Kurt Geiger brogues, Coldplay, spaceman madness & motorbikes | link-up

Hello lovely people! First off, I must apologise for my lack of the link-up last week. I had the post all set up and ready to go. The thing is, it was a ‘collaborative post’ and the person who I was collaborating with didn’t get back to me in time to share it with you last week. Unfortunately, she still hasn’t, so I will have to wait. I think she might be on holiday. I’m eager to share it with you though, because it’s all about the jewellery I inherited from my late MIL last year. Fingers crossed, I’ll be able to post it next week. So stay tuned! As for today’s post, I hadn’t got anything else sorted out either so I figured I would just start typing and see where it takes me, (just knowing I might mention my spaceman and motorbikes). I feel like I’ve been really busy lately but I have no photos to show for it. We haven’t been anywhere worthy of any special outfits either. I have, however, bought the most fabulous pair of Kurt Geiger brogue platforms from Vinted. The second I spotted them, I favourited them. I left it a couple of weeks and because I couldn’t get them off my mind, I eventually went ahead and made the purchase…

Aren’t they absolutely fabulous?! I’ve really been coveting everything Kurt Geiger lately and so I can’t wait to wear them! However, with me hardly wearing shoes over the past few months (on account of the hot Algarve weather), my feet seem to have grown a tad lol. It’s normal for this time of year, so I’m hoping by October, they’ll have reduced in size again. But, just to be on the safe side, I think I’m going to buy some shoe stretchers. I’ve been doing a bit of reading up on them and it appears they might stretch leather shoes up to half a size, which will allow me to wear a pair of socks with the Kurt Geiger brogue platforms. But I shall keep you posted on that! In the meantime, I’m also eyeing up the Kurt Geiger sliders but perhaps I ought to wait a bit lol.

I also bought a t-shirt from Vinted that I couldn’t stop thinking about either. It’s really silly too…let me explain. When we went to Switzerland late last year, I spotted a keyring in a shop window that really appealed to me. But we didn’t bother going in to have a look because, well…Switzerland is freaking expensive LOL! So we figured it would be stupid money for a little keyring.

When we went back to Switzerland a couple of months ago, we walked past the same shop and saw the keyring was still there. This time, though, we went in and asked about it. It was only 25 euros so we promptly bought it! It’s a little spaceman…

And here’s the t-shirt I bought from Vinted. It has a spaceman on it! What is it with me and spacemen at the moment…?!

But that wasn’t the end of it. The main reason why we went to Switzerland recently was that we’d managed to get some tickets to go and see Coldplay. It was my first ever proper concert (can you believe it…at aged 47?!). Anyway, I’ve always shied away from things like that because I tend to get a bit claustrophobic around big crowds of people but Michael is a HUGE fan of the group and I wanted to go for him. Plus, I had watched the Coldplay documentary and become a bit of a fan myself. Have you seen it? I think it might be on Amazon Prime. If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it. It will give you a new respect for the group. They’re so down to earth and have worked hard to get where they’re at right now. They’re genuinely a group of really decent guys.

But I digress…we got to the stadium where they were playing and I was nervous but super excited. Michael and I bought t-shirts first and then went with our friends to take our seats. It was literally full of people, thousands of them. But the ambience was calm and collected. It didn’t take me long to calm down. Before they’d even started, I was crying lol. That’s what the atmosphere was like. Electric. We all ended up crying on numerous occasions. Seriously, there was something so deeply spiritual about the performance. It took our breaths away. I loved EVERY FREAKING SECOND! And at one point, somebody let a helium balloon go and we watched it drift up into the sky. Can you guess what the balloon was? Yep…a spaceman! Weird, huh?

So now I’ve got a bit of a thing for all things spaceman lol! While we were in Zurich, Michael bought a couple of really special things for me. The first was a beautiful black velvet gilet from Moncler! I just need some cool weather so I can wear it! Seriously, it’s gorgeous! The other treat was a Marc Jacobs tote which I’d had my eye on for a while. Stupidly, and very unfortunately, I managed to get oil on it from a damn e-scooter. OMG I was gutted. When we got home to Portugal, I tried to get it off with Bicarbonate of Soda which worked to a certain extent. The worst of it has gone, but there’s now another mark from scrubbing it so much and the stain spreading a little. My good pal Sarah suggested talcum powder and a soft toothbrush but I’m a bit scared to try again. But I shall…because it was a bloody expensive bag!! Here’s the before, the during and the after. I shall share another picture with you when I’ve had another go!

And on to other news…a couple of weeks ago, we headed up to Lisbon to collect Michael’s new motorbike! He’s always had bikes, ever since he was five years old. He really is a motorhead lol. But lately, he’s been wanting to change his crazy fast bike for something that we can both go out on and enjoy some leisurely ‘touring’ with friends. So he bought a Ducati Desert X. It’s unlike any bike he’s ever had but we both love it. Bearing in mind that I haven’t been motorbiking for over ten years because I always hated it. I hated all the gear and the fact that the bikes were always so damn uncomfortable. Now, however, things are so very different. I have gear that feels comfy, and a bike that doesn’t give me chronic back ache or makes me want a wee every five minutes!! My only problem is my glasses. It’s not very easy putting them on when you’ve got the helmet on, and when I do manage, they don’t quite sit right and end up hurting my head! But I’ll figure it out, I’m sure.

We bought my gear the day before we collected the bike (Michael bought his stuff about a month ago) from a great little shop in Lisbon. The guys in there were super helpful and fun. When I walked in, I said, “I want a pink helmet” so I guess he knew what he was in for he he he. Anyway, I couldn’t find a Barbie style helmet (!) so I got the next best thing…

Isn’t it pretty? Ideally, I wanted to get a pink jacket too, but that was pushing it! I ended up with a black biker jacket with all the protection in it, some jeans with protection, ankle boots and gloves. And now we’re all set. We’ve been out on it a couple of times and we love it. I just had a thought—perhaps I should’ve asked if he had a helmet with a spaceman on it? I never even thought!! lol.

Right, I think I’ve probably warbled on enough now, wouldn’t you agree? Just one last thing…I’m now on Bluesky, the new rival to Twitter (or X or whatever it’s called these days!) and I’d love to connect with you on there. So if you’re new to it, please give me a follow so I can follow you right back! You can find me here: thegreybrunette.bsky.social

Now let’s get on with the very late link-up before I pop on over to Amazon to finally buy those shoe stretchers for my new Kurt Geiger platforms! And maybe I’ll have a little look on Vinted as well to see if I can find any other spaceman items to add to my collection LOL! I hope you’ll share what you’ve been up to these past few weeks too! My latest post was all about Imagination. I hope you’ll check it out. It was fun to write!