January blues

As at the end of January my blog has only just made it to its beginning, it's clear that I've got a lot of catching up to do.

But first things first: I would like to thank you all for your well wishes! I'm glad to report that I've been feeling much brighter this past week as, physically as well as mentally, I seem to be on the mend.

For the sake of continuity, I will have to relive it all though, starting with my first day back at the office on the 2nd of January. Although I didn't exactly relish the early wake-up call, my days of leisure had apparently managed to recharge my batteries even if that pesky cold had done its best to throw a spanner in the works.

The amount of work waiting for me at the office was more than reasonable and as the builders renovating the Art Deco tower building were apparently still enjoying their holidays, it was a haven of peace and quiet for once.

Determined to keep things positive, I ignored the rain which kept falling down in buckets all day, and walked to the nearest Think Twice shop for a browse. The shop in question is in a cul-de-sac with one of the entrances of the recently restored Stock Exchange (Handelsbeurs) at its dead end. 

The ground floor with its beautiful central square is open to the public, but lately only during the school holidays. I instantly abandoned my original plan when to my delight I noticed one of its doors standing wide open.

The original Stock Exchange was opened in 1531, and it was the first one ever built specifically for this purpose, becoming the model for other exchanges all over the world. The original building, which was designed by the Antwerp architect, Domien De Waghemakere (1460-1542), burnt down on two occasions, in 1583 and 1858. 

The architect incorporated a courtyard surrounded on four sides by unusual Moorish arcades. It was originally open to the sky so that God could observe the transactions, but was later roofed over to protect the merchants from the harsh northern climate.

After the last devastating fire in 1858, a new stock exchange was built. 

The current opulent neo-Gothic building was designed by architect Joseph Schadde (1818-1894), who incorporated many of the original building's features, and was completed in 1872.

It went on to serve as a stock exchange until 1997 when most of the business was moved to Brussels. 

Until that time, the courtyard was also used for book markets and events - I remember going to gigs and parties here in the late 1970s  and early 1980s - and the renowned Antwerp Fashion Academy held many of their famous end of year student fashion shows here. Access to the courtyard was eventually closed off for safety and security reasons in the late 1990s, after which it stood empty for almost twenty years.

But then a miracle happened: the city finally found the necessary funds to renovate the building, which took place between 2016 to 2019. 

It was re-opened to the public in October 2019 and if you ever find yourself in Antwerp during the school holidays, it is well worth stepping inside to admire the Moorish arcades, the walls decorated with world maps, the stunning stone columns and the 56 wooden stockbrokers offices.

The figure of the 19th-century architect looks down on the courtyard from a first-floor balcony (below, bottom left).

The metal roof structure has been repainted in its original green rather than the rusty brown shade it was painted in prior to the renovation. This serves to bring out the best in the floral motifs in the roof. They symbolize the goods which were once traded here: barley, grapes, oats, hops, tobacco and cocoa, among others, and thus refer to the original function of the building. 

Here, the architect was well ahead of his time: with their striking ornamental character, these wrought iron structures could be considered a forerunner of Art Nouveau!

The photos were taken on two consecutive days, as it immediately became apparent when I visited on Tuesday that my phone's camera wasn't up to capturing all those magnificent details. I therefore returned on Wednesday, armed with my proper camera.  

As for that browse at Think Twice, I did manage to nip in on Tuesday and find this floral pussy-bow frock.  

It was on the Wednesday that our bosses walked in, paying us a surprise visit from Miami. Although inevitably somewhat exhausting, these visits are usually quite enjoyable, as they are both really nice guys. This time, however, things went a bit pear-shaped, as my colleague and I had quite an unpleasant altercation with them just before they left on Friday. For obvious reasons, I won't be able to go into any kind of detail, but let's just say that my anxiety levels went through the roof and I was down in the dumps for days.

I definitely wasn't feeling up to much on Saturday, so needed lots of colour to get me through the day.

As by now the temperature was on a slippery slope towards freezing point, this thin knit dress of many colours, charity shopped in February 2022,  couldn't have been more perfect for the job. I layered a green long-sleeved t-shirt underneath and was wearing opaques in the same colour, although you need X-ray eyes to see them.

The green wooden necklace is from the Belgian Les Cordes label via the charity shops, and both the darkest green textured leather belt and the waffle knit orange long-line cardigan were old charity shop finds as well. 

Only my tan boots and the little yellow bird brooch were once bought brand new on the high street.

We spent the morning dismantling the tree and banishing it to the basement for another year.

Although initially clearly showing her disappointment, Bess eventually took it into her stride and was happy to have her scratching and climbing posts back where they belong.

Sunday had a dull and grey start, but as the mercury took another dive towards freezing point, the weather gods regaled us with sunny spells and a clear blue sky later in the day.

Both my patterned blue velvet midi skirt and red and navy jumper were found at Think Twice, albeit with several years between them. I couldn't get over how well they got along together!

I can't remember whether the brooch - a girl wearing blue and white and holding a posy of diamanté flowers - was a flea market or charity shop find, but the red beaded necklace was definitely the latter.

The half-elasticated belt with its massive square buckle was picked up from a high street shop near my office in the Autumn of 2022.

As we do every Winter, we have been supplying the winged visitors to our garden with free food. We had been wondering why the left side of our little feeder seemed to be emptying much faster than the one on the right. The mystery was solved while we were having breakfast that morning! In order to avoid the greedy wood pigeons from eating us out of house and home, we have moved the hanging strawberry bucket elsewhere, but still they keep finding ways to get at the feeder.

We went to Jos's son and daughter-in-law for a family get-together in the afternoon. As is the tradition here in Belgium, our 2 and half year old grandson Cas was "reading" his Nieuwjaarbrief (New Year's letter). Children here are expected to write a letter with New Year’s wishes for their parents, godparents and grandparents, which is then read out loud in front of everyone. Obviously, at his very young age, Cas can neither read or write, so it was his Mum, Carolien, who did the honours, with a little help from Cas.

As a reward, he was given presents, ours being puzzles and a Playmobil road sweeper which Bompa (granddad) Jos and Nana Ann dutifully assembled.

In order to close the gap between my blog and the present, I am fast forwarding to the Friday of the next week, the 12th of January. 

In the run-up to the 1st of April, when I can finally start my official 4-day weeks, I am trying to ration my Fridays off so as not to eat into my holiday quota too much. That day, however, I took the afternoon off, to take a rest from what had been an exhausting week and nurse my newly emerged lurgy.

The week had been sunny but cold, with temperatures well below freezing point even during the day. After I had been wearing skirts and jumpers all week, I deemed it time for a dress. 

This Crimplene one, its fabric a mix of polyester, wool and angora, is an old favourite snaffled from a consignment shop several years ago. It's got its original self-fabric belt, which this time I exchanged for the same belt I wore with the dress of many colours. Again, I layered a long-sleeved top underneath.

Apart from my green suede boots, the rest of my outfit were either flea market (ring and bird brooch) or charity shop (cardigan and necklace) finds. 

So, that's all I've got time for now. I'll be back with the rest of the weekend and part of the next one in a handful of days. See you again soon!