Oh how this heatwave has caused a major summer clothes re-think! At the end of last summer I made a concious decision to only buy summer dresses with sleeves. Fed up of showing off the upper arms of a Russian Shot Putter (as OH calls them), I decided to take cover, after all, how hard could it be? We never have the greatest of summers here in the UK so I really didn't consider it would be a problem, until of course, someone decided to send us a heatwave! Seriously guys this must be the longest and hottest spell of decent weather we have had for many years and although I lived through and enjoyed the summer of 76, I didn't have housework and ironing to contend with, nor did I have a job that can see me working up a sweat when doing a full leg wax, so this year things have certainly been different.
I can cope perfectly adequately on holiday with an air conditioned apartment and a swimming pool although I do get a tad annoyed if my make-up begins to melt on the walk to a restaurant, but on the whole, it's so different abroad.
So the last few weeks have seen me tearing my hair out in a quest to buy some new strappy or sleevless dresses and with the sales on their last knockings, I couldn't find a thing online in my size and within budget.
I had to do a H&M order and couldn't refuse this dress for just £4! Worth every penny even if I only wear it to do the housework.
Shops in town are few and far between so I had a look around Tesco when doing a bit of food shopping, see I told you I was desperate, I've never bought an item of clothing in there before! Everything was in small sizes with hardly a 16 in sight but I picked up a ditsy floral day dress for £12.
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| Coping really badly with the hottest day of the year! |
Then Saturday I had to make an emergency trip to Bluewater (which I could of really done without a few days before my holiday) to take back my Russell and Bromley "Laura" sandals which decided to break last week! I knew I couldn't go on holiday without them as they are my only silver pair so I was really hoping they would exchange them without question.
Sadly they were all out in my size and only had white in a six, which I didn't really want, so I went for the silver in a size 7, deciding that they didn't really look too big on, obviously I wouldn't be able to size up in a closed in shoe, but in a sandal, not a problem. Luckily they didn't even question my return after I was all fired up and armed with "I don't expect this to happen with a product from a brand renowned for it's quality footwear" etc etc.
A relaxing Lemon Spritz outside in the sunshine to celebrate my exchange whilst Chloe and Charlie were in the cinema watching Monsters University, was swiftly followed by a scout around for more lightweight summer dresses which pretty much resulted in nothing in my size, as expected. I popped into Gap to have a look at new season offerings and sitting there in a section entitled "Back to Basics" were two dresses which were just perfect, a soft jersey grey strappy number and a white sleeveless A-Line with pintuck detailing down the front which will make the perfect holiday dress. The purchase left me feeling slightly guilty having bought five dresses in the last month and my quality over quantity mantra completely in tatters!
Then I heard that one of the headlines on the news on Daybreak on Tuesday morning was "how the heatwave has had people rushing to buy their summer wardrobe", well I hope they haven't had as many problems buying summer clothes as I have!
How have you coped with the recent heatwave?