Hello hello. I’m determined to get back to at the very least posting a monthly round up.
Before I plunge into January I wanted to dip back into November and the wonderful exhibition
‘Outlaws : Fashion Renegades of 80’s London’ at the Fashion and Textile Museum in London.
My friend Charlotte and I seem to have got in the habit of doing an exhibition of some sort for her birthday (yes we already have this year’s planned for October!) This was the exhibition of choice for 2024.
Whilst I was too young to be part of the scene to begin with, and later not into the music, I was definitely gigging and clubbing in London during the later part of the 80’s (on the Rock/Glam Metal scene.) Meaning I certainly knew of the existence of the clubs and designers this exhibition focuses on and even visited some of the shops mentioned.
Mainly focused on Taboo the club started by Leigh Bowery who’s dress code was ‘dress as though your life depends on it, or don’t bother’, it is small and perfectly formed exhibition and we had a wonderful time spotting outfits we had similar (probably knock off versions) of.
It was such a trip down memory lane, took me right back to the hours I spent altering, modifying, and adorning t-shirts, jackets and jeans to make them unique. 80’s clothing gets such a bad rap, to be fair a lot of it was terrible but it does mean you do forget that it wasn’t all bad.
I had also forgotten just how creative this era could be, and how creative I was, adding embellishments, stitching, painting, taking some of my ideas as an art student onto my clothing.
I particularly loved the part of the exhibition that had items of clothing loaned by musicians of the day displayed alongside a video screen showing clips of the artist in their video or on Top of The Pops wearing it.
The exhibition was fairly busy when we were there, and we both noted with interest that there were far more men than women there! It runs until the 9th March and if of interest I strongly recommend going if you can.
Back to January which started wet and miserable. We had planned to go to The Fleur for their annual New Year’s Day folk musician session, Himself was just about up to walking the mile and a half there if we went at a steady pace but the torrential rain put paid to that plan, so we just chilled at home instead. I was back at work the next day anyway, with January as ever being our busiest month. A lot of my colleagues took the extra two days off work, but personally I prefer to ease back into the chaos for a couple of days before starting a whole week.
Luckily, I had something to look forward to on Friday the 10th, an outing to the theatre with Soo and Melissa to see Joseph and his Technicolour Dreamcoat.
I haven’t seen it for years now so suggested it as soon as I saw the advert.
It's such a joyful uplifting musical and just what you need in a cold and storm battered January. We met for a quick drink at The Grapes before heading to the fairly new restaurant 100% Pasta at Gloucester Green. Sadly they had no filled pasta that night and I couldn’t go for the aubergine dish as it has red pepper in it, but the tomato based one I settled on was delicious and we were all naughty and had a desert too!
The show was wonderful, it was a fairly small touring cast with no celebrity starring, which meant some of them played more than one part in the musical but it was slickly done and the singing and dancing was fantastic. It’s just such a joy you can’t help but come out beaming. As we parted outside the theatre and I headed back to the train station, all the people around me were singing bits from the show and someone even sat at the piano on the station concourse playing a medley and entertained the crowd, which is of course why the piano is there.
I must admit I love it when people start playing something on the piano, though not so much when little children just attack the keys!
This was the right in the middle of that really cold snap between the named storms, so it was absolutely Baltic walking home. I was straight in the kitchen for a cup of tea when I got in, to help me defrost. The joys of being decaf means I can now tea before bedtime without the caffeine keeping me wide eyed all night.
The next day was crisp and bitterly cold with freezing fog making crystals in the air and a heavy frost that had built up over a few days. I hadn’t been out for a proper walk since Himself had been in hospital so the siren call to go out with my camera proved too strong. Himself wrapped up well and came with me, his post-surgery slow pace meaning for once he wasn’t getting fed-up with me constantly slowing him down by stopping to take pictures or look at things.
It was gorgeous but I was very happy to get in and have a huge mug of hot chocolate. I treated myself to some 72% flakes from Knopps. I love hot chocolate but never buy it when I’m out and about as it is inevitably way too sweet for me, the darker the better as far as I’m concerned.
The next Monday I had my annual thyroid blood test and was left with a massive bruise that took 2 weeks to clear. Thankfully all is well and there is no need to increase my meds.
We also went to see the most recent Paddington film. Despite having enjoyed the first two films Himself had seen the trailer before Christmas and decided he didn’t want to go because he thought it didn’t look very good. I could have gone on my own but instead I just grizzled because he refused to go with me. It turned out they were showing it at 11.30pm one Sunday so Himself asked me if I still wanted to go “Off course!” was my reply so he booked us tickets.
I loved it, not as much as the second one but that would take some beating. It’s just such a joyous, gentle feel-good film, with all the horror going on in life, it’s good to have such escapism. Himself was also pleasantly surprised and enjoyed it too.
The last time we had been to the cinema was when I dragged him to see Lee which he did not enjoy anywhere near as much, not knowing anything about Lee Miller.
I have known about Lee Miller as a model turned photographer due to my interest in the 1920’s/30’s and WW2, but as soon as I saw Kate Winslet being interviewed, I was sold. She was so passionate about telling Lee’s story despite it taking her seven years and a lot of her own money to finally get the film made.
I knew Lee Miller went to France and Germany as the war was coming to a climax, but I had somehow forgotten that she took the first powerful and harrowing pictures to be sent from the liberated concentration camps. Things this world needs to be reminded of I feel given the way we seem to be going.
The last week of January saw us heading back to the hospital for Himself’s follow up appointment with the consultant. The prognosis is thankfully as good as it could be, there will be follow up scans every six months for the time being, eventually going to every two years for the rest of his life, but at this point no further treatment. I can’t begin to tell you what an incredible relief that news was. Definitely the way I would want to start a new year that is for sure.
I finished the month with a big staff event at work where I helped man the table for our staff LGBTQ+ group Iridescent. Again, in the world we seem to be living in right now it feels more and more important to support and well to just be kind.
I'll sign off with my January purchases. Other than undies from M&S and socks from Seasalt, I needed to replace my Clarks Orinoco boots and when I saw 50% off shoes in New Look I dived in as I had fallen for the black boots when they were in the window months before. The size six were a tad tight so I went with the seven and I ahve to say they are a little large but super comfortable.
The brown pair were 50% off in the Clarks sale but it wasn't until they had an additional 20% off that I crumbled. I gave them a good eight mile outing in London on Saturday and thankfully me feet lived to tell the tale.
I bought a couple of dresses in the sales
and some brooches and earrings. The space hamster got a lot of love at work!
I'll be back soon.
