Pick'n'Mix - the joy of the chaz in '26!

goldfinches

@DigForVictory - Oh I remember that stage, isn't it infuriating! I'm sure I ground several microns off my teeth during those years.

@beanielou - I was also interested in hearing about the book nook because I'm in the process of rearranging my bedroom to give me a reading corner and am beginning to think that I should swap to a different e-reader so I'll be looking at your reply.

I haven't been charity shopping this weekend because it rained as soon as I set out yesterday and today it was so lovely and sunny that I couldn't bear to waste a minute indoors. However, I am now going to do the washing up followed by sorting through my hall to see what can be donated tomorrow morning, hopefully I'll be able to remove at least one bag for life full.

goldfinches

I dropped in to my favourite bhf shop at lunchtime today and snapped up this Persephone edition as well as a dvd of Brief Encounter which was still in its cellophane wrapping.

Rosa_Damascena

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81896399#Comment_81896399

I hadn't heard of this book before but it looks good: https://persephonebooks.co.uk/products/the-expendable-man

DigForVictory

It certainly does! "When The Expendable Man first came out, the New York Times called it ‘Mrs Hughes’s finest work to date, of unusual stature both as a suspense story and as a straight novel’, commending its ‘unrelenting suspense, deft trickery and firmly penetrating treatment of individual and social problems.’ As a purveyor of brilliantly-constructed mid-century noir, Hughes ranks with the likes of Raymond Chandler and Patricia Highsmith, at the same time incorporating themes of race, the environment, and women's rights. She is also fascinating about Arizona in the '60s."

I think it may have been given someone & they failed to appreciate the understated exterior. That or they "can't be doing with" the likes of Raymond Chandler and Patricia Highsmith, & fair enough, but lucky you @goldfinches !

Miró

Blimey, what a change in the weather! 14 degrees, no rain today and the park is a riot of blue & mauve crocuses. My trip to Otley in glorious sunshine resulted in a couple of nice finds from the St Gemma’s 99p shop. A b/n blue Brooke Taverner shirt and an M&S midaxi dress in a red leopard print stylee fabric. Each was 99p of course. The funny thing was tho….the very next chazza I called into had the same style/make/colour/size dress….priced at £11.99! 😁 The 99p shop is moving into larger premises in just over a week - heaven help my wardrobe space! On Sunday, in Northallerton I found an F&F tunic stylee top in a heavy burgundy jersey, a pefect match for some chazza burgundy trousers.

Rosa_Damascena

14 degrees in Yorkshire? Things are looking up 😁

It was lovely today, I went out in the early afternoon as I didn't get a chance to walk whilst still light yesterday and was similarly bathed in welcome sunlight. I of course couldn't resist hopping into the local chaz and came away with no money spent but a smile on my face. Its amazing what a dose of vitamin D can do for the mood!

Magpie100

@goldfinches I love Persephone books - would buy any of them second hand! And it sounds brilliant… off to look at the Persephone website for a bit…

goldfinches

@Rosa_Damascena and @Magpie100 I've just bought a ticket for the Persephone showing of the silent film version of The Homemaker which is one of my top two Persephones and am planning to spend a day or so in Bath trotting round all the charity shops. Does anybody else fancy joining me?

@DigForVictory - I really like the Persephone jackets and find them quite easy to spot if I'm doing a quick scan of a bookshelf anywhere but I do notice that fewer seem to be being donated for the last couple of years. I used to come across them so frequently that I kept a list of the numbers I already owned in my phone to stop me buying duplicates. My favourite bit by far is the endpapers though and that's one of the things I really look forward to finding out when they announce the new books.

@Miró - the 99p shop is obviously doing a roaring trade and I do particularly like the shirt cuffs. It's interesting when you spot the same item at different prices isn't it.

I walked past my favourite bhf shop without going inside today because I was so enjoying the sunshine and relative warmth here, 11C, that I couldn't bear to go indoors. Tomorrow I have to go to a meeting along the Cowley Road so I'm hoping it will end promptly and I can spend my lunchtime moseying home by way of Oxfam and Dr Barnardo's.

Miró

@goldfinches I have a trip to Bath* booked for the middle of April….specifically to see the Xandra Rhodes exhibition at the Holborn. Have always admired her work, not specifically her clothing but her fabric designs❤️. I used to have a couple of her dresses but have no idea what happened to them!! Please report back re your chazza experiences in Bath as I am bound to end up 'doing the rounds' 🙄

(off to Google 'Persephone'??)

goldfinches

@Miró - oh how nice and thankyou for the tip off about the Zandra Rhodes exhibition which I hadn't realised was on. I've booked a room at the Queensberry Hotel to be on the west side of the river because getting across the Pulteney Bridge is always such a scrum and because I wanted to have lunch in their Michelin starred restaurant.

Persephone Books is here and I heartily recommend the newsletters which are always interesting, this month's was about HM Queen Camilla visiting the shop and says that she had also visited the Holburne Museum so you clearly have very regal taste.

I didn't manage to visit any of the charity shops on the Cowley Road this morning but did drop into the Sue Ryder shop in Abingdon this afternoon after a visit to the Abingdon Museum to see these beautiful paintings.

The shop was interestingly full of clothes in a huge range of sizes, up to 24 for women, all arranged by size and colour with a lot of children's clothes and toys including several bicycles. Disappointingly for me there were very few books and no interesting cookware at all so I didn't buy anything and it was too late to visit any more shops as they all close by 5pm and some closed at 4 or 4:30pm. I think I'll try to go back another day specifically to trot round the charity shops even though all the bus fares in Oxford have just gone up so it now costs £6 for a return ticket which feels a lot more than the previous £4.50 somehow. I'll have to do some research into safe cycling routes instead.