Well, we’ve had Black Friday and today, apparently, it is Cyber Monday when we are all supposed to be buying off the Internet. That Black Friday thing is new to us Brits – just another way of getting us to dig into our rapidly emptying pockets.
Battleaxe is sorry to sound like a curmudgeon (no, I lie, I am not sorry at all, I love it) but I am fed up of
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| Ant and Dec for Morrisons – yuch |
turning on the telly and seeing endless Christmas adverts – generally for supermarkets, with gormless-looking people stuffing themselves with revolting-looking food – yum yum lovin’ that Iceland three-bird roast…. Then if it’s not food, it is beautiful young things prancing about snowy streets dressed in Christmas party clothing – or lingerie.
I am fortunate enough not to have to face Christmas without much money. The pressure to buy and buy, and fill your house with tat, is appalling.
Talking of insane consumerism, yesterday we drove up to Dulwich College for the Mid Century Modern show and fair – Anna had a stall there. As well as contemporary makers like Anna there were halls and halls full of Scandi/Ercol type furniture, lava vases, 50s Poole pottery, atomic lights, orange plastic, Finnish glass – pretty much like our front room, but at ridiculously high prices. We saw telly antique experts and Jenny Eclair among the crowds – and many snappily-dressed Metropolitan persons looking to nab a little bargain for their Hoxton loft apartments. No sorry, not nab – they ‘source’ stuff.
Anyway, Anna had no seat by her stall. We said we’d mind it while she had a break, so thought we’d buy
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| Eric Buck stool |
a stool to perch on, and then take it home with us. We casually asked the price of a nearby admittedly quite elegant 60s stool – £495! Apparently, it is Danish, designed by someone called Eric Buck. I don’t think so…..
I suppose I am the last one to talk about buying stuff when I devoted the last blog post to the troubles with my new iphone, so I’ll stop now. It’s working fine now, by the way.
What else? Have just got back from the hairdressers – great trauma there, Ronnie, who has done my hair for the last three years at the George Street salon, has done a runner – taken a job in London and disposed of the salon. He has passed the business on to a girl called Eliza – she did mine this morning. I don’t know what to think as yet. I feel a bit irked because it was hard to find a decent hairdresser when we moved down here, and I don’t want to go through it all again. I find it hard to make hairdressers understand that I want my hair wild – it always ends up too tame.
Have been having a relatively busy time – Tunbridge Wells to meet friends Bob and Alison. Now there’s a fantastic shopping destination….. then lunch out with the WI Committee laydeez – it is good to go out with a whole tribe of Battleaxes (sorry girls but there you go). One feels less conspicuous.
We watched Time Team about the site of the Battle of Hastings last night. Only mildly interesting for us
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| The real Hastings Battleaxe? |
locals, apparently the real battle site might be in the road outside the Abbey wall – not actually very far from the Abbey church anyway. One wonders why have they never done a proper survey of the battlefield by the Abbey before now? They did mention that there is a real Hastings Battle Axe – in Battle Museum, which was apparently found near where they thought the battlefield might be. They carbon-dated it – pretty inconclusive (as was the whole programme), but it is possible that it was used at the Battle of Hastings. Here it is – a rusty old thing, methinks.
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