Sunday 19 October 2014

Lots of lovely Lifestyle


How many people do you know who wear a hat to make a blog-post? Stylish, or what?

Actually, at this time of the year, the sun blares right into the front windows of our compact but adorable city apartment (welcome home, Mise), so if I don't wear something with a brim, I can't see what I am writing. It could be worse, it could be a baseball cap.

Also actually, this hat is one of two that I have bought, and they are called 'Irish Walking Hats'. Well they are made in Ireland (welcome back, Mise), but they don't improve my walking.

You all know very well by now, the problems I have had over the last few years trying to find the perfect tweed hat (below) as worn by Basil Rathbone, and you may remember the excuse which a top London Hatter made when I asked why they couldn't make one of their own models with an extra half an inch of brim on it, just for me: "There is a shortage of Harris Tweed, Sir."

Of course, Harris Tweed is a Scottish product, and this hat is Irish. I know that the Japanese and Italians try to buy as much Harris tweed as they can lay the hands on - they virtually pull it off the loom -  but an extra half-inch on one hat? I mean, really.

Step-Daughter works for a small company which commissions  and sells cashmere products, and these are all made in one small area of East Scotland. At the moment, the Bath branch is about 500 yards away from here, but they are about to relocate to different premises - right beneath our compact but adorable city apartment.

S.D. was born in London but brought up in this flat, and I first met her when she was 4 years old. In the intervening 40 years, she has moved to London where she was the general manager of 'Whistles' for the original owners, moved back to the Frome area where she brought up her two lovely kids, moved back into Bath to continue to work in fashion retail, and has ended up right where she started at the compact but adorable city apartment.

Tomorrow she has a day off, and I am combining business with pleasure by visiting a client in the Oxford area, then dropping her and her mother at Bicester Village - again - so she can have a bit of a busman's holiday.

They just cannot get enough of this Lifestyle malarky.


27 comments:

  1. Oops - I have just noticed the deeply unfashionable paper lantern in shot. Too late to edit it out now.

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    1. We changed our paper lanterns with smaller plain white opaque glass " balls" many years ago, and were truly thankful that we did!! Like the hat.John Lewis sell a Harris Tweed sofa and chair set…… rather lovely and unusual ...very difficult to create a room around though!

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    2. You could make a few hats from it though.

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  2. Not wishing to upstage you but I frequently wear a hat whilst blog-posting. I am very pleased to see you in yours. That paper lantern is so 1970s or even late 1960s, I am sure it will come back into fashion if you wait long enough. I seem to recall you've got the cheese plant to go with it somewhere in your adorable city apartment.

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    1. The cheese plant is taking over the compact apartment, and this must be the 15th paper lamp we have bought since the 1970s.

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  3. Do you have a tiny Pheasant feather tucked into the rim?

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    1. There was one, but I immediately pulled it out and threw it away.

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  4. We all buy into the Lifestyle malarky Tom, whether we like it or not…… even you !!
    Our son and daughter-in-law got married in a Tythe Barn near Bicester { 6 years ago yesterday actually } and some of the guests went to Bicester Village the day after the wedding on their way home { the ones that weren't hung over !! } I've never had much success shopping there ……. when I've been, it all seemed to be a bit tacky and it feels like Disney World !. Perhaps I was looking in the wrong shops.
    …. those paper lampshades never hang properly, do they ?
    Nice blogging hat. XXXX

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    1. No, those lamps are very inexpensive pain in the arse when it comes to hanging straight. H.I. always says that 'the ones in the shops hang straight', and I say that is because they are not linked to a fucking cable - after I have finished screaming.

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    2. During the Summer, the flies use these lampshades as an airport and toilet - simultaneously.

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  5. So it's going to be H.I. and S.D, in future is it?

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    1. I don't believe you have mentioned S.D. living there with you before. I have an S.D. who was born in 1971 although I never consider her an S.D. She is like a best friend and she is my cleaner while she brings up her children! That is why we party when I am here on her cleaning days!

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    2. There is a lot of stuff I explained before you came onto my little scene here, which is why I don't feel too bad about repeating myself. It's nice to have non-blood relatives (we call them 'mud-bloods') and the nicest are the grand children. A little boy who I hardly know ran up to me today, shouting my nick-name and jumping into my arms for a hug. He has known my nick-name since he could actually pronounce one word. This gives an added sparkle to life for me.

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    3. It gives me a dimension I never thought I would have wanted in my life but I have to admit I buy lots of things for them all, the grandchildren, V, and W, and mum, the cleaner, and I love them all. Why do you think I have so much fun on cleaning day when I am here!

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  6. The many, many hats I have - but don't wear while blogging, except the broad rimmed straw hat on the sunny balcony.
    As to Japan balloons: we moved often, and I have learned what it means when husband says: "Just for the while till we bought real lamps" - you bet... but now I've got used to them or their successors, and think there are much more horrid lamps than Japan balloons on the market. (Beautiful Italians, but really awful-most-of-lamps, munching away all the light. they should shed...) We have one beautiful crystal chandeller though.

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    1. I wish I had bought all the crystal chandeliers here when they were cheap. £2000 minimum now.

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  7. Last time I saw John Betjeman, he was wearing that very same hat. It looks better on you, of course.

    Are any of these any good to you?
    http://www.galwaybaygifts.com/hats-caps-clothing/other-caps-and-hats

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    1. Thanks for the link, but - sad to say - I have two of the very same already, so won't be getting a third - or 't'ird', as it is pronounced in Donegal.

      My friend made Betjeman's gravestone, so it probably does look better on me now.

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  8. Is there really an e in the middle of Rathbone?
    Wearing a hat indoors to shade your face from the sun - what about ablind at the window? But I must say the photo makes you look rather mysterious - perhaps that was the idea.

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    1. I really don't know, Weave. I'll have to look it up. You wouldn't the mystery revealed,.

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    2. No there isn't. I'll delete it.

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  9. The word 'fetching' comes to mind ...

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