What does one wear to go to a gig?

I may have mentioned that I love a bit of live music. I’m not exactly a muso but I do like going to a gig or two to have a bit of a sing and a bit of a dance. We have some lovely gig buddies who we go to see many different bands including the likes of Embrace, The Beach Boys and Noel Gallagher. They are the cool gigs, there are a few maybe not quite so cool like Steps, Hear’Say (cringe) and One Direction – it was the kids honest! For me, knowing what to wear for a gig is pretty tricky for a number of reasons.

1) I always need good footwear especially if I’m standing, I have to have something flat but being a bit on the short side, this can mean that I struggle to see. I’m happy to end the night with an elongated neck as I strain to see the stage but heels would be a nightmare for what I call my “gig jig”.
2) I need something I can leg it out to the car or the station so whether it’s from the Corn Exchange or the O2, I love an early dart to get out first – I’m such a nerd.

3) Jeans are a no brainer for a normal gig gig.

4) But then what top to wear? Well if it’s a bit of what I call a trendy gig like Take That (yes I know but that’s’ all I’ve got) I like something with a bit of a sparkle but if it’s a bit more folky like the mighty Bellowhead I like to be a bit more flowing (like the real ale!). I got a fab top from Scope which was ace when we went to Bellowhead.

5) I always look forward to a bit of Newmarket nights but it is a bit more posh. I love a frock and wedges so I don’t sink into the grass and look like a wobbling wino.

6) Coat or not? Like on big nights out in Oldham and Ashton in the early 90’s, coats just get in the way. At a push a denim to tie round my waist but otherwise no thank you.

So you can see this is something I massively overthink, its amazing I actually get out of the door to get to a gig after trying on everything I own.

God forbid if I ever went to a festival!!!

Off to a gig

On Tuesday night I went to a proper gig. An old school, take me back to my teens type gig. That could mean anything from Wet Wet Wet to Simply Red (ahem, blushes with embarrassment) but it was a little more credible as it was The Inspiral Carpets and Shed Seven.

I was all set with my jeans, trainers, floaty top (from Scope) and a big scarf (Salvation Army). No bag, which is unheard of for me, just my phone, a bit of cash and my car keys. I did leg it into the venue because I was freezing as I’m no longer a cold proof 18 year old.  Once in the venue I was transported back to the days of Worlds Colliding, a fella called Joe, Disco Down and of course I chased a few rainbows. This will mean nothing to some but plenty to others. We had gone all the way to Hatfield to go to the Forum, which was an actual Student Union! I hadn’t been in one of these for well about 20 years!

It was while Shed Seven were playing away, I turned to my left and saw a face I recognised. Not from real life but from the Twitterverse. Caroline Jones from @knickersmyown was standing right next to me! A friend of mine recommended her and I have followed Caroline for the last 6 months. Her idea is great, she has been raising money for Cancer Research by wearing a different outfit each day for a year all bought from her Cancer Research charity shop then sold on Ebay, she has raised a whopping £36k! A real achievement!

Well I must say I was a bit star struck. A proper bona fide Twitter celeb was just there having a bit of a dance and a bit of a sing. I had to say hello so I shuffled round and babbled away with good old Rick singing away in the background.  She was ace, we had a bit of a chat and I gushed about her being an inspiration. I suppose that to me, Caroline has made charity shop shopping more cool and well normal. I think I might have said that at the time, whether she could hear me over the singing I don’t know! My friends all thought I was accosting random stranger, lets hope she didn’t think the same……


xx

The Beaver Ball and other ramblings...

I’m sure you are all desperate to know what I wore to the Beaver Ball, well, I’m sorry to say that on this occasion charity shops failed me. Serves me right for not adhering to my own rule – don’t shop for anything specific (see post entitled The Dos and Don’t of Charity Shopping).

However, while searching in the Salvation Army shop I got my best haul yet from their sale rail. That is:

• two Next tops (one of which I’d seen in Next a couple of years ago, liked but not bought)
• pair of Esprit trousers
• sparkly dress
• Jane Norman shorts

Three pounds the lot! That is less than a pint. In fact, often when I go out my drink costs more than my dress.

Even though I really like the shorts I bought I am not sure that I’m brave enough to wear them, they’re not called shorts for nothing. My husband even hinted (actually, he wasn’t as subtle as to hint) that I am too old to wear them. The cheek! But am I?

I’m going out tonight and am tempted to give them a whirl. So if you are in the St Neots area and spot a middle aged, bushy haired woman in shorts, buy her a drink. Did I mention that they’re orange?

Talking of clothes that I may never wear, numerous people, some I didn’t even know read this blog, have asked whether I’ve worn the Jean Paul Gautier short/pants thing yet. In answer, I have not. But it is the party season so you never know. Though as yet I have not received an invitation to a “wear your weirdest item of clothing” party, but that gives me an idea…

I digress. So after trips to the charity shops and trying yet more of Ingrid’s dresses, she has some beauties, but I still couldn’t keep them up, I ended up wearing a dress that I bought new from TK Maxx. I’m sure I’ve mentioned it before as it is a beautiful emerald green colour and when I tried it on in the shop my mum said “I hate that colour but it looks amazing on you”. I focussed on the amazing bit. I had been unsure about wearing it as it is very clingy but then I had the brainwave of putting a petticoat underneath it and that did the trick. If I’m the type to wear a petticoat perhaps my husband has a point about the shorts! I’m not even sure you can get them these days. This particular one I’ve had since I was a student twenty years ago. So my dress may not have been second hand but my undergarment was vintage!

Anyway we had a great time at the ball and everyone looked amazing. I’d definitely go again next year though I may start looking for my dress now.

The end of an era

I’m afraid I’m going to go all dramatic and a little sentimental this week as I say goodbye to one of the things that got me into charity shopping in the first place.

This time last year I wrote all about the joys of St Neots NCT Nearly New Sales. The wonders I found when I first went shopping in the madness and organised chaos of these bi-annual events. On my first visit I bought so much stuff for my son and for my daughter I think my husband thought I had gone mad! As much as I love shopping, I also enjoyed being a seller, the labelling and pricing was always a bind but to me it was a way of clearing out (hard to do as a resident hoarder) and to make a bit of money for the charity. This fun has lasted for years, well at least 7 as I started out when my daughter was a baby.

I therefore looked forward to the recent sale with great anticipation; I had sorted out the loft (no mean feat) and had plenty of stuff to sell. I got it all ready, washed, ironed, labelled and bagged ready to go. Now as an old hand at this, I obviously didn’t read through the sellers’ notes, even when it was stressed I should do so. So it came as a massive surprise when I read they had dropped to top age of clothing you can sell to 5 years old! I had bagged up so many clothes age 6,7&8 I was gutted that I didn’t read the notes! I also felt a bit silly that those people sorting and hanging my items would have wondered what on earth I was thinking! I think I got most of it back but anything else will hopefully have gone to a charity shop nearby.

So it was with some melancholy and a tinge of sadness that as I realised I was too old. Another nail in the ageing coffin. This age thing isn’t something particularly new for me, I’m never to wear hot pants (thank god I hear you cry), go clubbing “down Ashton” as I used to as a teen and sadly I will never be in a girl band or be a prima ballerina. So this is something else to add. Thank you NCT for all the fond years but you have now gone the way of the gold sparkly hot pants and pints of Snakebite and Black.

Maybe I should organise an over 5’s Nearly New Sale, any takers to help? xx

A quest for a dress

Next weekend Ingrid and I, along with friends, are going to a fundraising event to raise money for the refurbishment of the local scout hut – the Beaver Ball as I keep calling it. (My son is in the Beaver section of the scout movement by way of explanation.)

I’m very excited about this as I’ve not been to many black tie events, actually I’m not even sure I’ve been to any. Consequently I have nothing to wear. Ok, that’s not strictly true, you can’t have a wardrobe as bulging as mine without having a posh frock or two. However anything I have that is suitable seems to have shrunk in the wash; that can be the only plausible explanation!

Not to worry, it’s the perfect excuse to go charity shop shopping and I’m always seeing posh frocks that I love but have no occasion to wear them. It’s the right time of year for party dresses, the charity shops are full of them, and I tried on loads. However, I came home empty handed. There were dresses that would have certainly done but I didn’t want one that just did.

Ingrid very kindly lent me two dresses to try, one from Coast, the other Per Una, both charity shop bargains and both stunning. I would have been very happy to wear either and even rethink my “anything from Per Una makes you look a bit mental” policy. Unfortunately, they are both strapless, and I just don’t have the chest to hold them up, even straps wouldn’t help, I just can’t fill them. Very disappointing. Now, if it had been my bum that was too small I wouldn’t have minded in the least.

I’ve asked friends what they are wearing and they’ve all got charity shop dresses or borrowed one. I’d love to think that it was the influence of this blog, but I’m sure it’s not. They, like me, want to wear something “new” but don’t see the point in spending lots of money on something that they’re only likely to wear once. I’m hoping they will let me take photos, so watch this space!

But my quest for a dress continues. I’ve still got a few options and if all else fails I’ll wear my wedding dress. I’ve always wanted an excuse to wear it again and where better than a Beaver Ball!

Bubbles, bakes and wearing purple.

This month is Pancreatic Cancer awareness month and Friday 13th November is World Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Day. This is a cause close to two of my friends who have lost loved ones to this dreadful disease. To help with a bit of fundraising, these two friends are taking part in something called Host for Hope a great idea of hosting a night in and getting baking! What could be more fun! The night is called Bubbles and Bakes – happy days. Now the bubbles part I am more than happy with but the baking element has got me quaking. I’m not a natural baker but I’m going to have a go, always reliant on the fact that if what I bake looks terrible I will say the kids helped me!
As an extra little twist, we’ve all been asked to wear purple. A great idea, I had a little look in my wardrobe but couldn’t really find anything I could wear, well apart from my purple boots – hurrah a reason to wear them and look like a middle aged super hero! So with a purple challenge I headed to the charity shops.

Looking for a specific colour in charity shops does make the process a little trickier, it takes less time as you can quickly skim through the rails but it is hard not to get side tracked! The Salvation Army is perfect for this as everything is sorted by colour which in this case was more Bonne Marche floral lilac not really my thing. I was a little disappointed that I couldn’t find anything in my favourite shop so I headed to my other fave Barnardos. This shop has a new manager and now has much less stock to rifle through, the layout is better but there it does feel like something is missing. I did however manage to stumble on a little turquoise coat for £2, what a steal! It was a size 14 but when I tried it on it felt a bit tight round my shoulder. Never mind, it’s a Butterfly by Matthew Williamson and its only £2 so I bought it. It wasn’t until I got home I realised it was actually not a size 15 but an age 14! On the one hand I’m quite pleased I can fit in a kids coat but on the other hand, I’m afraid I’ll be matching the local schoolgirls! Anyway, I digress.  Undeterred I nipped in to the British Heart Foundation shop and had a good old rummage, there is something about this shop which I find really homely. Maybe it’s the lovely lady who works there or maybe it’s the way it’s laid out, BHF does have a higher price point but it is a really nice shop. Happily I found a fabulous little purple and black skirt from M&S, it’s a 10, which is a bit snug, but so long as I don’t sit down (!) it should be fine! I’m going to finally wear my purple superhero boots and I’ve bought a lovely little necklace which should look ok so fingers crossed it will all work out! I must say I did feel a certain level of satisfaction as I legged it back to the car as my parking ticket had run out. I’d achieved a double result, buying from a charity shop to wear something for a charity do – hurrah!

Photos will be uploaded after our charity night; I’m really looking forward to it. Now for the small matter of baking a cake, step aside Nigella; the new finest baker is in town………

A family day out - to the charity shops.

Over half term, like Ingrid, I also went to Norfolk for a few days. We did absolutely nothing and it was lovely. We ate, sat around a bit, got the rowing boat out (we were on the Broads) then ate some more and had another sit down.

On the way home, seeing as we had done very little, we went to Norwich. We intended to be cultured and visit the castle and cathedral but we ended up just pottering around the shops. Now, you may find this hard to believe, seeing as this blog is essentially about shopping, but I don’t like shopping. A mooch around the charity shops for an hour, yes, I like but a full afternoon or day of shopping is not my idea of fun at all. So I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed myself. Norwich is full of independent shops which are crafty or vintage or just a bit different. I kept thinking that I should come back without my men folk for a proper perusal. I particularly liked Loose’s Emporium on Magdalen Street which is full of antiques and collectables, the weird and the wonderful, and had the best toilets. Even they were retro.

On the same street were lots of charity shops and the whole family likes these, my husband and I because we like a bargain and the boys as they know they have more of a chance of us buying something for them than they would in a normal shop.

We were in the Norfolk Cancer Charity shop which was crazy, in a good way. There was people, furniture and stuff everywhere. Younger son was happy as we found him a rucksack; I was flicking through the rails trying to dodge the men carrying a three piece suite and absent minded-ly listening to my elder son. “What’s this, Mum?” he asked pointing at a wooden criss-cross wine rack. “It’s a wine rack” I said “you keep bottles of wine in it”. It was not until I heard the lady near us burst into laughter that I registered his reply – “There’s no point in us buying that, Daddy just gurgles it down”

He’s quite right.