One of the things I miss most about England is the vast array and variety of charity shops. I grew up in a small Bucks town, and the high street had more charity shops than newsagents, grocers, supermarkets and cafes combined.
In Brussels, there is much less of a culture of this kind of shop. In fact, I have only been able to identify two such shops in the whole of Brussels, and one of them is on my street. Yippee!
They are staffed by volunteers and so have opening hours which mean I very rarely get inside. However, on Saturday, I walked past and saw a coat in the window that I fell in love with, so I worked through lunch on Monday to be able to leave work early and I dashed to the Oxfam.
It was a very efficient stop, as I only had half an hour to browse and try on and select and negotiate with myself. In the end, my purchases were all items I like, that fit me well and that fulfill a current gap in my wardrobe. My old coat is over ten years old, and was my sister's before I rehomed it. It is no longer waterproof, so needed replacing before winter anyway. (Scarf is mine, also *ahem* rescued from my sister).
New jeans - they fit magically! I think this is the best fit of jeans I have ever experienced, and they were the first pair I picked up in the shop. It's fate... Especially as my last pair are greatly misshapen due to weight loss and gain over the last year.
New shirts - I don't have enough work clothes, so these will do nicely once I've replaced the buttons and maybe taken them in slightly. The one below is Thomas Pink - nice!
That's my winter wardrobe about sorted! Can you guess how much it all cost me in total?
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