I haven’t posted for over two weeks – On 23 October there was a big storm, and it knocked out the wires carrying our internet and landline, provided by Sky. Would you believe we have only just got it back? I honestly believe their customer service has to be the worst ever – unless anyone can think of anything to cap it. Then, on Monday, I met my old Brummie friends the Sues, up in London, and we went to see Queen Elizabeth’s clothes at the King’s Gallery at Buckingham Palace, followed by a meal at the Ivy, Victoria. Look, Battleaxe is not a royalist, and becoming more anti-monarchy as she gets older, but she loves vintage clothes, and this was a fantastic collection. The same storm that took out our internet washed away parts of the beach at Pett Level – very spectacular…
I’m not writing anything more about Sky, it is too dispiriting. I’d like to think it was my repeated furious phone calls that brought results, but I suspect not. Trouble is, the wires are provided by BT Openreach, who can hold Sky to ransom, and rarely communicate with anyone. They presumably do things in their own time, as and when they feel like it. However, the bloke who eventually turned up to sort us out was efficient and pleasant – the front-line workers of these dreadful organisations so often are…
So, first, let’s head down to Pett Level. I’d read about this on the internet (when we had it) and Philosopher and I wanted to see for ourselves. The power of the sea is frightening. Where does all that shingle go? The beach was quite wide, but a whole section of it had completely disappeared to expose the sea wall that keeps the sea from inundating the marsh land between Pett Level and Winchelsea Beach.
Not only the wall was exposed, but a tarmac roadway and another sloping wall leading down to an expanse of beach. Apparently the roadway dated back to WW2, and the walls have not been seen, it was said, since the 50s, but my friend Jan can remember seeing the top wall in the 70s. Further up towards Pett Level village, there are many very expensive new houses behind the sea wall and what is, at the moment, a substantially wide shingle beach. There are boats parked on it and clumps of sea kale etc, but all that could disappear overnight. If I had invested millions in one of those houses I might be worried… Here are a few more photos.
Then, London – I was quite lucky to get there smoothly because the trains had only just been restored – they renewed loads of track.
As it was cold with sporadic drizzle, we first took refuge in the Rubens Hotel near the Palace. Battleaxe hasn’t been in there for at least 50 years. It used to be a mid-range, comfortably faded old place, and one time my father had a spectacular nose-bleed in the bar. Now it is 5 star luxe, and the bar is quite astonishingly vulgar… think red velvet, mirrors, gold sconces, swags, drapes… yikes. The hotel must make its money from foreign tourists visiting Buck House – none of that was available when I was younger. Anyway, they gave us coffee at £8 a cup. Here’s a photo of the red bar from the internet.
The exhibition – Queen Elizabeth II – her Life in Style – was very crowded. There were hordes of middle-aged, middle-class women looking just like us. It was hard to pick out my two friends from the mass of lookalikes. I guess Battleaxe’s hair made her look a bit different, but only a bit…
Battleaxe readers will know she is very fond of vintage clothes and vintage style. Here’s a post about Retro Bizarre, the vintage clothes shop I had in Birmingham. This exhibition showcased a very large and very splendid collection of clothes and accessories, from the 1930s through to the 2o20’s. Everything was incredibly well-preserved, and beautifully presented. The woman herself had a tiny, tiny waist when she was younger, which really helped her to look good in New Look styles. The early Norman Hartnell and Hardy Amies outfits were just stunning.Here are some examples from the 40s and 50s.
However, as she aged and her body thickened, the styling occasionally fell short…
Fabulous display of hats etc., and one final outfit – not couture but so 50s…
Battleaxe would totally recommend the exhibition – it is on until April 2027 – be sure to book in advance, and try for a less busy time of day.
After the exhibition we went to the nearby Ivy Victoria for a late lunch/early supper. Those Ivy restaurants are often excruciatingly noisy – full of people having loud celebrations, but I reckoned we would be OK at 3pm, and indeed we were.
Will stop for now – there is much more to write about but I have to take poor Philosopher to Bexhill Hospital for an in-growing toenail operation. Yuch… Oh – and ya boo sucks to Trump.
