Friday 25 May 2012

Another One! (Lovely Blog Award)

Yesterday proved cause for a double bloggy celebration - not only did I hit 150 followers but the charming Anna of the blog Miss Beatrix kindly gave me a One Lovely Blog award.  Thank you, Anna, I'm flattered!


Hello too to all my followers old and new - I hope you're all still enjoying my vintage ramblings.  Now, I'm fully aware that fifty followers ago I promised a giveaway.  I've been a naughtily remiss blogger on that account, but the good news is that I definitely do have something planned for very soon.  The prizes are all set, I have a box in which to send them, so watch this space!

Back to the award, and the same caveats remain for accepting it (although the design seems to have changed since Jennie from It's A Charmed Life munificently gave it back in 2010, unless it's a different "One Lovely Blog" award - "Another Lovely Blog", "One More Lovely Blog", or "Two Lovely Blogs" perhaps? - just joshing, I'm honoured to receive it twice!).

First I of course have to thank the giver and link back to their blog (see first paragraph).  I then have to nominate fifteen other worthy blogs (something that isn't hard) and tell you all seven things about myself (which is!).

Thanks to my prolific use of the "Follow" function in the seven months since my last award, I have many more fine and noteworthy blogs on my list (and more importantly, ones that haven't received this award recently but which truly deserve it).  Here they are (in no particular order, beyond alphabetical!):

  1. A Harem Of Peacocks
  2. Advantage In Vintage 
  3. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes 
  4. HATTATT 
  5. Joyness Sparkles 
  6. Lady Jardin - Vintage Views of the South Coast 
  7. La Pépée de Paris 
  8. Lil Vintage Me 
  9. Love Letter from London 
  10. Old Fashioned Susie
  11. Ravishing Retro 
  12. The Diary of Roxie Roulette 
  13. The Lothians 
  14. Vintage Secret 
  15. Wartime Housewife
Now the hard part - seven facts* about me that I haven't told you before!  I have to admit to pinching some ideas from other nominees who have come before me for this time.  Here goes...

  • My favourite blend of tea is Assam.  It has just the right mix of tannins, flavour and strength and makes the perfect cup of char.  I can go for Ceylon sometimes as well, although I tend to find that a bit weaker.  Currently my Assam comes from a certain orange-coloured supermarket but Twinings, Whittards and others have been known to be in my cupboard!
  • I've been drinking tea since I was about 6 months old, when I suddenly went off milk (in all forms) and juices.  Following the doctor's advice to "try him on anything, he has to drink something", a warm and milky cup of tea was proffered and the rest, as they say, is history.
Mmmm, tea! ;-P  Check out that cottage suite - nice, huh?
  • My favourite dessert (and cake) is cheesecake.  Strawberry for preference, although most varieties are appreciated (not so keen on chocolate/toffee, though).  It takes some not inconsiderable restraint to stop myself eating a whole strawberry cheesecake in one sitting.  Yum!
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  • I hate self-adhesive stamps.  On a personal level they make me feel like a child playing with stickers instead of a link in the chain of a traditional and time-honoured postal system.  As a philatelist they annoy me because they're the very devil to remove from paper - even prolonged soaking in warm water is not always effective and sometimes leaves a lumpen mess where the glue has remained and dried.  I've managed to overcome the former objection although not without difficulty.  Almost all British stamps are self-adhesive now due to "overwhelming support in public consultations".  It wouldn't have been quite so overwhelming if they'd asked me, I can tell you!  Sometimes I think these "public consultations" exist only in the mind of the companies who quote them, or are at the very least skewed to favour the preferred outcome (I should know, I used to work in market research!).  After much investigation the only stamps I can find that are still gummed are the Country Definitives, which bear the various symbols of each nation of the United Kingdom.  Over time I have stocked up on sheets of these definitives (the 2nd Class English three lions passant, for preference) until I have now got nearly 300 of them, setting me up for the foreseeable future (and avoiding the Royal Mail's recent extortionate price rise, ha ha!).
source
  •  My favourite board game is Monopoly, but I'm alone in my liking of it, so I almost never get to play it.   I have to make do with Monopoly Deluxe CD-ROM and play against a computer, while hoping to find someone to play my Nostalgia Edition with.  Another of my favourite traditional games that I picked up from a charity shop many years ago is the card game British Towns.  Great fun, and at least the family enjoy it too so I get more of a chance to play it!
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  • My first word was nothing so pedestrian as "cat", "dog" or "car".  No, the very first word I ever said was "butterfly" (or to be precise "utterfly", as apparently I didn't quite make the "b")!  What a bright kid - where did it all go wrong, eh?
  • Another of the most highly prized books in my library is a tome entitled Power and Speed: the story of the internal combustion engine on land, at sea and in the air, a 1938 first edition detailing all the latest advancements in engineering in all the disciplines mentioned and with lots of lovey fold-out cutaway drawings of 1930s cars, aeroplanes and boats (including some record-breakers) as seen in magazines of the day such as The Motor and The Aeroplane.  It even has contributions from the likes of Sir Malcolm Campbell and Prince Chula of Siam.  A beautiful book (despite 74 years of age and wear) that I am proud to own. 

     
Well, there we have it again.  Thanks again to Anna for the award, and I hope you've found at least some of this post interesting(!).  Don't forget to keep your eyes peeled for the forthcoming One Hundred and Fifty Followers Giveaway, in the meantime have a great weekend all!  Enjoy the sunshine now that it's here, and before it goes again!

* interestingness not guaranteed

      15 comments:

      1. Congratulations, an award well deserved. I share your problem with monopoly, for some reason it's considered in some circle as "boring"... How wrong they are! This has really been one of my favourite posts, I love the unknown facts coming out. Off to enjoy the sun, and maybe eat a cheesecake or two :) xx

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      2. Congrats on your award, my brother worked on that monopoly game! Love the picture of you drinking tea, fab! X

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      3. I'm the same with tea! My Mum put some very milky tea in my Tommy Tippee and that was that....

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      4. Thank you so much, I feel very honoured and you definitely deserve your award. :) I also very much enjoyed learning a little more about you, especially your stamp rant and that baby picture of you. What a cutie! I'm looking forward to having a read of the other award winners. Thanks again Bruce. Have a lovely weekend. x

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      5. Many thanks for putting me on the list and I have very much enjoyed reading your stuff. I share your enthusiasm for Steam Punk and I'm trying to get Boy the Elder to embrace it as well - he has the build for it.

        I know what you mean about board games. I really like playing Scrabble but it makes Boy the Younger feel left out so we never play. When I lived in London as a yoof, a group of used regularly to play Scrabble. In fact one of our number's cousin was the Scrabble Correspondent for The Jerusalem Post. Yes, you read me right.

        Thanks again!

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      6. Great post. Congratulations on your award. Tea and cheese cake. I think would be a good combination. The Motor and The Aeroplane I believe would be a wonderful book. Old books are fascinating, especially ones like that one.

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      7. Thank you for your nomination of my site and of course congratulations on your own nomination....

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      8. Hello:
        Many, many congratulations on your well deserved award. Since discovering 'Eclectic Ephemera' we have much enjoyed the variety of the posts, the way in which they so often inform and, of course, the very careful and thoughtful presentation. To have been included amongst those to whom you have passed on an award is, indeed, an honour for which we thank you. It is very much appreciated.

        When we began our blog, just over a year ago, we resolved not to follow any memes or similar but would, to be true to ourselves, post as and when the mood took and about subjects which we wished to record. That we have been blessed with so many Followers, yourself included, and to receive comments on our posts, is something which gives us untold joy. You will, we hope, understand if, along with other awards, we place this in our trophy cabinet to be admired from time to time.

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      9. Thank you so, so, so very much for my blog award! I've never received one before so I feel very special!

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      10. Thank you so very much for the award, and congratulations to you too! Always enjoyed reading your posts, looking forward to the give away :)

        An I have to thank you for introducing me to WowHaus, I have been drooling over the houses on that site for a few months now...oh to win the lottery and buy a few!

        Emma
        xxx

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      11. Thank you so much for the award, and to be third! I'll have a spring in my step today :)

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      12. Ooh thanks for the award!! I've been in London this weekend so this is the soonest I could say thanks really! Congrats on yours too! Xxxx

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      13. I already commented on your comment on my blog (convoluted...) but thanks again for proffering me the award. I don't know if I'll be able to accept it because I've been a bad blogger and not fully exploring new and wonderful blogs - been sticking to my old favourites - so don't know who I'd pass it on to! But maybe it should be inspiration for me to get hunting for new reads...

        Oh, and I'm incredibly jealous of that book. It looks and sounds absolutely amazing!

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      14. Congratulations Bruce on your award! Your blog truly does deserve praise as it is one of our favorites to visit! Should you ever happen to be in Central Texas perhaps you could spend a day with our family and browse through all of our favorite dusty old bookstores and then go for a slice of raw (yes, raw) cheesecake at Beets Cafe...it was the best I had ever tasted!

        Thank you so much for awarding my blog, I appreciate it very, very much. You made my day! :)

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      Don't just sit there, type something! I enjoy reading all friendly and positive comments.

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