Got my feet on the ground

Going back to work after the Christmas break was hard enough as it is and to be faced with the crowds going mad at the first day of the sales didn't exactly improve things.

But, as they say, if you can't beat them, join them, so that's what I did, although it was totally unintentional.

As I was battling through the crowds in the small shopping centre near my office - I needed to pick up something at the chemist - I passed the shop where, a couple of months ago, I'd spotted a gorgeous burgundy fake fur wrap.

Being used to second hand shopping, I baulked at seeing its price, possibly exclaiming "How much?" in the process. As the shop wasn't too crowded, I took a chance and popped inside. And there it was, reduced by 50%. Result!

Obviously, I had to wear it on Saturday to show if off, although it wasn't nearly cold enough for wearing fur, fake or otherwise.

I wore it with my belted Tweed jacket and my fluffy purple beret.

Underneath, I was wearing a vintage dress picked up at one of Think Twice's sales.

It's a fit and flare model with a cowl neck and the fabric has a busy Paisley print in muted colours. There's a variety of greens in it, as well as sky blue and peachy pink.

I added a lilac belt and a long, chunky, green necklace.

On top, a royal blue cardigan, on which I pinned a brooch with different coloured stones in earthy tones, which was charity shopped in Wales back in 2016.

On Saturday morning, we took down our decorations and dismantled our Christmas tree, putting them away in our basement for another year.

Then, after lunch, we did some leisurely charity shopping, and ended the afternoon with coffee and cake at our final shop, which has a rather nice cafeteria.

I have dozens of belts, the majority of them charity shopped for € 1,50 or less. At prices like this, you can afford lots of variety, so I always look out for belts in different colours and styles.

I always look out for cardigans too, this time picking up this pink one with black collar detail and black buttons.

The row of photos on the right show a vintage pink Paisley print skirt. It's handmade, and I love how they used a contrasting bright green zip!

Jos was in luck too, as he found a brand new shirt from Massimo Dutti for next to nothing.

On Sunday, we had another date with our favourite indoor flea market.

I'm taking you through what I was wearing first.

The long orange cardigan on the left was another charity shop find from Saturday. Although it worked really well with my outfit and I wore it in its entirety on Monday, I changed into a short bottle green cardigan for our outing, as I was planning to wear a short jacket.

Jos actually thought I was wearing a dress, and indeed, the skirt and blouse went unexpectedly well together, with similar geometrics going on in their prints.

I matched my brooch to the ladies on the blouse and after trying on and discarding several necklaces, I finally settled on this ochre yellow and gold one.

Have you noticed that the green stone of my ring matches the brooch lady's cloche hat in shape as well as colour? I only did when I was looking at the photographs.

It had turned bitterly cold overnight, so we did most of the outfit photos at home. I am looking quite pale and ghostly in them, which isn't helped by the fact that I wasn't wearing lipstick.

All ready to go with my green jacket, favourite scarf, orange beret and tights and dark brown vintage gloves. The burgundy handbag has a cross body strap as well, perfect for some hands free browsing!

On to the flea market, which wasn't as big as last month's, and not overly crowded. My guess is that most people were out sales hunting as most city centre shops were open.

It did mean we were able to see it all - we are usually quite cross-eyed by the time we reach the last two aisles - and we found quite a few treasures too!

Zooming in on the strangest oddity first, we picked up these feet with their varnished toenails, advertising a shoe brand, from a favourite stall. They are made of some kind of moulded plastic. The stall's owner (a follower of my blog!) bought them at a flea market back in the day when she used to work as a window dresser. Neither she nor I had any luck finding anything about them on the Internet.

Another favourite stall yielded this plaster head on a heavy stone plinth. She has joined the others on our spare room's mantelpiece.

More oddities! I was drawn to this sad looking wooden Scottie and was wondering about the indentation on his back, when the stallholder told me it was a pipe holder. I couldn't very well leave the poor thing behind, and was given a beautifully crafted and marked pipe to go with him.

The tin on the top right was a gift from the lady who sold us the feet, while the tin with the 1930s lady was issued by chocolate brand Côte d'Or to celebrate their 50th anniversary in 1933.

These vintage deadstock woolly hats were just € 2,50 each, so I bought three of them as I couldn't make up my mind. I already wore the green one to work this week.

There were some brooches too, of course, picked up at various stalls. With prices ranging from € 1 to € 7,50, my purchases didn't exactly break the bank.

Although I obviously love them all, my favourite is the wicker brooch embroidered with straw poppies. As it is also the most fragile one, it might only get the odd outing.

Which one is your favourite?

All silent save the dripping rain

It seems I am seriously lagging behind. Another weekend has come and gone and I've yet to continue telling you about the previous one!

I left you on Saturday before last, riding my bike dressed in my 1980s batwing dress. But obviously we did something else as well that day. Can you guess? Yes, we were off to the charity shops!

Our first stop was a shop which has somewhat fallen out of grace. It used to be one of our favourites, as its shelves could always be relied upon to yield a couple of treasures, but lately we have once too often left it empty handed. They also tend to be a bit more expensive, especially when it comes to vintage items, sometimes quite ridiculously so!

So, imagine our delight when minutes after walking in we spotted this slightly battered plaster bust of Joseph and the infant Jesus for just a few €.

Although we are not religious, this is just the kind of quirky thing to appeal to us. In fact, we already have a motley crew of plaster saints living at Dove Cottage. Surprisingly this is our first one featuring Joseph who, after all, is Jos's namesake!

Then, there was this set of pretty rose coloured glass coasters, priced at € 1.

This decorative tin used to contain chocolates called Mignonettes by Côte d'Or, which is a major Belgian chocolate brand.

The chocolates, it seems, were never meant to come onto the market. In fact, they were produced especially for the Brussels International Exhibition of 1935, where they were distributed among the visitors to their pavilion.
The miniature chocolate tablets proved to be so popular that Côte d'Or decided to put them into production, and they are still going strong today.

Now, let's get back to Saturday!

The charity shop's large clothing department didn't deliver, as the only thing I found was a new to me yellow wool scarf, which admittedly I've already been wearing for most of last week.

Our next stop was the charity shop in our own village. This used to be a smallish and rather cramped one, but it has recently more than doubled in size. Some of the shelves and racks were still waiting to be filled, but I promise to take some photos once all is finished.

While I unearthed this pristine red vinyl bag (seen here with the yellow scarf), Jos found an album of 78 rpm records, all in perfect condition. The album itself, and most of the records, came from a well-known shop in Brussels called Cado Radio.

Back at home, we spent the rest of the afternoon listening to the records, most of which were quite good. They got Phoebe's approval as well!

On Sunday, we were at a bit of a loose end. Although we'd woken up to sunshine, more rain had been predicted and indeed we could see dark clouds looming, which ruled out a walk.

There was an indoor flea market in Antwerp, but as it is very much in decline, we'd vowed we wouldn't go near it again. I mean, even the Brooch Lady, who could always be relied upon, and for whom we often went especially, has been giving it a miss lately!

Still, with nothing else to do, and not inclined to spend the day at home, we ignored our self imposed ban, and went ahead regardless.

I dressed in a grey wool skirt, featuring diagonals in white, yellow, red and green, which I combined with a floral print V-neck blouse. On top, a green cardie, to which I pinned Gisela's Scottie dog brooch.

Further accessories were green beads, a green vinyl belt and a red plastic ring. I wore my burgundy boots again. They are so warm and comfortable, with a reasonably low heel, which is perfect for trawling flea markets.

Look at my new jacket! It was bought full price at Think Twice, which must have been the only shop not participating in the Black Friday madness which seemed to prevail on Antwerp's shopping streets.

Although I have quite a few green jackets and coats, I'd been looking for a short, fake fur collared winter jacket for ages. In return, and to free up some space in our coat cupboard, I donated another, seldom worn jacket to charity.

Not one of these, though ...

Obviously, the jacket needed a brooch (I later spotted its twin at the flea market!), and as it was quite cold, I wore a pair of thin vintage gloves, my mustard beret and one of my oldest but favourite scarves.

As usual, we took a coffee break about one third into the flea market, this time accompanied by a sugary waffle.

By this time, we have usually already made a couple of purchases. Not now, though.

It seems that apart from the Brooch Lady, some of our other favourite traders were missing as well.

Instead, we trawled through aisle after aisle of discarded toys, heaps of tatty clothing, tasteless decorations and overpriced knock-offs, which made us feel quite miserable.

At one point, we feared we'd made a wasted journey and would leave with nothing, but then I spotted these glass rings and, a couple of stalls further on, some vintage buttons for my stash.

We were almost at the end when my heart skipped a beat upon spying a carton full of celluloid Scottie dog brooches. Unfortunately, the trader knew what they were, which was reflected in his asking price of € 25 per brooch. With heavy heart, I walked away.

Then Jos argued that since we had hardly spent anything, I'd better go back and buy one of the brooches, or I'd be forever regretting it. He was right, so I did and chose a black dog beating a drum. Isn't he cute? He has already made friends with the similar green doggie I bought in Cardigan a couple of years ago!

In the end, the seller knocked off € 5 too!

This purchase made, I found two more brooches before we left, for which I paid € 3 each. This, I'm sure, was a steal, especially for the one on the left, whose trombone clasp revealed that it is older than I initially thought it was.

As they say, you win some, you lose some!

Linking to Patti's Visible Monday at Not Dead Yet Style.