

We woke up to stormy weather on Saturday the 4th of October, which lasted until late morning, after which we were treated to a couple of sunny spells in the afternoon. At 17°C the temperature was still quite warm for the time of year.

I based my outfit around an ochre, brown and navy wool-blend tartan skirt charity shopped in May 2022, picking up the blue in its pattern with a peasant-style embroidered long-sleeved denim blouse. From Sainsbury's Tu label, I found it new-with-tags in a Shropshire charity shop in June 2024.

My necklace and belt and yes, even my boots, were charity shop finds as well.

After a long overdue thorough vacuum session upstairs, getting rid of the army of dust bunnies which were having a field day in the rooms' nooks and crannies, we went for a rummage in our nearest charity shop.  

My basket was filled with a blouse by the Danish Vila label, an orange beaded necklace, felted flower corsage and pink and green Zara cardi.

My favourite find of the day was this snuggly dark green floral bathrobe.

The bookshelves came up trumps as well, with two brand new books: My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell and Uncommon Arrangements - Seven Marriages in Literary London 1910-1939, by Katie Roiphe. I'm currently finishing the final chapter of the latter.

Another cloudy and mizzly day awaited us on Sunday, with a slight drop in temperature to 15°C.

With Jos's six-monthly check-up at the hospital looming on the horizon, he was feeling a bit down in the dumps with little or no appetite. To put your minds at rest: everything is fine and he doesn't even have to go back again.

My dress, with its turquoise, plum, lavender and orange Paisley-esque pattern, was bought from the Antwerp branch of Dutch vintage chain Episode several years ago. I added a plum coloured velvet covered belt, a matching fake plastic Cameo brooch and turquoise necklace, ring and opaques. 

All accessories charity shopped, except for the floral socks and the cat!

Monday the 6th of October continued along the same vein, the gloom outside my office windows quite incongruous with the day's highs of 17°C.

Highlight of the day was another Cappuccino catch-up with Inez, which we've moved to Mondays as she's started French conversation lessons on Wednesdays.

I was wearing a rust coloured faux-suede paperbag waist skirt - bought at 70% off in the January sales in 2022 - combined with the blouse I found for € 1 at Think Twice back in July.

Fast forward to Thursday - we were the 9th of October by then - when my lunch break found me at Melting Pot, a vintage per kilo shop not all that far from my office.

They had a rail of dresses in, so I bought a striped knit sweater dress and a zip front poly-blend vintage dress for the princely total of € 13,10. Both way too warm for the temperatures we're currently having.

Thursday's outfit is the final one I've got for you this time. 

My turquoise dress with its fuchsia pattern and trim was yet another charity shop find. It's by Froy & Dind, a Belgian label which has been making sustainable fashion since 2011. 

It was way too gloomy to photograph it properly, so I'm adding a close-up to show you its lovely pattern.

The elephant brooch is vintage and was found on one of the charity shops' retro events back in the mists of time.

That's it for now. We'll be off after lunch, and the weather forecast is looking very promising for once. I do hope I haven't jinxed it ... Only time will tell.

See you next week!

What I wore in September - Part 2

Time is marching on relentlessly. In just a matter of days, we'll be turning the calendar's page to the year's penultimate month. Still, no matter how hard I try, my blog keeps running way behind the times, so let me whizz you through the rest of the month of September.

The weather in the week of the 15th of September was a jumble of clouds, sunny spells and showers, with temperatures ranging from 18 to 22°C.

Work continued to be hectic and chaotic, leaving me too tired to do anything else than flop down on the sofa after work. I'd been feeling a bit out of sorts as well, slightly nauseous and headachy, as if one of my migraines was coming on. Consequently, not a single outfit photo was taken.

By the end of the week, the weather gods decided to crank up the thermostat one last time, treating us to highs of 27°C on Friday.

Not having to go into work, I woke up feeling completely revived, a sure sign that all of my ailments were work stress related.

Still, there was no rest for the wicked, as I had a hairdresser's appointment at 10 am. To save me the bother of using public transport, Jos drove me into Antwerp. As I was early, I was ambling around taking a couple of photos - just look at that deep blue sky! - when I was approached by a girl with a camera. She introduced herself as a photography student and asked if she could take my photo.

She told me she was looking for people with individual style and loved what I was wearing.  As you can imagine, this really made my day!

This was my outfit of the day, which wasn't even something all that special in my book.

My skirt was bought brand new on the high street a couple of years ago. The sailor-style short-sleeved jumper is from Belgian retro label Who's That Girl by way of a charity shop, while the green shoes were an adventurous buy from Think Twice in September 2023. The bee brooch I pinned to my jumper was found at the indoor flea market in April 2024 and, finally, the green and yellow beaded necklace - from Les Cordes, one of my favourite brands - was a birthday present from my friend Inneke.

Hair freshly and expertly cut by Michel,  I went for a quick browse in the charity shop near the salon and fell for this brick coloured, ruffled Soaked in Luxury blouse. As the weather had taken a turn for the worse by the time I was ready to photograph it, the colour isn't exactly true to life. Fear not, though, as you'll get to see me wearing it very soon.

Saturday was mostly cloudy but very humid and muggy at around 23°C, with lots of rain in the afternoon.

I dug out one of my Diolen Delights - a Think Twice find in the Spring of 2024 - adding a charity shopped snake print belt at my waist. The silver and gold patterned ankle boots were found in a second-hand pop-up shop in Antwerp in April 2023.

The eagle-eyed among you might have noticed the postcard propped on the shelf in front of the glass-fronted cabinet behind me. It was a lovely surprise found in a recently charity shopped book, where apparently it had been used as a bookmark. The perfect reminder to make another batch of Welsh cakes soon! Go on, do have a try if you like. They're absolutely delicious!

For some reason, nothing felt quite right that day and even going for a rummage wasn't exactly  straightforward. We'd planned to drive to the shop in Mechelen, where we hadn't been for ages, but as this was complicated due to roadworks, we decided to go to the three-floored shop near the park in Duffel instead. Here, however, we found the car park being chock-a-block, so that there was nothing for it but to make a U-turn and driveve back the way we'd come.

We were about to give up and call it a day, when we remembered the charity shop in Reet. This is one of the smaller shops and tends to be a bit hit or miss. However, as if to make up for our thwarted plans, I was in luck this time around. 

First up is the teal retro-style Wow To Go dress on the left. I used to be a big fan of the label, which was considered to be the grown-up sister of the aforementioned Whose That Girl, back in the day. In fact, I even bought this particular dress in one of their sample sales about 12 years ago. Sadly, it had become too small and I'd moved it on, although for some reason I'd kept the belt. A very serendipitous thing to do, as my new acquisition came without one!

The zipper front dress on the right is a King Louie in a thick knit and I've got plans to wear it this Winter with a contrasting pair of opaques.

I also grabbed two blouses: a ruffled one with a lovely leafy pattern (above), which is from a Paris label I'd never heard of called Daphnea ... 

... and a black floral tie-neck one by Zoë Loveborn, which I wore on Sunday the 21st of September. 

I patterned mixed it with a skirt in similar colours and picked up the green bits in both garments with one of my beaded necklaces and a stretchy belt.

And just like that, Summer had come and gone, and we now found ourselves officially in Autumn.

What's more, it was a miserable start to the new season, with granite grey skies, lots of rain and a considerable drop in temperature.

To cheer ourselves up we booked a couple of days at our favourite B&B near Bruges for the first week of November. Not long now!

The weather continued to be cold and miserable, with highs of only 16°C, in the last week of September, when the weather gods presented us with the kind of soul-destroying murky days on which daylight hardly gets a look in.

Work continued to be relentless too, but at least my energy levels were up, so that I was more than happy to show you what I was wearing on the Wednesday of that week.

My dress with its Art Deco style pattern was another King Louie which I found during one of our rare visits to the Oxfam second-hand shop in Wilrijk in June 2021. The long orange cardigan and necklace were charity shop finds, as were the slouchy tan boots.

T2 was having another round of their famous sales and with prices down to € 4 by Wednesday, my weekly cappuccino catch-up with Inez was followed by a rummage, which yielded a green wallpaper patterned short-sleeved dress and a blue and red patterned oatmeal blouse.

I also found a peach coloured vintage slip - these things are rare as hens teeth these days - but the colour didn't photograph well, so that I'm afraid you'll have to use your imagination.

And so we've arrived at September's final weekend, starting with Friday the 26th.

A cold wind was blowing from the East, but had thankfully died down by late afternoon.

I made a start with my wardrobe changeover - always a very daunting and lengthy project - switching around some of my skirts and coats. Unfortunately, I haven't got the space to leave everything out all year round, which would make things a lot easier.

Another King Louie with an Art Deco style pattern, my blouse was charity shopped back in June. Its companion, a green zig-zaggy St. Michael skirt, was a gift from Vix which I keep reaching for time and again. 

A wine red belt, greyish green wooden necklace, multi-coloured glass ring and green squirrel brooch completed my outfit.

We were looking after our neighbours' three cats, Bobby, Billie and Pip, that weekend, so we walked over for final instructions before doing a food shop in the afternoon.

We were treated to the odd sunny spell and highs of 18°C on Saturday, which I guess wasn't too bad for the time of year.

For its first outing, I paired my recently charity shopped Soaked in Luxury blouse with a floral extravaganza of a skirt in shades of burnt orange, blue, pink and fudge on a chocolate brown background. I pinned one of my vintage brooches at the blouse's neck (but might have wrecked it by doing so) and chose a multi-coloured beaded necklace picked up from the charity shop in Poperinge many years ago. The tan leather belt with its unusual buckle was charity shopped earlier this year.

Apart from the pleasurable task of feeding the the cats across the road and playing with youngster Pip, we hadn't chalked in any plans for the day. I continued with my wardrobe changeover and then we dropped off a couple of bags of donations at the charity shop in Mortsel in the afternoon.

In return, these two books came home with me.

We continued to be in the weather gods' good books on Sunday, when we went for a walk in Hof ter Linden after lunch. The castle is still under renovation which seems to be coming along nicely. For some reason, I only took a handful of photos that day - none of them of the castle's progress, alas.

Proof of a lack of rain over Summer is in the puddle (below, bottom right) which was all that was left of the mysterious pool I first laid eyes on back in April ...

Finally, here's a look at the dress I was wearing that day. It's from a Finnish labels called Heikkilä and, although it was a Think Twice find quite a while ago, I believe this was its very first outing.

My necklace, belt and Mephisto boots - which are my preferable footwear for Autumn walks - were all charity shopped at one time or another.

I'll try to squeeze in one more post before we are off on our next adventure. If not, see you on the other side!