The Classic Car Boot Sale

 Is it even a decent vintage fair if Kinky Melon isn't there?

On Saturday I popped to the Classic Car Boot Sale in London. It's held at King's Cross and Vix had said it's very good, so I was keen to go along to do a spot of shopping, see other vintage lovers and of course say "Hi" to Vix and Jon. I tried to look nice for the occasion in an original vintage dress, plus a cardigan knitted to a 90s pattern, home-made socks and black brogues. (I believe from the way the fabric handles and nylon zip that the dress is 60s, though it's more of a 50s shape. Probably means it was intended for the frumpier end of the market...)


I was actually pretty impressed with the site. There were a few beautiful vintage cars about the place - not as many as you see at festivals, naturally, but more than you'd usually expect in central London - plus food stalls and the stalls selling goods. There were plenty of homewares stalls, and lots and lots of clothing ones, including one specialising in plus sizes. Everything in my size was from well-known repro brands, not original vintage, but I'm still going to applaud the fact that someone was catering to plus sizes! There was another stall with a stash of vintage sewing patterns that I had to tear myself away from.

I've mentioned over the past few months that I've been trying to lose weight. It is working. I'm probably about 10lbs down now. My face definitely looks thinner than the last time I was photographed alongside Vix. Because of the weight loss progress I told myself I wasn't going to buy any clothes, I was just going to stick to accessories and wait till I could get into all the lovely vintage that's hanging unworn in the wardrobe. BUT KINKY MELON. I bought a fabulous 60s Peggy Page jacket from their stall. And you will be amazed to hear that it's not navy – it's green floral. I can't do it up at the front, but thanks to my small bone structure/narrow back I can get it on, so I'll just wear it unfastened till it fits. It's lightweight and unlined, so I plan to wear it over dresses in winter, as a smart alternative to a cardi. It's more towards the lime/olive end of the green spectrum, and my lime green brogues are a surprisingly good match for it.

Vix also gave me a beautiful 60s silk scarf in pink, blue and yellow, and a collection of Needlecraft magazines in perfect condition, with their original transfers still inside. The magazines will be put carefully in the special boxes I have for my vintage craft mags when I'm not browsing through them.

The other thing I bought was from a stall specialising in vintage prints. I probably wouldn't have looked at it, but a vintage print of Burma caught my eye. They had a whole series of these 50s-60s pamphlet covers, and India and Spain were also in there. IT WAS A SIGN. Three of the places I've most enjoyed travelling to with Mr Robot, in one place? £15 each seemed a lot of money, but I had to have them. They'll either go in our dining room, which is full of jali wood furniture and things we've acquired on our travels (our house is a two-up-two-down, so to go to any other room you have to pass through the dining room, and we'd see the pictures all the time), or they could go in our new bedroom if/when we eventually get round to doing the loft conversion. (All those plans? Out the window with them!)

I didn't spend as long at the CCBS as I'd expected to because the main reason I was in London was to see my pal Sam. (I visited her in Bristol earlier this year but she's since moved to the Big Smoke.) Originally I'd planned for us to potter round the fair together, but she'd had an appointment come up for that morning, so I visited the fair alone, then got the train out to Shoreditch to pretend I was a hipster half my age. We had lunch at Voodoo Ray's, which does the best pizza ever AND sells frozen margaritas, then did a spot of shopping, nipping to the edge of the Square Mile (where I spotted a new-to-me City Of London dragon; gotta catch 'em all!) for a computer cable, then back to Shoreditch to poke around in Beyond Retro, where it was so weird seeing the sort of 90s stuff I remember seeing in shops brand new, and have a cuppa on Brick Lane before I headed home.

It was a lovely day.