{"id":6531,"date":"2022-03-03T08:51:02","date_gmt":"2022-03-03T08:51:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/frugalfashionshopper.co.uk\/?p=6531"},"modified":"2022-03-03T08:51:02","modified_gmt":"2022-03-03T08:51:02","slug":"the-as-usual-late-end-of-the-month-review-february-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/frugalfashionshopper.co.uk\/wp\/the-as-usual-late-end-of-the-month-review-february-2022\/","title":{"rendered":"The (as usual) late end-of-the-month review. February 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hi everyone<\/p>\n

I apologise, late again, but life got in the way! More about that in another post, I think. Anyway, what a month! \u00a0It began with me at the tail end of having a series of viruses (not Covid) which I think I got from my lovely new grandson who is now going to nursery, which is a veritable petri dish for bugs! \u00a0I am better.<\/p>\n

I’ve been pruning my wardrobe big time and many items have gone either to be sold or to the charity shop. But I have to tell you, that wonderful grey tweed jacket you saw in the last post? I only tried to sell it the previous month. But phew and thanks all round as it didn’t sell and was returned to me, and gosh when I saw it and wore it again, particularly with my amazing ruffled skirt, I thought I am too darn quick sometimes to get rid of clothes.<\/p>\n

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Earlier this winter I also tried to get rid of this skirt, which was returned unsold. This is an old photo – the shot is taken last year when I had long, long hair.<\/p>\n

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I thought the green a rather dull colour, but actually I’ve warmed to it and have worn the skirt many times since I got it back from the dress agency, especially on cold days!<\/p>\n

You know I sometimes see other bloggers, or articles in fashion mags, praising the no-socks gap between the end of the jeans\/pants and their shoes. Brrrr, that’s a style that’s far too cold for me. In the winter I wear a long skirt with leggings and thick socks, and I wear long fur-lined boots when I go out over these layers, and for me even though it’s the beginning of March it’s still too cold to attempt that look.<\/p>\n

But the days are getting lighter and the daffodils are coming out and, oh joy, Spring is approaching.<\/p>\n

And yet, and yet, we have a war in Europe. Do you remember a time when the only thing we worried about was Covid – I didn’t realise that these were happy times. I won’t write any more on the subject of Ukraine as I have already written two posts on My Other Blog and plan more, of which one is running around my head right now.<\/p>\n

Owing to the viruses and this and that I haven’t done much apart from seeing good friends and family, of course. But we have done the usual gogglebox watching and I have done much reading – and writing!<\/p>\n

Films and TV<\/strong><\/p>\n

Actually we only watched two films, which is quite atypical for us as we usually watch at least four films, but not this month. So, last weekend having gawped at rather too much of the news we decided to watch something that would take us completely away from reality – yes, we fancied something in the disaster genre! \u00a0But one with a kind of happy ending so we watched\u00a0The Day After Tomorrow (Amazon)<\/strong> and really, it is a Hollywood, don’t worry, it’ll be OK, people survive (not all though) but wow, look at this disaster unfolding (around climate change) kind of film. \u00a0We found it quite relaxing to watch!<\/p>\n

The previous weekend we watched Last Night in Soho (Amazon)<\/strong> starring Anna Taylor-Joy and Thomasin McKenzie. It also has wonderfully sleazy Matt Smith, and then there’s Terence Stamp and a small but key part played by Diana Rigg in her last film role. Now that was an interesting film, it’s a psychological thriller, bordering on horror movie, but it’s OK. It’s all about a present day young woman getting into a fantasy world of the early 60s, and I have to say having lived through the 60s I really enjoyed the depiction of Soho, the clothes, the hairstyles, the cars and the music. \u00a0A really enjoyable watch, but if you don’t like jeopardy of any sort – avoid.<\/p>\n

Of course, Anna Taylor-Joy has a key role in Peaky Blinders<\/strong>\u00a0(BBC iPlayer)<\/strong> which has returned for its last series. And I see her name is now added at the end of the cast list as\u00a0with<\/em><\/strong> Anna Taylor-Joy, to denote, I suppose, her status as a rising star in the film industry. Oh Peaky Blinders, it is soooooo good and I won’t give you any of the plot because if you’ve been watching the previous series, you’ll know it’s much of the same, but there’s always a new scam. \u00a0And if you haven’t watched it, do start at Series 1 which is on Netflix. By the way, they have dealt with the death of Helen McCrory very well. I was so sad when I heard that she had died – far too early, far too young. You were so beautiful and a great actor – RIP Helen McCrory.<\/p>\n

We have finished watching The White Lotus (Nowtv)<\/strong> which has put me off ever wanting to stay in a posh expensive hotel. The people, the people, no thanks! But this first series (apparently there will be Series 2) is such a fantasy of high-end life with the hotel’s dysfunctional staff and dysfunctional guests, and so unlike my life I found it quite addictive, but I’m not sure if I actually liked it. Try it and see.<\/p>\n

We also finished Yellowjackets (Nowtv)<\/strong> which is all about a young female football team who while flying to a footie match crash somewhere in the South African jungle and survive – somehow. Did I really like it? Not sure.<\/p>\n

And then there was Trigger Point (ITV Hub)<\/strong> which has just finished. Quite gripping, but a bomb in every episode? \u00a0It got a bit samey! Not sure if I would watch another series.<\/p>\n

I have dipped my toe into watching The Gilded Age (Nowtv)<\/strong> and watched one episode. I see that it is written by Julian Fellowes and is an exact replica of Downton Abbey transferred to New York. \u00a0It’s very pretty and the costumes are divine but can I take the snobbery from ‘old’ New York? Anyone else watched it – should I continue?<\/p>\n

It’s not that I haven’t enjoyed much of what I’ve watched, it’s just that I have felt a little unsatisfied with the depth and quality of these series. However, one series I adore is The Marvellous Mrs Maisel\u00a0(Amazon)<\/strong> and we’re on Series 4 now. Gosh I love this so. It’s the clothes, the colours, oh my word, the colours are gorgeous, and the characters, Midge Maisel’s father, for instance, is just wonderful and I simply love the depiction of this Jewish New York life.<\/p>\n

And I also really liked\u00a0Reacher (Netflix)<\/strong>. Do any of you read those Reacher books? They’re very formulaic but quite relaxing to read and very much the epitome of a page-turner. I read many and then stopped as I began think the character, Reacher, was rather dysfunctional and got bored with what, yet another mystery to be solved by our hero coming to the rescue of whoever. Well, Tom Cruise made a film of one of those books and it was OK but all you could do was giggle at the very idea of Tom Cruise taking on Reacher as a role, because, well, Tom is small and Reacher is very tall and built like brick house. This Reacher was the right size and we both really, really enjoyed this first series. More please.<\/p>\n

We’ve watched two excellent documentaries: one was Versus: the Life and Films of Ken Loach (BBCiPlayer)\u00a0<\/strong>and \u00a0if you’ve not come across this wonderful director this would be good start. \u00a0He began his controversial career on television with Cathy Come Home, perhaps the first depiction of working-class life in the raw, and a shocking indictment of the housing policies of the day. For 50 years Loach has continued to be controversial and radical, and it’s altogether a fascinating look at his life and politics. And currently we are watching the 1998 doc Bruce Springsteen: A Secret History (BBCiPlayer)<\/strong>. Oh, the Boss, I do love him and his songs. It’s an excellent watch.<\/p>\n

Books<\/strong><\/p>\n

I continue to buy books from the local charity shops and consequently took two of them back after reading one chapter. I read all of\u00a0Midnight Library by Matt Haig<\/strong>\u00a0which had a serious theme: should one take ones life, and how should you live a life anyway? But funnily enough I thought it too light and felt unsatisfied after reading it. Thankfully I’d picked up two of Helen Dunmore’s books (my now favourite author) one was Zennor in Darkness<\/strong>, which is a fictionalised story of DH Lawrence’s (real-life) stay in Cornwall. It was her first book and not her best as the writing was a bit florid, but good nevertheless. And the second Dunmore book was The Greatcoat<\/strong>, a ghost story set just after the war. Again it was OK but rather too light for me. \u00a0All the other Dunmore books have been superb and two, The Siege and The Betrayal<\/strong> are at the level of Tolstoy and I don’t say that in jest. They really are magnificent books and just the kind of book I like to read.<\/p>\n

That’s all for now, may you all sleep well through the anxiety of our times. My heart is with Ukraine and its people and a million thanks to all those wonderful neighbouring countries taking in now over 1 million refugees\ud83d\udc99\ud83d\udc9b<\/p>\n

With love, Penny, the Frugalfashionshopper<\/em><\/p>\n

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Hi everyone I apologise, late again, but life got in the way! More about that in another post, I think. Anyway, what a month! \u00a0It began with me at the tail end of having a series of viruses (not Covid)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[161,1],"tags":[136,49,70,134,75,93,112],"class_list":["post-6531","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-films-books","category-uncategorized","tag-books","tag-charity-shop","tag-fashion","tag-films","tag-frugal-fashion-shopper","tag-older-women","tag-thrift-store"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/frugalfashionshopper.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6531","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/frugalfashionshopper.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/frugalfashionshopper.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frugalfashionshopper.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frugalfashionshopper.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6531"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/frugalfashionshopper.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6531\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6542,"href":"https:\/\/frugalfashionshopper.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6531\/revisions\/6542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/frugalfashionshopper.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frugalfashionshopper.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frugalfashionshopper.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}