MISS ELAINEOUS VISITS THE V&A MUSEUM OF CHILDHOOD...

Okay, this place might be called the V&A Museum of Childhood, but I always refer to it as the Bethnal Green Museum of Childhood, as that's where it's at.  By the way; myself and the Victoria and Albert Museum are not friends- for some time now, they have have not been positively responsive with regard to my applications to work for them, in various guises.  Mind you, most of the jobs I've applied for involve curating, which would be nice to do, but what I really want to do is writing.  If a job doing this kind of thing but for them comes up, then I'd better be granted an interview at the very least...  Just saying...

Anyway, it's not the first time I've been to this museum but I absolutely love it, as it's a real treasure trove of goodies and often a very pleasant trip down memory lane.  Oh, and it's also free entry.  For a big kid like me, what's not love? 😃

The entrance...

I absolutely love zoetropes, but it might have made sense for me to wait until this top had stopped spinning before I took a photo of it.  Duh!

Flash photography is allowed inside the museum but I only found this out after getting back home and Googling the fact.  I could have asked someone but... you know me- I'll avoid interaction with another human being if I can.

Here are some spinning tops...

Mind you, the flash would bounce of the cabinets and cause a glare anyhow, depending on how I positioned myself...

This section is dedicated to the moving image.

I loved the Mr. Men (and Little Miss) series.

Here they are, along with my shadow...

Here's a PDF I pulled up of Little Miss Trouble, whom my partner associates with sweet and innocent little me... He CANNOT be serious... can he?! 😉

Scalectrix were not just for boys, you know.  I used to love playing with my friend's brother's set...

Train set.  The detail on this is fascinating.

A robot...

These puppets looked a bit freaky...

Pulcinella is a classical Italian character who originated in the 17th century...

Punch (as in Punch and Judy) is his more violent British alter ego...

These Japanese puppets were beautiful but downright scary.

This is an installation by Rachel Whiteread, and it features 150 old dolls' houses.  They are empty and suggest a powerful sense of isolation.  It is certainly evocative.

Foreign puppetry stage shows, which possess a strange beauty...

Chinese rock gardens...

Russian dolls.  I have always loved these.❤

Teddies...

Paddington Bear features twice in the exhibition.  Or maybe he's real and sneaked upstairs just to get into another photo...

Doll cabinet.  I owned the ballerina Sindy and absolutely loved her...

I also loved my Barbie, although mine didn't come with this swimsuit outfit...

The same friend whose brother owned the Scalectrix also owned this 1970s Tree House.  She could be trying- but it made it worth my while going round to see her! 😉

Darth Vader.  I was never into Star Wars and found it boring.

As I was not a sci-fi fan, I didn't see the film E.T. until it was over 10 years old!  But it was very good and even managed to move me.  Here is E.T. and he's a bit blurry as I blew the photo up and lost detail.

Batman.  Forever associated in my mind with Del Boy and Rodney...

As a little girl, I adored Wonder Woman and wanted to be her...

Chess...

A golly is often considered racist nowadays.  In fact, one little girl was captured burning her golly, in a racist demonstration with her father.  Well, I owned a golly and if you'd ever have burnt him then I'd have burnt you!  My dolls and teds were like family to me.  I've mentioned this before, but I once said to my mum, 'Dolls are not just dolls...  They are little children that have died...'  My mum said it was the creepiest thing she had ever heard!

The Snowman, Dogtanian, Sooty, Sweep and Soo, with a couple of Care Bears...

I've mentioned this before, but there is no Bagpuss at the museum.  My mum wanted to make me one but couldn't find the right material.  Hamleys started doing them for £27.  Then I found my version, for £2.50 in a charity shop.  Here he is...

I had a little desk like this...

Here I am sitting at it.  It was Christmas and I was 6.  Note the double-strap shoes.  Oh yes, I was into my footwear even then...

Cute cat...

Cats are my favourite animal and I think this chair is really cool...

I owned a knitting machine like this...

I think I also owned a sewing machine like this, but it wasn't long before I was experimenting with my mum's traditional Singer.  I also owned a Petite Typewriter- again, it wasn't long before I was tapping out work on my mum's Imperial (she was a secretary).

I didn't own this Holly Hobbie Cookery Set, but I did own the doll Hollie Hobbie, as well as Amy Hobbie and Mandy Hobbie.  God, I'm coming across as a spoiled brat, aren't I?

Hours of fun to be had with jigsaws...

A rocket.  It's significant, because with my surname a lot of piss-taking occurred.  One of my nicknames was NASA!  I'd get teased and called this, along with the countdown!😂😂

Upstairs were cabints dedicated to both dressing up and traditional children's clothing.  Here's a Vain Old Tart photo, take right by a skirt I want, want, WANT!

Rocking horse and carousel.  I owned a smaller version of the latter, based on The Magic Roundabout (another of my favourite programmes as a kid).  Yes, I think maybe I was a bit spoilt.  Thank you, parents.  And brother.  And auntie and uncle...  In the background, to the left, you can see the edge of a sand pit that's there for children to play in.

The pirates display is mainly for kids, but it was fun having a wander through...

We came to a section given over to historical childhood objects, and here's a traditional bassinet...

Pram...

These banana bottles are now known as Murder Bottles, as they were the perfect device for breeding bacteria, and contributed to childhood deaths during the Victorian age.

Elaborate dolls houses.  My mother briefly worked as a school cleaner, and I inherited one the school didn't want.  It was nothing like these, though, and I had to create the furniture myself!

I loved playing with friends who owned toys I didn't (Gawd, I sound like such a using little cow!😁)  One owned a swing, a climbing frame and a Sindy House, and another owned a swing, paddling pool and a Sindy Cooker, rather like this one...

Aarrgghh!  The museum even has a mini McDonald's Diner!

A view over the mezzanine, looking towards the shop.  They also have a cafe...

We'll finish with a photo I took (with a flash!) when I visited a month later, with the SuperDean.  He liked this little bus, for some reason...😉

This is definitely a pleasant way to spend an hour or so, with or without kids.

TTFN

The Miss Elaineous

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MISS ELAINEOUS VISITS HACKNEY CITY FARM...

Hackney City Farm is a lovely opportunity for us city folk to find out a bit about country living, which is not actually something I'm unfamiliar with as I was brought up in Norfolk. 

Open for over 20 years, it's quite calm once you enter the farm, and it's hard to believe that you're only feet away from the dulcet, horn-blaring London tones of Hackney Road.

Here is its colourful signage...

Its cafe is called Frizzante and is styled on the Italian tradition of agriturismo, where the food is grown and produced on the premises.  This farm is not actually large enough to supply the restaurant, but their food is sourced from local, small suppliers.

The path down into the farm...

The gate...

The rooster and a chicken.  He was quite quiet on this occasion, although on a previous visit (I've been twice before) he was a bit randy (as well as noisy) and was chasing the hens around!

Here he is again, having a casual stroll.  The last time I visited it started tipping down with rain and the animals- having more sense than me- were inside in the warm.

Although this stable was marked 'Donkeys' there was a sheep in here and it didn't want to be photographed- so it showed me its bum... 

In the opposite pen the sheep were slightly kinder...

Chicken coop...

A hygiene warning... 

A gaggle of geese...

Ducks 'n' geese...

Ducks 'n' drakes 'n' geese...

Piglets.  This is the first time I've ever seen pigs at this farm.  Usually their pen and sty is empty... but the first time I came there was a suspicious waft of country sausages coming from the cafe...

Fully grown pigs in their sty...

Apparently, the animals are rotated and stay at this farm and a farm in Kent...

I'm sure Hackney City Farm don't slaughter their own animals, but we all know what their fate eventually is.  Maybe there's a reason why I fancied veggie burgers for dinner that evening...

The only donkey I saw.  Apparently there are two...

Donkey story...

Was this Larry or Clover?  One ear pricked up when I called Larry...

...And two when I called Clover.  So I called Larry again, and she shook an ear, so we'll go with Clover.  She treated me to a very loud hee-haw!

Nosey geese...

These geese were very friendly and sociable.  Well, we are near to Christmas so maybe they wanted to take out some insurance to make sure they didn't end up on a plate...

High on a hill was a lonely goat...

But he went and joined his friends, the sheep...

Then they went and joined the donkey for a group hug...

The goat used this fence as his beard scratching post...

Aarrgghh, a stile!  Thankfully, I didn't have to climb this one!

Here's my recent stile experience, visiting Hever Castle in Kent last month...

Read all about it via this link.  We got to meet some sheep on the way there as well:-

http://elainerockett.blogspot.com/2018/11/miss-elaineous-visits-hever-castle-again.html 

Some fungi growing by a tree.  I did try and photograph a squirrel running around foraging for nuts but I was too slow.  Damn! 

They often keep rabbits and guinea pigs at the farm- which I have seen before- but they weren't there this time.  This is the washing area, on the way out...

A cute piggy bank plant pot...

Their garden  reminds me of a traditional allotment- which is what I suppose it is...

Apparently, they keep bees- but there was no evidence of our stripy friends today.  I think it was maybe a bit too cold for them!

The honey from the bees is sold in their little shop (which was, sadly, closed on the day I visited.)

You can also buy fresh eggs and vegetables, as well as food made by local producers and toys and gifts in the shop.

The farm is free to visit...

This place is certainly worth an hour of your time, but experience has taught me to go on a dry day, otherwise the animals tend to hibernate!

TTFN

The Miss Elaineous

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WISH HER SAFE AT HOME by STEPHEN BENATAR

WISH HER SAFE AT HOME

BY STEPHEN BENATAR

THE BLURB:-

Rachel Waring is deliriously happy.  Out of nowhere, a great-aunt leaves her a Georgian mansion in another city- and she sheds her old life without delay.  Gone is her dull administrative job, her mousy wardrobe, her downer of a room-mate.   She will live as a woman of leisure, devoted to beauty, creativity, expression and love.  Once installed in her new quarters, Rachel plants a garden, takes up writing, and impresses everyone she meets with her optimism.  But as Rachel sings and jokes the days away, her neighbours wonder if she might be taking her transformation just a bit too far.

In Wish Her Safe At Home, Stephen Benatar finds humour and horror in the shifting region between elation and mania.   His heroine could be the next-door neighbour of the Beales of Grey Gardens or the sister to Jane Gardam's oddball protagonists, but she has an ebullient charm of her own.

THE REALITY:-

Jesus, Mary and Joseph, was I glad to finish this book!   With thick pages that made it appear more than it actually was, and at only 263 pages long, this- thankfully- didn't take that long to do.   It was certainly not a gripping read and at times I even dreaded picking it up.   I was speed-reading parts towards the end to hurry up the process, but I still got the jist of Rachel's descent into mania.

I think part of the problem was that I read the introduction so I knew what was going to happen, which stole away my element of surprise (essential for turning a novel into a page-turner).  That is totally my fault, but in future I'll read any intro after reading the book. On the other hand, it does explain what is actually going on when Rachel does get confused between reality and fantasy and turns into one weird woman.  Not that that was too hard to pick up on- I just found the character irritating.

Rachel is my age and yet I couldn't relate to her.   Like me, she has never married or had children, but for her it seems to be very much a cause for regret.   Me, I like my freedom!  She is also a virgin... Nope, I got rid of mine at fourteen and am glad I did so.  She's also never really had a boyfriend, apart from her first abortive attempt with Tony.  Nope, I can't relate there- I have a partner and he's hardly the first!😉  She's also been through the menopause.  A definite no there- I'm sitting here bleeding to death!  Maybe it's because she's from a different era; that being 1981.  I mean, for Pete's sake, did women really wear hats or drink sherry at her age in that time?  There are elements of a sad old lady in her, but I think that's the point and that, up until now, she's never really had much of a life, what with a domineering mother and a not very likeable flatmate forever on her case.  It's such a shame she was never able to truly stick up for herself.

The male author does, I think, do well to try and explore the psyche of the opposite sex, but the story did not grip me. I think we all have the element of the dreamer in us (I certainly do- part of a writer's world is making things up, after all.)  Rachel would have done well to put her thoughts on to paper and actually complete her novel, as opposed to letting her imaginations run riot in her head.   She's also have done well to get a job, not only to keep the wolf from the door but to help keep herself grounded.   And she'd DEFINITELY have done well to get herself a man and get some good hard cock.   These might- just might- have helped her to retain her sanity, as she didn't come across as someone who's beyond repair, and who was destined to go ga-ga from birth.

On a plus note, I've never heard of 'Beales of Grey Gardens' or 'Jane Gardam's oddball protagonists' so will check them out.  This book had some interesting characters and a pleasant enough setting but it also had a rubbish title and, unfortunately, the story didn't do much for me.