Thelma Goes to Hollywood

This is rather a special post, even if I do say so myself... Something both inspiring and full of glamour for the first day of the working week.

The background story is that my mother is friends with an amazing lady named Thelma, who lives just down the street in their town. Back in the 1930s and 1940s, she worked for the art department of Hoyts, a big cinema chain in Australia. Her job was to watch the new films and then visit the different cinemas to paint a relevant and inviting picture to entice the audiences in.

Recently, when my mother went to visit, Thelma pulled out some of her old sketch books, filled with her wonderful drawings. My mother was thrilled and asked if she could take photographs of them, which she then shared with me. Equally thrilled, I asked if I could share them with my readers on my blog, to which Thelma gave her blessing.

See if you can spot some of the glamorous stars from Hollywood's golden era:

I'm sure Thelma didn't always see her job as particularly glamorous, when she was rushing from cinema to cinema to meet deadlines and covered in paint, with aching arms and back. But to me, it's like the next best thing to my mother being friends with a Hollywood starlet from the period. And when you think about what other young women were doing at that time, if they were even working at all and not stuck at home while the men went out to earn a living, it is pretty damn awesome and inspiring.

Pending Adventures

This time in three weeks I will be on a plane. 'To where?', you might ask. Well...

Yes, all the way across the other side of the world! In my opinion, I'm timing it well, as I will be there for the end of winter and through into spring, which is much better for my fragile constitution and pale skin than high summer would be. 'Hang on, through into spring?' you ask. Yes, that's right, I'm off on holiday for nearly eight weeks so won't be back until October! Well, it is my first proper holiday since I started my course in September two years ago. Sure, I've had time off but always with course work hanging over my head. But there'll be none of that, just lots of relaxing and seeing friends and family out there.

So, for almost two months, my blog posts will be love letters from the Antipodes rather than dear London. I'm sure I'll have lots to share with you. And, before then, I have three weeks of hopefully quite a few posts based firmly in the Mother Country. I just had to share my excitement with my lovely readers...

In one day...

My thesis is is due tomorrow.

... And it's all printed and bound!  Now, top of my priorities is sleep!

Image source

Unexpected gems

I snapped this delightful building whilst out on Stoke Newington Church Street on Saturday night.  The Cat and I had stopped to admire the fireworks bursting all around us when I spotted this lovely Georgian building with its old painted signs.  There's just something wonderfully quirky about the fact that they've shortened it to "fount" pens - I wonder if that was a common way of referring to fountain pens back whenever Walker Bros. were active.

Sadly, I didn't capture any fireworks on camera as we were too busy enjoying them.  We had no idea where they were being set off from but they seemed to be coming from all angles and at all distances - in front of us, behind us, way down at the end of the street - filling the air with smoke, colours and excitement.

I much rather that local, spontaneous experience of fireworks over going to scheduled fireworks displays.  Seeing them at a set time for a set period takes away some of the thrill of it.  I love the element of surprise in random firework displays, and the fact that you keep hearing them go off, near and far, all night long.  I used to think I'd gone off fireworks but I realise it's just the jostling crowds and "organised fun" element of them that I don't like.  Rugged up on an autumn evening, on the way to the pub to meet friends, with a loved one beside you and the air full of whizzing and popping and sparkling rain - that's special!