Every day is like Sunday

After a three-day working week, it was with a sigh of relief that I closed the office door behind me last Wednesday. Knowing that I would only have to go back on Monday felt a bit strange yet strangely comforting at the same time. It was such a reassuring thought to know that we wouldn't have to leave Dove Cottage's cozy confines unless strictly necessary, locking out this perilous world we are currently inhabiting.

Sleeping just that little bit longer on Thursday, and taking our time over breakfast, were a luxury and in total contrast to our normal weekday regime.

As was not having to plan my outfit the night before, being able to stand in front of my wardrobe in the morning and letting inspiration flow instead. 

This vintage navy long-sleeved and empire waisted dress was begging me for an outing, and I knew resisting its joyful multi-coloured flower print was futile.

Piling on even more flowers seemed like the obvious thing to do so, instead of a brooch, I added three different coloured flower corsages. I also wore both an orange and a blue moulded plastic flower ring. Plastic rings seem to be the better option, what with all the hand washing, but I have to admit that nowadays I often do not wear any rings at all.

I tried many different necklaces, but none of them looked right, until I hit upon this 1960s style white metal one, a retail buy from at least ten years ago.

Sky blue opaques and an orange long cardigan, as it was sunny but rather chilly, completed my outfit. I also exchanged my indoor slippers for my burgundy boots for going out into the garden.

Positioning myself in the central, paved sunken area of our garden again, I had another attempt at trying to catch the attention of any passing spaceships. I'm here! Look, I'm wearing my brightest clothes, you idiots! Oh well, I'll trample that bloody virus to death instead!

My first day of relative freedom didn't exactly go to plan, to be honest. I had oodles of plans and endless imaginary lists of things to do, but I seemed to have mislaid my energy. These past few weeks have been quite traumatic, to say the least, and having to go to the office 5 days a week was getting more and more exhausting with each passing day.

I was feeling tired which made me a bit restless at first, but then I just gave in and just did what I felt like doing, which wasn't very much at all. In fact, I spent most of the day on the sofa reading my latest book.

From our backdoor, I watched some great tits rehearsing acrobatics in the garden, once in a while taking a breather on our garden wall. We've got a resident robin too, but he or she mainly presides over the "villa", which is our nickname for the wall mounted bird feeder house at the end of our garden.

Our potting shed (top left), decorated with rusty gardening tools, could probably do with a lick of paint, but I actually quite like its cracked and peeling paint, showing patches of an ancient green coat of paint underneath.

The angel bird bath bidding you welcome at our back door has been there forever. We probably picked it up at our local garden centre's bargain corner not long after we moved to Dove Cottage.

I felt a lot more energized on Friday, which we started by having fresh fruit and yoghurt for breakfast. Normally this is a hasty affair, with the fruit eaten straight from the plastic tub Jos has prepared the night before. The downside is that now I am the fruit peeler and cutter ... 

The dishes are Rambouillet by the Belgian Boch pottery, a very popular 1960s pattern and now selling like hot cakes in vintage shops.

After breakfast, Jos mopped the kitchen floor, but not before using our vintage washing equipment as musical instruments while singing along with the nostalgic tunes on the radio.

Meanwhile, I gave the bathroom a good clean, although I drew the line at taking everything off the top of our € 8 vintage bathroom cabinet for a dusting and deep clean. That'll be for another day.

Our tiny bathroom leads off the kitchen - you can just catch a glimpse of the door's cornice on the right in the above photo - and this is what's on the wall between the bathroom door and back door.

There are repro advertising signs for Cadbury's Cocoa and Sunlight Soap, then next to the latter is a slate Ty Bach sign. This is Welsh for toilet - it literally means "little house". 

Below that is our vintage 1970s kitchen roll holder from the German Emsa brand. 

The Cream Teas sign is modern and its row of wooden hooks holds kitchen towels and oven gloves.

The tiny shelf unit on its left, another Emsa product of the same design, is actually a spice rack. However, it was redundant, as we weren't using it as a spice rack at all. So, I had the brainwave of converting it into a display cabinet for small treasures. This was something I'd been planning to do for a while, but never had time for until now. 

There are vintage snuff tins, a figure from a popular Belgian comic, a tacky plastic Lourdes souvenir, egg cups, chocolate moulds, a tiny OXO tin, a set of miniature kitchen utensils, a small plastic M&M's figurine and a set of vintage weights.

Friday's outfit was all pinks and purples with a dash of black and white.

The pink dress, with lashings of purple and off-white flowers, came from a vintage per kilo shop in Antwerp. I accessorized it with a purple woven belt, a black and white beaded necklace and a brooch picked up at our last flea market, which has a tiny piece of lace on a black background.

To tie in with the black and white, I wore black opaques sprinkled with white polka dots.

Still a tiny bit too chilly to go it alone, I wore a mustard yellow cardigan on top. This has a lacy yoke, in its turn tying in with the lace on my brooch. It's from Vero Moda, but was charity shopped in April 2017 and it's so pretty I wonder why I'm not wearing it more. No, do not answer that. I know it's because I have too many clothes. No, scrap that, there's no such thing! And I'm actually grateful for my huge wardrobe, especially now.

Not having been outside at all, except for our handkerchief sized garden, I needed to stretch my legs so, armed with hand sanitizer, I donned coat, scarf and beret, and went for a brisk walk along the block, running an errand at the chemist at the same time.

The weather was definitely getting a spring in its step, but it felt very weird being out on the streets, even our reasonably quiet village ones.

Being at home all the time for days on end really does feel as if every day is like Sunday!

I will be back with last weekend's non-adventurous soon!