Miss Elaineous

Saturday, 25 October 2025

YOUTUBE PETRIE MUSEUM VLOG NOW LIVE!

My YouTube Petrie Museum vlog is now live!

Link:-

The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology is part of University College London, and contains over 80,000 Egyptian and Sudanese artefacts. Established as a teaching resource in 1892, with the initial collection donated by novelist, journalist and traveller Amelia Edwards, professor and Egyptologist Sir William Matthews Flinders Petrie conducted many excavations and sold his collection to the University in 1913. Initially a resource for students and academics, it has been open to the general public, in its current location, since 2018.

There is so much jewellery here that you could be forgiven for thinking you were in Claire's Accessories! I've always said that I love the way the Egyptian birds did their eye make-up. I would...

Come and take a walk in my shoes and I'll show you a reconstructed bead net dress that may have been worn for dancing c.2400 BC, and was thought to fit a girl of 12 and be worn naked. The hem would have made the dress rattle as the girl jigged around, and it looks like something Madonna or Lady Gaga would wear on stage nowadays! There are also rat traps, shoes with toes, an adult female pot burial and a copper mirror.

Remember, I will always be a writer before anything else, and have blogged about the Petrie Museum before, link:-

https://elainerockett.blogspot.com/2020/04/miss-elaineous-visits-petrie-museum-of.html

Remember to like and subscribe, and don't forget to follow this blog as well!

TTFN

The Miss Elaineous

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Saturday, 18 October 2025

POPPY'S WAR by LILY BAXTER

POPPY'S WAR

LILY BAXTER

THE BLURB:

August 1939: Thirteen-year-old Poppy Brown is evacuated to a village in Dorset. Tired and frightened, she arrives with nothing but a gas mask and a change of clothes to her name. Billeted at a grand country house, Poppy is received with cold indifference above stairs and gets little better treatment from the servants. Lonely and missing the family she left behind in London, Poppy is devastated when she hears that they have been killed in the Blitz.

Circumstances soon force Poppy to move to the suburbs and into the company of strangers once more. Earning a meagre income as a hospital cleaner, as the war continues to rage, Poppy longs to do her duty. And as soon as she is able to, she starts her training as a nurse. While the man she loves is fighting in the skies above Europe, Poppy battles to survive the day-to-day hardships and dangers of wartime, wondering if she'll ever see him again.

THE REALITY:

A slow-burner, that was easy for me to pick up and start again after a break. This book was chiefly about our heroine, and it was good seeing, and sensing, her develop from an East End “brat” to a blossoming, intelligent and capable young lady. There were discrepancies in this book- at one point we see Guy asking Poppy to write to him, then further down he's listed as being no correspondent, so that seemed odd. There is also a fair bit of telling in this book, which I quite like. I do not believe in the mantra “show not tell” and believe a writer has to show AND tell (the best advice I ever read). Telling is actually a very good way of speeding things along, without wasting words and, as long as the story's not all telling, a bit of telling is fine by me!

The story did seem to jump a bit, and it seemed like Poppy was having birthdays back to back! But I think this helped, rather than hindered the flow. I enjoyed learning about the characters in both London and at Squire's Knapp- both above stairs and below- and we had a good balance of good and bad personalities in both locations. London and Dorset were brought to life- although not excessively so- and I did get a real feel for wartime. I have to say, my one criticism is that deep emotions didn't appear to be on display anywhere. Even though Poppy's family were killed, and she thought (spoiler alert!) she had lost Guy, nothing of real depth was put on the page so that you could empathise with the character(s). I suppose my favourite character was Dennis, as he always gave you a laugh, and I did love that Poppy grew up to be a beautiful young woman wearing (shock, horror!) a red dress (red was considered tarty in those days, and I despise those judgemental kind of morals), who resembled Vivien Leigh. I also liked kind, upper-class Amy.

All in all, a light, bright and trite read- nothing to scare the horses and quite enjoyable.

Saturday, 11 October 2025

YOUTUBE WALLACE COLLECTION VLOG NOW LIVE!

My YouTube Wallace Collection vlog is now live!

Link:-

https://youtu.be/9GTx5a93hfI

The Wallace Collection sits in the former townhouse of of the Seymour family; Marquesses of Hertford. It was established in 1897 from the private collection created by Richard Seymour-Conway, 4th Marquess of Hertford (1800-1870). He left both the collection and the house to his illegitimate son, Sir Richard Wallace (1818-1890), and his widow then bequeathed the entire collection to the nation.

It is a very important collection of French 18th century decorative arts- many of them purchased after the end of the French Revolution in revolutionary sales (the selling of property confiscated from the monarchy, the Catholic Church and suspected counter-revolutionaries.) The museum contains around 5,500 objects, and opened to the public in 1900. It does not try and replicate the house to its state when Sir Richard and Lady Wallace lived there.

I've been here a few times before (including to an ab fab Manolo Blahnik exhibition!) and entrance is free. Come and take a walk in my shoes (yes, I do own a pair of Manolos!) and I'll show you opulent room after room of paintings, sculptures, ceramics and armoury. I do think the sumptuous furnishings and the architecture are as important as what's housed inside.

Remember, I will always be a writer before anything else, and have blogged about the Wallace Collection before, during the aforementioned Manolo Blahnik exhibition- perfect for a shoe fetishist such as myself!

Link:-

https://elainerockett.blogspot.com/2019/07/miss-elaineous-visits-manolo-blahnik-at.html

Remember to like and subscribe, and don't forget to follow this blog as well!

TTFN

The Miss Elaineous

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Sunday, 5 October 2025

MISS ELAINEOUS VISITS CHELSEA PHYSIC GARDEN...

I visited Chelsea Physic Garden as part of London's Open House Festival, whereby certain tourist attractions and buildings are free to enter.

Situated on the River Thames Embankment, and close to the Royal Hospital Chelsea- home to the Chelsea Pensioners (retired British Army veterans)- it was my first time stepping foot inside these high walls.

Founded in 1673 by the Worshipful Societies of Apothecaries of London for its apprentices to study botany and its uses, it is the oldest botanical garden in London; focusing on medicinal, herbal and useful plants.

This spiral sculpture, standing by the Main Lawn is a double helix, representing DNA). It celebrates the garden's 350th anniversary, and contains the names of head gardeners and curators from the last 350 years.

It's practical as well as decorative (like all of the plants here) and inside the sculpture is a Himalayan musk rose in need of support.

This statue is of Sir Hans Sloane (1660-1753) and is fairly new, dating from 2014. The original statue of him sits in the British Museum. He was an Irish physician and naturalist, and he bequeathed his collection of 71,000 items- including books, plant specimens, drawings and coins- to the British nation.

I crossed the Main Lawn and skirted around this 4 acre site (it's small enough for you to be able to get a good central view from the peripherals).

This is the Community Kitchen Garden.

The Learning Centre, and the garden was initially established on a leased site from Sir John Danvers' garden (he was an English courtier and politician), which adjoined what had once been the home of Sir Thomas More; a Lord Chancellor who was convicted of treason during the reign of Henry VIII.

Danvers House was destroyed in 1696, and the area is now Danvers Street.

There was a seasonal exhibition of squashes going on around the Miller Beds...

...Including this pumpkin. Well, Halloween is imminent!

A marrow in its bed...

It was Sir Hans Sloane who leased Chelsea Physic Garden's current site to the Society of Apothecaries, in 1722, for £5 a year in perpetuity. The proviso was that the garden supply the Royal Society, of which he was principal, herbarium samples.

Other, hanging squashes, with a reminder to appreciate them with your eyes and not your hands!

Oceania Beds...

You have to duck to navigate this tree!

Cool Fernery...

The Cool Fernery contains atmospheric ponds...

In England, these gardens are only surpassed in age by the University of Oxford Botanic Garden.

This garden is truly unique, as it's the only botanic garden focused on medicinal, herbal and useful plants.

On the Lower Lawn is a Chilean wine palm...

The Lower Lawn and Woodland Walk sit adjacent to one another...

Wooden walkway in the Woodland Walk...

Rustic grille- I'm not sure if this was meant for protection or nurturing climbers...

The garden contains trees and plants of varying sizes; like this giant creeping out through the wilderness...

A closer view, and some of these trees are positively tropical, with the high walls of the garden creating a micro-climate.

The Embankment Gate serves as a reminder that you're not far away from the bustle of London...

Skinny tree near the gate...

Ginkgo Biloba.

Walking through the twisty branches of the Ginkgo Biloba made me feel like I was entering an enchantment!

Dicotyledon Order Beds...

Dicotyledon means a flowering plant with an embryo that bears two seed leaves.

Steps down to the Pond...

There was an interactive session for children going on by the Pond. Here is a welcoming frog!

British Natives section by the pond...

Stoneware in the Garden of Useful Plants...

The Physic Garden is one of the most important centres for botany and plant exchange in the world, and the Wardian Case offers protective transportation.

I believe this is a pomegranate bush...

Centre circular display...

There is a Latin America Bed in this area, so that explains these jungle-like vines...

Colour intersperses the abundant greenery...

Rain barrel and a beehive...

Compost heap...

The cardoon is also known as the artichoke thistle, and is purple/pink in colour when in bloom. These are moribund, and looked a tad scary- shades of Blair Witch, methinks!

Garden of Edible Plants...

A grapevine, and this appears to have been harvested...

Back through the Dicotyledon Order Beds...

These ordered beds are a riot of textures, with pops of colour...

Tidy, lower-level plants...

And wilder species, forming their own arch. Expect to be bitten by flying things when you come here!

A crimson bromeliad. I remember seeing these in Penzance- the climate is quite temperate in south west England.

The Atlantic Islands Border and a skinny tree...

Fun fact: when I was 8 I did a school project about trees. My father, who had studied botany, told me all their Latin names (shame I can't remember them!)