I always drink at lunchtime. It helps my imagination.

I hope you've all had a nice weekend. As usual, mine has gone by much too quickly. Although there were some obvious benefits of working in London on Friday (see last post) it did mean I got home a bit later than usual. Nic met me at the station, and we went to Millennium Sweet House to get curry for dinner. Nic was going out with Tom and Viv, so after I gave him a little fashion show of all of my new dresses, we had dinner and Nic went out. I had a really pleasant evening, knitting and then reading my new Barbara Pym novel, Some Tame Gazelle, in the bath with a glass of wine. It was just what I wanted after such a long week at work.

Unfortunately, I was so tired that I couldn't sleep properly so I was a very sleepy wee person when I got out of bed on Saturday morning. Sugar Plum and N were picking us up at 10 to go to Oxford for the Affordable Vintage Fashion Fair. I felt much better once I'd had some coffee and a boiled egg (from my Hornsea egg cup!) and I was excited about putting on one of my new dresses:
Fever New England dress and solea shoes. I'm just about to smile in this photo!

The vintage fair was a little bit disappointing. There was undoubtedly some great stuff there, but it was so crowded that it was impossible to see anything so neither Sugar Plum nor I bought anything. I was also uncomfortably aware of the vintage attitude towards health and safety - the fire doors were being propped open by the fire extinguishers, and the place was so rammed that if anything had happened it would have been a disaster. Still, we finished up nice and early and in good time to go to the covered market and get a tasty Pie Minister pie for lunch. NOM, seriously. Neither Sugar Plum nor N had sampled Pie Minister's delights before so I was very happy to treat them to lunch by way of thanks for the trip to Oxford. Sugar Plum and I headed to Aspire because there were a few dresses I wanted to try on, mainly to get her opinion, but neither of them were quite right. After a quick drink in Chequers, we headed off our separate ways. Nic and I went to Blackwell's to have a look in their second-hand department, and just pottered around the back streets of Oxford. The weather was utterly dismal, so we retired to the Turf Tavern to have a drink and warm up a little bit. It was very lovely - we got a seat in the window and Nic sampled a local ale:





The Turf Tavern appears in an episode of Inspector Morse, apparently, and this is commemorated on a board outside:


Shortly afterwards we met Sugar Plum and N again. Sugar Plum and I pottered around a few more shops while Nic and N went to Chequers. I bought Nic some cufflinks in Octopus, which are really cool - one has Humphrey Bogart on it and the other Lauren Bacall. Sugar Plum found a beautiful carpet bag in an eccentric vintage shop on Ship Street called Unicorn, and then we headed back to the pub to meet the boys. It was a very enjoyable day, even though I find Oxford on a Saturday to be quite crowded and stressful.

I was exhausted by the time we got home, and although Sugar Plum and M were coming to my house for tea and a girly night, I was in really bad form and Nic came home from watching a movie with N and Tom to find me in tears in bed. It was very silly and came mainly from being so tired, but I have been feeling very sensitive recently. I'm very lucky that Nic is so kind and so understanding, and after a long talk with him I was able to go to sleep feeling much better.

Our plan for today was to take a walk over to Warwick for a pub lunch, which is just what we did. I opted for sensible shoes and, both of us wrapped up warm, we headed out:
Fever long beach dress, belt from Accessorize, red cowboy boots from Office

Our lunch was amazing - we went to the Wetherspoon's in the Market Square in Warwick and we both had the Portobello mushroom and chickpea roast. It was delicious, and it was very pleasant to sit in the pub and read the paper and chat. The walk back perked me up as well, it was cold and bracing and just what was in order. I spotted some snowdrops growing in the gardens along the way and felt excited for the coming of Spring, and for all of the wonderful things that Nic and I have got planned for the next few months. Life is good.