My Best Charity Shop Finds & Buys

Banana shoes, American first edition, v cheap designer, why cats paint, a bag full of cassettes

Hello! Thank you for being here.

Here’s my latest dispatch from my local charity shops

Vans

Hard to believe I’m writing this but I’m trying to wear more colour. My five year old son, once the snappiest dressed child in West London, now keeps asking to wear black clothes. This, I think, could be influenced by me, a middle-aged goth. So I’m trying my best to inject a bit of the rainbow into my wardrobe.

I found these yellow suede Vans at my local car boot for £5. They were brand new and yet just one week in my company discoloured them to that of a ripe banana.

American first edition

Not worth a huge amount but I always think it’s nice to own a first edition (an added bonus when the book looks nice too).

Napapijri top

I decided to take a chance on my local Barnardo's, truly one of the worst charity shops local to me. The chazza shop gods repaid me with this Napapijri top. And the woman at the till knocked a further three quid off it.

Regretfully Didn’t Buy

Not quite sure why I left this behind in the charity shop. Why do cats paint? I guess we’ll never know.

Found

Not a charity shop find but a discarded bag full of cassette tapes instead, found on a street near my house. I didn’t find anything interesting (this person truly had terrible taste) but I did look 100% crazy combing through the bins

Lucas

This Sunday marks one whole year without Lucas, our beloved cat. I had planned to write something beautiful for him but found I couldn’t put into words just how much he meant to us. We spent almost 18 years together and it’s still hard to believe, even now, that we will never see him again. He died the day after Eurovision and I know you will think this is mad! But I believe he waited, giving everyone at our annual party a chance to stay goodbye to him before slipping away quietly and peacefully under our bed the next day. I cry all the time thinking about him and I am crying now, writing this. I love you, Lucas.