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!