I started this post over a week ago but soon became distracted by Arts Society Zoom meetings - something new to me! After a few basic instructions from a drop in meeting I learnt enough to be able to attend a talk - mute myself, make myself invisible and give myself a name. The first talk was '1929-1959: The Glamour Years' by Arts Society lecturer, Andrew Prince who gave an informative and colourfully illustrated history of jewellery and glamour linked by Hollywood actresses mainly from the 1930s and 1940s. Last week we had an extra event which was a virtual tour of the East End by Pepe Martinez, a Blue Badge guide, and was Part II of his talks (unfortunately I had missed Part I). This was called 'From Bangladesh to Banksy' and featured a potted history of graffiti artists operating in the East End from the 1960s, and the cultural influence of the Bangladeshi community who began arriving in the area from the 1950s onwards. Using a combination of Google Streetview and photographs we felt like we were almost there and it is an idea I would participate in again.
Meanwhile, in Gloucestershire we have been placed in Tier 1 as regards the covid 19 pandemic which means that we are under The Rule of Six and a 10pm curfew, although it is quite a long while since we have been out in public after 10pm! We did visit Burford in West Oxfordshire a few weeks ago to collect some books that I had ordered from the local independent bookshop, The Madhatter Bookshop. As I knew that I would be going into the shop I wore my mask before I got out of the car and was surprised to see that over half of the population was also wearing masks in the street - maybe because the local population is somewhat older than the average. It may be working, as the rate of infections in West Oxfordshire is lower than that in Gloucestershire.
As regards my Etsy shop, MillCottageRetro, I was thinking about what would be a good range of items to feature in this blog and thought that serving dishes and tureens are always useful for family meals - perhaps for the Christmas season. I have a selection of vintage tureens which would create a talking point and some small Denby soup tureens which. as they are oven to tableware, are very useful. The early ones are quite unusual; some ideas are below:
I know that not everyone will be looking forward to a big family Christmas this year (my daughter is in Greater Manchester which is now in Tier 3, so will be affected more than some others of us), but most people could perhaps think about something on a smaller scale. We are fans of Strictly Come Dancing, like many others, and this will help to keep us entertained up to Christmas, hopefully. In fact, the last event we went to before lockdown was the Strictly related show featuring Giovanni Pernice called 'This is Me' which was in Swindon in early March. Also on the show was Strictly professional dancer Nancy Xu and husband and wife team Oksano and Jonathan Platero. As tomorrow is my daughter's birthday I have been remembering a show that we took her to in Cheltenham as a birthday treat a few years, 'Rip it Up: the 60s', which starred Harry Judd, Louis Smith and Aston Merrygold - previous Strictly winners. As it was her birthday she wanted to meet the stars so we went backstage and waited and eventually out they came. As photographer mum I took her picture with each of them - all were very polite and amiable - and fortunately the photos came out all right! A favourite band of hers during her teenage years was The Wanted and we took her, and a friend, to a number of concerts including a VIP ticket one in Cardiff where she got to meet and greet all the band. She was somewhat disappointed that Jay McGuiness (her favourite back then) joined the Rip It up show later in London, but she is interested to see how another band member, Max George, gets on this year.
I hope that everyone stays safe during these difficult times,
Best wishes, Julie
