In search of lost time

Time has once again been slipping through my fingers and my mind is reeling from the fact that almost a month has gone by since the events I'm writing about in this post. But here I am, having a lunch break coffee and catch-up with my friend Inez on Wednesday the 20th of September.

This is the coffee corner in Antwerp's latest and largest Think Twice shop, which opened its doors back in January and which, being only a couple of minutes' walk from my office, is our go-to place for meeting up, perhaps followed by a quick rummage if time allows. You can see the rails of clothes in the background of the photo on the top left and the shop's till on the far left of the one on the bottom right. 

I was wearing green and lilac that day, topped with my orange leather jacket which is draped over the back of my chair. Both the fruit patterned frock and the jacket were Think Twice finds once upon a time. 

My lilac cardigan was charity shopped and I needed both it and the lilac cat printed scarf I got from my friend Inneke to combat the draught which drifted in from the open door. I would be surprised if the temperature reached the forecasted 22°C that day, as it felt quite Autumnal, with an impenetrable layer of grey clouds and lots of wind.

But I was wearing a big smile as that week I'd finally taken the first steps towards officially working only a 4-day week! There's a system here in Belgium where, from age 60 onwards, one has the opportunity to opt for a so-called landingsbaan (landing job) with 1/5 time credit until retirement and with an additional allowance from the government. I already got the necessary permission from my boss and all that needs to be done now is fill in a sheaf of documents and send them off to the authorities. After the official period of six months I will automatically have my Fridays off without having to use up my holiday allowance. Can't wait for the 1st of April to come around! 

Until then, I'll have to grit my teeth and alternately work 5-day weeks and take up some of my precious - and seriously dwindling - time off. Which is exactly what I did on Friday the 22nd of September.

At barely 17°C, it was decidedly chilly, the upside being that it remained mostly dry until late in the afternoon. Long sleeves, layers and ankle boots to the rescue!

After a morning of pottering, our usual Friday rummage at the charity shops was on the menu. In order to get into the charity shop goddesses' good books, my outfit mainly consisted of charity shopped items.

Both the skirt - which is Essentiel Antwerp! - and the label-less pink floral blouse were found earlier this year, while the holy grail green suede Van Dalen ankle boots were snapped up in February 2021.

The pink beaded necklace was yet another charity shop find, even if I can't remember where or when. In fact, only the pink belt and the green heart brooch are the odd ones out here. Both were retail buys, the brooch doubling as a holiday souvenir as it was bought in Cardigan in June 2017.

The day's itinerary took us the charity shops in Mortsel and Lier, and while finds weren't exactly plentiful, they were enough to sate our rummaging urges.

First up is this gorgeous red cotton jumper patterned with blue and white triangles and rectangles. It's by Nathalie Vleeschouwer - a Belgian designer with Antwerp roots - and had apparently escaped the shop personnel's notice, as it was priced at the usual € 5,90 for jumpers. It would have retailed at around € 150.

A green Summer blazer by the - yet again Belgian - Green Ice label ended up in my basket as well. I love the charm details on one of the lapels. It's going to be a nice surprise unearthing this next Spring!

With the range of available non-alcoholic beers growing steadily, we are always on the lookout for the correct glasses the serve them in. After sampling the non-alcoholic version of Chouffe at Jos's son and daughter-in-law back in July, the beer has slowly but surely become a favourite. Brewed at the Achouffe Brewery in the Province of Luxemburg in Wallonia, Belgium's French speaking region, the beer's mascot is a gnome called Marcel. 

After fruitlessly searching for the typical glasses featuring the gnome, Jos finally found not just one, but two of the elusive glasses!

Back at home, I caught up with blogland and published a blog post. Then, after dinner, we watched an episode of the Belgian version of Celebrity MasterChef we'd recorded earlier that week.

Although we were treated to the odd sunny spell on Saturday, the mercury didn't climb higher than 18°C that day. 

The ideal conditions for wearing my Nathalie Vleeschouwer jumper! I even found it its perfect partner in a geometrically patterned circle skirt, charity shopped in December 2019. The skirt is somebody's quirky handiwork, with a visible red side zipper and featuring random felt circles and patches of visible stitching. 

A blue beaded necklace, early plastic white and grey swallow brooch, blue glass ring and red Camper shoes completed my outfit: all second-hand finds except for the ring.

We went around to Jos's son and daughter-in-law, Kris and Carolien, in the morning, mainly to see grandson Cas, whom we hadn't seen for far too long. Oh my, how he has grown! Hard to believe he'll be going to preschool in January!

Then, after lunch, we drove to the three-story charity shop in Duffel, where we hadn’t been since god knows when due to extensive roadworks making the shop nearly impossible to reach. Following the instructions on their Facebook page, we finally made it there, getting lost only the once!

Being a Saturday, it was reasonably busy, so I made a quick round of the rails. This burgundy King Louie shirt dress sprinkled with tiny teal and white flowers was a no-brainer. It came with a tie belt, but obviously I'll be wearing it with a contrasting belt from my stash.

Drawing the curtains on Sunday morning, we were greeted by a gorgeous Autumn day. The sun would be shining non-stop and, at 20°C the weather couldn't have been more perfect for our plans that morning. We were meeting up with Inneke and Maurice for a stroll in our favourite park, Middelheim.

We'd agreed to meet at 10.30 but were caught up in traffic due to a funfair taking place in our village. Then we spent a silly amount of time finding a parking spot as cricket championships were being held on the cricket ground near the park. So, we were several minutes late when we walked past Misconceivable (2010), the crooked boat created by Austrian artist Erwin Wurm.

Inneke and Maurice were waiting for us in a sunny spot near one of the sculpture park's most popular works, Polar Bear by the French artist François Pompon (1855-1933), who started out working as an assistant for Rodin among others. This work marked François Pompon’s first success at the 1922 Salon d’Automne in Paris. Middelheim Museum owns the third copy, while the original is in Musée d’Orsay in Paris. 

The little snail seemed to have taken a liking to it, and the feeling might very well have been mutual, as the bear seemed to glad to be wearing it like a brooch!

We went for a short stroll, noting that the park was still in some disarray due to the ongoing reshuffle. In fact, I've just read on their website that some parts of the park are temporarily closed due to major earthworks.

Our feet, all of which seemed to be in agreement, took us firmly to one of our favourite parts of the park: the open air depot, where sculptures who once used to grace Antwerp's public spaces are enjoying their retirement. Or are they?

During the reshuffle, these open air depot habitués are joined by works of art which have been temporarily moved here from their former locations in the park.

Among them some of my all-time favourites, like Running Girl (above, bottom centre). Dating from 1976, her creator was the Czech sculptor Kurt Gebauer (b. 1941).

And then there's the quite menacing Manifestanti (Demonstrators), dating from 1957, and by the Slovenian sculptor Drago Tršar, who passed away in April shortly before his 96th birthday.

The rather timid Ursula (1965), with her sensible overcoat and time-worn handbag, seems to be quite unperturbed by it all. She was born from the imagination of the Spanish sculptor Julio L. Hernandez (1930-2018).

We finished our stroll with a drink at the museum café - cappuccinos and apple and pear cake for Jos and me - after which we said goodbye to Inneke and Maurice. 

Then we returned to our car in a roundabout way, having a peek through the windows of the Braem Pavillion, which regularly hosts exhibitions but was now unfortunately closed.

Immediately opposite the pavillion, the colourful group of sculptures called Bosque Metalica (Wood of Metal) has found its new place in the park. Consisting of eight separate elements in black, green, orange and yellow, the sculptures are by Jorge Dubon (Mexico), who created them in 1971.

I added more colour with my Diolen dress in a glorious mix of Autumnal colours to which I pinned an orange metal flower brooch which was gifted to me by the lovely Kezzie when we met up with her and her husband in Bruges back in February.

Both my orange cardigan from retro label Zoë Loveborn and my sage green Mephisto boots were charity shop finds.

I've got a busy week ahead of me, with a visit from the bosses, but I'll do my best to catch up with your lovely blogs whenever I've got a moment. See you soon!

The green shoes

Still surfing on that September heatwave, we arrived home around midday on Sunday the 10th of September. 

As we'd asked our faithful catsitter Maurice to keep blinds and curtains semi-closed downstairs, it felt relatively cool as we entered the house. As expected, however, it was a completely different story upstairs, where the thermometer gleefully told us we were in for a sweltering night.

It was a good thing I still had two days at home before I had to go back to the office, so that we could leave the unpacking for another day. Besides, we had more urgent things to do, as Bess was clearly over the moon to see us and insisted we catch up on cuddles. 

On Monday morning, we came back to earth with a bang. And you can take that quite literally too! We were woken by an army of workers digging up the pavement in order to lay fast fibre. The contrast with our quiet west country cottage couldn't have been greater!

Under normal circumstances, I would only have taken Monday off and gone back to work on Tuesday. However, seeing that Tuesday the 12th of September was my birthday, that would have been a bit too painful. But even if it was my birthday and I had the day off, I was still suffering from the inevitable bout of post-holiday blues. It seems to be getting worse the older I get, too.

In order to alleviate the latter, birthday girl was wearing her recently charity shopped Wow To Go frock. Both the big green bird on a branch brooch she'd pinned to it and the red beaded necklace she'd picked that morning were charity shopped too, while the sandals were a sales bargain a couple of years ago.

The temperature was down to 21°C on Wednesday, which was just fine for my eventual return the office. I needn't have worried, as things had been rather quiet while I was away. Consequently, catching up was a doddle, although I still had to trawl through 700+ emails.

Red, black, grey and a tiny bit of pink were the main components of my outfit that day. 

I started with the vintage faux patchwork skirt, originally from C&A, but found at Think Twice in July 2021. The red top with its sprinkling of white flowers is King Louie by way of a charity shop. My red belt was charity shopped as well, while the necklace and butterfly brooch were flea market finds.

I hadn't been to Think Twice for absolutely ages, nor did I find something which even remotely tickled my fancy on the rare occasions when I'd made it to one of their shops during my lunch breaks. So, I couldn't be happier when I walked into the second nearest shop to my office and my eyes instantly zoomed in to this gorgeous long-sleeved Trevira fit and flare dress.

Flush with my success, I ventured a bit further afield on Thursday but neither of the Think Twice shops I visited that day delivered in the least.  The stock in both shops was rather uninspiring, with rail after rail of dark-hued stuff, lots of jumpers and oodles of jeans, with only a measly rail of skirts and dresses. Are we all supposed to wear trousers in Autumn and Winter, I wonder? And god forbid that we should wear any bright colours to brighten up the dark days ahead of us!

Anyway, I digress! On my way back to the office, I spotted the skirt on the left in the window of an outlet shop for the Belgian Green Ice label, and promptly fell in love. At 50% off everything, I also snapped up the burnt orange cord skirt - the photo doesn't really do the colour justice - on the right. 

The temperature was on the up again by Friday, when we were treated to 24°C. The perfect conditions for wearing the butterfly sleeved floral Diolen frock which had been hanging ready for wear since before our little getaway. 

I accessorized it with a blue belt with green stitching (sales bargain), a green beaded necklace (charity shopped) and a green-based Cameo brooch (flea market find).

My pale green and white wooden soled slingbacks are by the Spanish ART label, and were a bargain from a shoe outlet shop near my office in May 2022. They are in the running for most comfortable Summer footwear ever!

A long and leisurely lunch break saw me having a cappuccino fuelled catch-up at the Think Twice coffee corner with my friend Inez. I couldn't get over the fact that they've got their own homemade and personalized biscuits!

But wait a minute, I can hear some of you think. What about the green shoes of your post title?

Well, Inez and I were nattering away when, out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a rather covetable pair of flat green Mary-Jane type shoes perched on a footstool in the shop's window. Tentatively, I tiptoed closer and gingerly lifted them from their perch, my heart making a happy leap when I saw they were my size. After trying them on to make sure, I took them to the till, where I was told - wait for it - that I couldn't have them. Turned out that they weren't allowed to sell items from the shop window until the next sales rolled along. No amount of arguing from my side made them see sense so there was nothing for it but to return - inwardly seething - to our table.

All weekend, I was plotting my course of action. I would go back to the shop on Monday, take them to the till again, hand over the money owed and walk out of the shop with them. After all, what could they possibly have done?

I'm fast-forwarding to Monday, as I couldn't possibly leave you in suspense for long, when my lunch break found me walking to the shop. Taking a deep breath, I looked in the window, only to find those lovely green shoes replaced by a pair of black boots! Damn! When I looked again, I couldn't help thinking that the whole window seemed to have been re-done. So, hoping against hope, I made my way inside the shop and towards the shoe display. And there they were! Mine, all mine!

But that was Monday, which for all intents and purposes isn't part of the subject matter of this post. So, let's rewind to Saturday.

The mercury had climbed a further two degrees by now and the day's 26°C called for another Summer dress which had been waiting on the sidelines for a while. 

In fact, the dress with its squiggly green stripes and solid white collar and cuffs originated from the same shop as the green shoes. Here I am, casually modelling it in front of the green door belonging to the museum of folklore a bit further along our street.

I opted for pink to accompany it, in the form of a pink belt - a sales bargain, bought at the same time as the blue one in my previous outfit - and a charity shopped beaded necklace and squishy flamingo brooch.

After a lie-in and a morning of pottering, we were off for a rummage at the edge of town charity shop.

Although it was a bit busy for my liking, I spent a happy hour or so browsing the rails. As if to make up for the green shoe debacle, which at that time I didn't know would end so well, the charity shop goddesses were on their best behaviour.

Starting with my best find: how could I possibly resist this vintage Summer dress in a sturdy printed cotton edged with red piping? One of its buttons was hanging on by a thread and it was missing a belt, both of which were easily remedied.

The short-sleeved red tricot top with flower appliqué is vintage too, while the floaty floral pleated maxi skirt is from Vero Moda.

Finally, there was this green sleeveless dress, which was clearly some clever girl's handiwork. It fit me like a glove, although I did have to take in the armholes just a little bit. 

As it might have been the last occasion to do so before packing it away for the season, I already wore it on Sunday. 

The weather gods, who seemed to be playing with the temperature like a yo-yo, had decided on a return to Friday's 24°C. Nevertheless it felt quite stifling, particularly when the sun hid behind a band of clouds in the afternoon. 

The haori-style cover-up I charity shopped in the Spring was the perfect layering piece. On my feet, a pair of Miz Mooz slingbacks which were last Summer's charity shop find.

A sales bargain orange necklace, an orange and green mottled brooch found on a flea market and a multicoloured pleated leather belt which I've had for absolutely ages completed my outfit.

So, that was it for now. I'll be back with another September catch-up shortly. See you again soon!

Heatwave holiday - Part 3

Hello, and welcome to the final installment of this year's September holiday travelogue.

We were Thursday the 7th of September by now and the heatwave wasn't showing any sign of giving up just yet. We woke up to a brilliant blue sky, in which the sun was a searing orb intent on making us wilt at the mere thought of doing anything at all. But we had plans, and as luck would have it, they would require little or no effort from our side.

Back in March I'd received a message from my brother - in itself a bit of a rare occurrence - announcing that he and his girlfriend had moved to Belgium's west country. Intrigued, I messaged back, telling him that we had been spending the first of week of September in the area for many years. Turned out that he was living on an old brewery estate less than 10 minutes from our holiday cottage, upon which we agreed to meet up next time we were there.

We'd passed the imposing complex countless of times on our travels and had in fact already done so a couple of days earlier, when our Satnav directed us to the Belgian coast via France. But although I'd messaged my brother a week ahead of time informing him of the dates of our stay, we didn't hear back from him until halfway through our holiday week. When he finally called me on Wednesday evening we decided to strike the iron while it was hot and meet up the very next day.

At the beginning of the 20th Century, Brouwerij Feys - no prizes for guessing that brouwerij if Flemish for brewery - was the country's second largest brewery and it has been a protected monument since 2001.

The monumental building, which had been abandoned and standing empty since the early 1990s, was eventually bought by Hendrik Nelde from Ghent in 2013. Initially appointed to help sell the complex,  he fell in love with this extraordinary building, appreciated its historical value, and decided to give it a new lease of life. 

My brother and his girlfriend, who were initially looking for somewhere similar in France, ended up here by pure coincidence. They are currently renting a cottage on the estate for a mere pittance and their commitment to start an ecological vegetable garden from scratch. 

Judging from the plentiful and varied produce, they succeeded magnificently, their only complaint being that the people living in the "chateaux" - the mansion which is part of the complex and where Hendrik and his family live - do not consume nearly enough vegetables. 

The "chateaux", by the way, also provides lodging for the volunteers coming from all over the world - the so-called "workaways" - who are helping with the project.

My brother proudly showed us his achievements and then we sat chatting in their shady garden drinking coffee and enjoying a lunch of homemade bread spread thickly with delicious, equally homemade, prune jam.

As for their dream of a life in France: the brewery is just a matter of one and a half kilometres from the French border, so that they're actually having the best of both worlds!

It goes without saying that we also received an extensive tour of the brewery complex, where for one thing it was mercifully cool!

While we are looking around, here is a potted history courtesy of the brewery's website.

The complex is located on the Dode IJzer, an old meander of the River IJzer. Initially, it housed a linen bleaching plant, which was completely destroyed during the French Revolution.

In around 1850, a salt works was established here, remnants of which can still be seen today.

In 1883, the entire complex was acquired by Pieter Feys, who established a brewery on the premises. Later, in 1898, the malting plant with its distinctive malt kilns was added.

During the First World War, the brewery became one of the largest in the country.  Due to its geographical location within the River IJzer's flood plain, the brewery's copper was not requisitioned by the German occupiers so that brewing could continue to take place. 

Its best-known beer was Forte Brune, a brown high-fermentation beer which was bottled in brown 75 cl swing-top bottles.

After the war, both the brewery and the malting plant operated at full capacity. Malt was even supplied to other breweries, such as Lamot in Mechelen.

In the 1950s, it became increasingly difficult to keep the brewery profitable, notably due to the rise of lager beers. Sadly, the last of the Forte Brune beers was brewed in 1965.

The malting plant remained active until 1969, when it also stopped filling Lamot beers, of which the brewery was a distributor. Afterwards, the Feys family kept a beer shop on the premises, but this too was discontinued in the early 1990s.

Restoring the complex to its former glory will obviously take time but there definitely isn't a lack of initiative to fund the undoubtedly costly business. Some of the brewery's spaces can be rented out for events, and brewery tours are available most days of the week. There's also the possibility to explore the River IJzer by kayak. 

Additionally, the complex has its own little chapel!

After an enjoyable couple of hours, we bade our goodbyes and drove back to our cottage, where we spent the rest of the afternoon and evening with our feet up. 

I'd just started Sarah Waters' The Little Stranger, which had me hooked from page one and which I found quite unputdownable. My eyes didn't thank me for reading for hours at a time, though!

The weather forecast for Friday spoke of temperatures well over 30°C inland, but once again promised a more bearable 27°C at the seaside.

A morning fog veiled the landscape that morning, hiding the French-Flemish hills in the distance and wrapping the cottage in an eerie haze.

We took our time getting ready and lingering over a breakfast of soft boiled eggs and soldiers. 

In the fridge, the spoils from my brother's garden were kept crisp and fresh, but I thought I'd show you the intriguing black beans, which sadly do not keep their gorgeous colour when cooked, when they are transformed into a dark green!

En route to the coast, we drove through a sliver of France again. The landscape, which was flat as a pancake, was still blurred by a misty haze lingering on the horizon.

Parking our car in De Panne, our initial plan had been to take the tram to a different resort. However, feeling a bit lethargic as the heat had clearly gone to our heads, we found ourselves trudging along the beach at De Panne instead.

The fierce looking fellow is Leopold I, the first King of the Belgians. We imported him after Belgium became an independent state in 1930 and it was decided that we needed a king. The honour fell to Leopold von Saksen-Coburg, who was born in Germany, but who lived in England at the time. He used to be married to Princess Charlotte of Wales, second in line to the British throne and daughter of the future King George IV, but who died in childbirth after only a year of marriage. 

Leopold arrived in Calais by boat on July 17, 1831, from where he was taken to De Panne by coach. The statue was erected in the spot where he first put foot on Belgian soil.

From the past to the present, and from a king to a princess :-) 

I was wearing my zig-zag patterned skirt again, this time combined with an exotically patterned and frilly sleeved top, last seen wearing here.

The beach might look deceptively empty, but it being a Friday it was a lot busier than it was on our first visit to the town on Tuesday.

The upside was that our favourite restaurant was now open, so that we made a beeline for it by lunch time. Unfortunately, it was now my turn to have my order mixed up by the - again French speaking - waitress. Needless to say I wasn't too pleased about this, particularly since she initially kept insisting I'd ordered the wrong thing. We also had to wait far too long for my correct order to arrive, by which time Jos had nearly finished his steak and fries. In spite of the fact that, after we complained with the owner, the waitress apologized profusely, we will be giving the place a miss in future.

By Saturday, the mercury had climbed to 33°C and we were at a bit of a loss. 

The only thing we could think of to keep us occupied yet relatively cool was another walk in the woods. However, the patches of dark green our walking maps of the area were few and far between.

As those to the south, in the French-Flemish hills, were ruled out as we didn't fancy climbing in these temperatures, we looked north, and happened upon Eversambos, which was promoted as being perfect for a spot of forest bathing, or Shinrin-yoku, a therapy that originated in Japan in the 1980s.

It took us some time to get there, though, particularly since our Satnav didn't seem to have a clue and got us hopelessly lost.

Once there, we made the acquaintance of a giant hare, then proceeded to walk through a tunnel of trees until we found a rather wobbly bench with a view for our picnic.

Again, my chambray maxi skirt turned out to be my most worn garment of the holiday. On this hottest of days, it was accompanied by my green cotton peasant-style blouse, an old sales bargain from New Look.

Just like we did last September, we ended the final day of our holiday in Helleketelbos, the woods nearest to our cottage. And just like we did back then, we got lost in exactly the same spot, which we are now convinced must be due to the awkward placing of one of the numbered markers instead of our wobbly map reading skills!

But Shinrin-yoku has been taken up to the next level here with the giant sun lounger. Plus, we met several pixies in the woods!

And so another week in the west country had come to its end. With heavy hearts we'd be packing our bags on Sunday morning and making our way back home.

But we'll be back, and what's more, we've already booked next year's September getaway!