May Part Two - Trains, Films and Bags.

I feel I should begin this post by clarifying that me taking a full week off for the first time in two years is absolutely down to me and not my work place, who actually have a very generous leave allowance!
Himself doesn't do holidays, so I tend to use up my leave with odd days here and there rather than a full week. I must admit I thoroughly enjoyed it and definitely need to do it again.

Anyway To have a little lift once I was back at work we went to see Rocketman

which I thoroughly enjoyed, even thought for some reason I didn’t realise it was a musical, I just thought it was a biopic with music…oh well.
I must say Taron Egerton was amazing.

We also saw The Secret Life of Pets 2 because I loved the first one but this wasn’t really worth it,
I mean it was fine, but not worth a trip to the cinema to see.

We also finally got round to watching The Dirt, a Netflicks film about the band Motley Crue based on their biography.

Frankly it was dreadful. Not one to recommend at all and I shan’t bother reading the book if this was anything to go by.
Funnily enough I was chatting to Nephew Number One about it and he too agreed it was not very good at all but that the book was.
 He then said that he did think the film was a true portrayal of things like going to a gig “back in those days”  Cheeky bugger.

Of course the final excitement of May was getting together with the lovely Mim for a long overdue catch up. I knew she likes trains which was why I suggested the Didcot Railway Centre and I have to say it didn’t disappoint. 

I thoroughly enjoyed having a good look round even if I did discover that I seem to have some strange kind of magnetic attraction or power over train enthusiasts!?! It really was very bizarre and has never happened to me before! 

 Himself said it comes from being a woman of a certain age so of course I hit him. 

One old chap seemed determined to walk us round the place, I honestly didn’t think he was going to leave us alone, it was all a bit awkward really,  especially so as I spotted him when we went for a cup of tea yet he just cut us dead then.

I found the railway map from pre-Beechings cuts absolutely mindblowing from the sheer number of stations on the map. It was also incredible to see and have a go on the huge panel that moves trains around the system and wonder over the fact it was only decommissioned in 2014. 

Also getting your head around the fact that back in the day it took 9 hours to travel to Bristol in a carriage completely open to the elements with just wooden benches and that apparently they actually employed people to remove the dead bodies after long train  journeys!

This is the First Class carriage, it has a roof and seat backs apparently the height of luxury.

I know they do a lot of filming there (I can share several stories, including one about Russian Cossacks) and tend to be fairly blase as I've seen so much over the years in Oxford, but I did fan girl a bit when I recognised bits I saw in an episode from the recent series of `Endeavour (of which I am a huge fan.)

Shaun Evans was here...

We finished up drinking cider in the pub opposite the station and Himself came down to say hello.

If you are thinking of visiting this amazing railway centre it’s worth checking their website because they do have different events on throughout the year and the entrance price varies accordingly. 

For example there was a vintage transport event there this weekend. 

I feel it's only fair to add that if you are planning a visit sadly Didcot town itself doesn’t have a lot else to offer you…

I shall end with my May purchases which are somewhat epic in the bag department.

I got these two Corde bags from the same seller. They were a little more than I usually pay but I really wanted another blue one and I just loved these two designs.

This is my first crochet style Corde bag and it's rather lovely. I still have a 'one that got away' when it comes to these, I dithered over buying it for too long and lost.

This navy bag was a bargain and I have just ordered some Woly leather cream to feed and restore it.

This is a funky 60's washbag which I will use as a handbag, again it was an absolute bargain which was why I bought it.

Finally who could resist this glorious disco in a bag? Not me!

I have just one dress purchase. I have been giving a lot more thought to my purchasing habits in recent months and have been a lot more careful. 

This was reduced and I just loved the print. Perfect for our holiday at the end of the month. Yes you read that right, after what I said at the start of the post we are actually going on holiday at the end of the month! 

We are off to Cornwall for a long weekend.