I've been spoiled a bit this week, two trips out in to the outside world. Although Wednesday was only a brief nip to the shops I was treated to a shopping trip on Saturday as well, this time my partner took me out and I even walked down to the shops although I was heavily medicated at the time. I got sore quickly and am experiencing a lot of kidney pain today but it is good for my mental health to get out a bit.
What I wanted to do with this trip was have a look around the charity shops as I love finding a bargain. I've been doing this since I was teen, it was very "in" then to buy old clothes from charity shops, unfortunately some shops didn't realise this, when I was 19 I was jobless, I hadn't gone to uni as I was unsure about what I wanted to do with my life, the course I had chosen for the previous two years of education wasn't something I really wanted to do but at that point I knew I had to do something. I had worked a Saturday/holiday job since the age of 13 but had quit my shop job at 18 and hadn't found a real job since. I ended up volunteering in a charity shop for 6 months until I found a permanent job. With donations they were very astute when it came to collectibles and often had them valued but regarded old clothes as pointless. A lot of the time they ended up in the rag bag if I didn't save them. Their rule they had was only save old/retro clothes if it was close to Halloween or New Years otherwise they would go in the rag bag, no matter the quality apart from designer labels. I did convince them that it would be worth while to hang on to the good quality old clothes, I offered to do a window as a sort of trial run and the outfit was bought the same day. I think charity shops in bigger towns and cities put more emphasis on old clothes. I always wonder which town/city has the best charity shops for old clothes.
Why am I going on about vintage clothing and charity shops? Mainly because I picked up an amazing 60's/70's dress/top for £3.95 from a charity shop. I was happy and surprised to find one of the shops had a retro rail. I can't actually fully tell when the dress if from, I say early 70's, my partner says late 60's, the label doesn't have a name but the label is old. The thing is the dress is in mint condition, it doesn't look worn or washed, the white of the collars is spot on and there is no bobbling which is usually a big problem with older clothes. I love the collars on this!
This was the only item of clothing I managed to pick up but I'm pretty pleased with it. Also managed to find some bits of bric-a-brac to satisfy my need for tat, a small plate in the shape of a leaf (not the Wedgewood ones!) and a Squirrel trinket. I also managed to pick up a couple of books, Crash by J.G. Ballard and 100 Bedtime Stories (I am still hopeful that I will have children in the future).
We also took a trip in to Claire's, I haven't been in for ages and the joyful, loud accessories enticed me. I managed to stay away from my usual obsession of Hello Kitty and instead picked up things of use but also fun. An Owl eye mask to help me sleep when my eyes won't stop moving and 3 pairs of sunglasses, 2 of use and 1 that is just fun, who doesn't love flamingos and palm trees?
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