Get Into the Spirit of Spring

To all my readers, followers, visitors and vintage friends - have a Happy Easter

and I will see you again in April!  

In the meantime, do as the song says and

Get Into the Spirit of Spring (weather permitting)!

I couldn't possibly comment...

"What's that - you'd like to leave a comment? 
Let me just get a pen and some paper..."

Hello all.  This is by way of a bit of "housekeeping" between posts (I suppose this is a post in itself, though, but you know what I mean I hope!  Not my usual fare, shall we say).  It's just that I've been informed that some of you may have been experiencing difficulties posting comments recently, with some sort of message along the lines of "An error occurred while trying to publish your comment" stopping one from leaving a friendly remark or somesuch.  If this has been affecting you I am heartily sorry, as I do value all positive and chummy comments that you may wish to send my way on the subject of my (hopefully our) interests and witterings thereon.  Should it be the case, and if you'd care to, perhaps you might drop me a wire at the address on the postcard (right column) and I will see if I can do anything to help.  To be truthful I'm afraid my technical know-how is slim to non-existent though, so I can't guarantee I'll be of any use I'm afraid!  Having had a poke about amongst the cogs and gears below stairs - and although I do have comment moderation switched on - I don't believe it's got anything to do with the Comments settings on Blogger (but who knows with Google these days), however with a bit of a hunt around the æther I can at least suggest the following:

• 
  Check your anti-virus software settings.  Some anti-virus programs include anti-tracking as standard and this can apparently interfere with third-party cookies that are required by most websites (including Blogger) for comments etc. to be allowed.  I myself experienced something along these lines (stopping me from commenting on my own blog, no less - the cheek of  it!) the other day and it turned out to be my anti-virus software, Bitdefender, being rather overzealous on the blocking front.  It might be worth checking your own provider to see what the settings are for the Anti-tracker, if you have it switched on (with Bitdefender you can choose which browsers it is active on, so I have it switched off for all of them).
• Likewise you can check the third-party cookie settings on your browser of choice directly to confirm whether or not they are switched on and/or create a custom list of which websites are allowed to use them (in Chrome this is under Settings/Privacy and security/Third-party cookies).
• It might also help to do the old trick of emptying your cache and/or deleting your browsing history and cookies but for how far back I could not say (again in Chrome this is in Settings/Privacy and security/Clear browsing data).  You will likely lose all your logins across the interweb and have to sign in again, though.  
• It may be a nuisance but perhaps try a different browser and see if that helps (quite what to do after that I couldn't say though - perhaps check and compare the settings?).
• Again a bit of a pain, however you could switch to Incognito mode in Chrome or open a Private window in Edge or Firefox (Ctrl+Shift+N in all cases, I believe) and see if that makes a difference. 
• As a last resort you may want to try uninstalling and reinstalling your browser - that might reset everything, although again you will probably have to sign in to any websites you were previously logged in to.    

"This would be so much easier if we had a working comments section..."

Well apologies for that rather dull, instructional post but as I do enjoy and encourage any and all pleasant comments I would be sad to think that you, my readers, were being stopped from doing so for any reason.  I hope my limited knowledge on the subject has been of some use should you have encountered this issue and I look forward to reading all your lovely comments again in the future!

Wishing Easter joy to you all

source - wikitree

 To all my readers, followers and visitors old & new, may you all have a a very

Happy Easter

and I look forward to seeing you around the blogosphere into the Spring and beyond.

Boo!

I say, it's been a while, hasn't it (where have we heard that before)?!  Crikey, even the Blogger interface has changed since my last post!  I've almost forgotten how all this works.  I fancy I shall also have to do a bit of Spring cleaning around the old thing.  Has it really been nearly 3 years?!  Does anyone still do this blogging malarkey any more or has everyone moved on to InstaTwitFaceWhatsTok, wearing funny goggles and waving to each other over the aether?  Anyway, do feel free to say "What ho!" in the comments if you are still following this cobwebbed corner of the Internet and although I won't threaten promise anything it is my intention to start posting again (in the same vein as before) as time, sources and health allows.  In the meantime, it's good to be back!

Thoughts on vintage blogging in 2020

Since restarting Eclectic Ephemera in March this year I haven't been able to help but perceive a dispiriting trend within the vintage blogosphere - something that I first began to notice a few years prior but which has now reached such a point that I feel moved to record my own thoughts on the matter.  It is simply this - there seems to be far fewer active vintage blogs (and by blogs I mean the traditional written "web logs" hosted by the likes of Blogger, Wordpress and LiveJournal) than there once were.  So many vintage bloggers appear to have vanished into the æther that it seems as though there are only a handful of us left.  My blog roll and reading list of what I call "vintage lifestyle blogs" are now at least two-thirds smaller than they were ten years ago.

This is something that I'm glad to note I am not alone in observing, as fellow bloggers Harlow Darling and RetroCat have both mentioned the fact in recent posts of their own and it is that which has also inspired me to write this post (and I apologise for the stream of consciousness that is about to follow!).

What, then, may be the reasons behind the demise of so many once excellent vintage blogs and the dearth of any new ones?  Well I think HD and RetroCat both touch upon the main one in their posts - the inexorable rise of social media sites and apps such as FaceBook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok and in particular the instant, quick-hit, image-heavy element therein that seems to appeal to so many people these days.  RetroCat hits the nail on the head in describing this as "rapid consumption" - the internet equivalent of "fast food".

This links to my next theory on why classic blogs might be declining - a generational shift.  Now on the face of it this might seem at odds with the whole vintage blogosphere ethos, inasmuch as those of us (of any age) with an abiding interest in vintage would - if we dip our toes in the online world at all - tend to be the sort who gravitate to the more traditional media such as blogs like these.  But in line with the decline in traditional bloggers comes the thought that the next generation - the teenagers and those in their early twenties who, although they may well be genuinely interested and enthusiastic about vintage, are much more tech-savvy and have, dare I say it, been brought up like so many of their generation on instantaneous online gratification - are generally less interested in writing long or even middling posts about their lifestyles, their vintage finds, their thoughts and feelings on the subject; preferring instead to simply post picture after picture, "tagging", "liking" and thumbs-upping" all and sundry - they are the so-called "influencers" that HD and RetroCat so rightly mention.

I have seen a similar situation affecting another once-thriving but now seriously under threat corner of the internet - the online chat-room.  Now almost an extinct species, the chat-rooms I still visit that were once teeming with interesting discussion almost all lie largely silent and dormant as everyone seems to have migrated to the behemoth that is FaceBook, with the rise in modern technology - specifically smartphones - aiding this move away from the traditional online media.  In either case there sadly seems little that one can do to stem the tide, except to keep plugging away making regular appearances in the forlorn hope that it inspires others to engage in online conversation of more than a few letters and symbols.  Of course every now and again one of the younger generation comes along who will embrace these older internet ways and it is up to us to encourage them where we encounter them in the hope that they will inject new blood into what is fast becoming a dying art form.

A further thought in a similar vein is the simple fact that as people age (sorry to have to bring it up, but there it is) they do change.  Their views may alter over time; their likes and interests change and evolve to the point where they may no longer have the desire to follow a certain lifestyle.  New paths may open up for them to explore, and who are we to begrudge them that?  Family life, work commitments, or other changes in personal life may all conspire to alter someone's personality to the extent that they don't want to blog about their lives any more or if they do they do so through more modern social media because of the aforementioned instantaneousness and ease of use.

The other thing I have noticed, which may be in part linked to the above but which in fact I do feel has more to do with other factors, is the apparent decline in friendly camaraderie and interaction that used to so characterise the vintage blogosphere.  Looking back to when I - and many others - started blogging 11 years ago it seems to me that we were writing in a much more positive and upbeat style, as well as commenting freely on posts, linking to each others' blogs and generally making encouraging noises to one another.  Now I'm not saying this has stopped being the case entirely, nor do I mean to shame anyone into feeling that they're "not doing enough" - far from it!  However I cannot get away from the fact that there does seem to have been a drop off in online interaction between remaining bloggers and while the reasons outlined above are likely involved I am given to wonder if society as a whole may not be playing a part as well.

No-one can deny that we have seen massive social as well as technological changes in the last decade and, sad to say, some of them (especially the former) have not always been positive.  In the four years alone that this blog was on hiatus there have been some sea changes throughout the world, the ripples of which will have been felt by all and sundry.  We only have to look at the current Covid crisis and the deplorable situation in America to note but two recent areas of massively negative social upheaval.  How could one not expect that to have a wider influence on people's interactions, views, health and happiness?  Who would want to blog about, say, 1930s fashion, or a classic film, when the world is in such a mess?  Even when we do, it would be unreasonable not to expect some negativity to make its way - even subconsciously - into our posts.

That, however, is what I created Eclectic Ephemera for and although I still find myself at times wondering if I ought to put this place to bed once and for all I do genuinely enjoy stretching my writing muscles on here in combating the all-pervading media negativity with vintage-inspired items that interest me (and, I hope, by extension, you the readers) and I hope to be able to continue doing so for a long time to come, instant social media or not.  I also hope and look forward to reading many an absorbing vintage blog both old and - hopefully! - new, with the fervent wish and belief that tomorrow will be a good day and that with everyone's help the vintage blogosphere will continue to flourish.

***What are your thoughts on the state of the vintage blogging scene?  Let me know in the comments below.***

Back sooner than expected

I bet you didn't expect to hear from me again so soon after my last post (if anyone is still paying any attention to my witterings on here)!

Unfortunately my planned surgery yesterday was cancelled as some of my blood tests came back looking a bit wonky ("deranged" was the word the surgeons actually used - charming!), which would have made it too dangerous to proceed.  So more doctors, tests etc. as they try to get the levels back down and then we try again - hopefully not too long away!

In the meantime I leave you with an aptly-titled Gershwin number performed by Michael Law & The Piccadilly Dance Orchestra, whose music I have been very much enjoying of late.  My scheduled posts will still be going ahead as, erm, scheduled and I look forward to adding to them over the coming weeks as I continue to biff around the blogosphere.

Toodle-pip!

Here's To The Next Time

Not Mr Partington-Plans AGAIN?!?!

As I mentioned in my return post at the end of March I had been away from the blogosphere for some time in part due to my health being rather fragile for the past couple of years.  Those of you who have been following Eclectic Ephemera from the start will know that things have been rather up and down in that department from the get go and in all honesty have been rather stop start during all that time.  At the risk of sounding like a cracked record, though, and ever the optimist I aim to be in a better place again - hopefully by the end of the month at the earliest - as the trip to the hospital for another dig around what's left of my innards is back on and set for this Friday.  That's right, the day after tomorrow!  Gulp!

"Can you come in on the 15th?"
"Erm, yes okay then(!)"

Credit where it's due to the hospital whose care I'm under (and the wider NHS in general, which is doing a remarkable job in the circumstances) - St Mark's in Harrow, Middlesex, the centre of excellence for the condition I'm being treated for and home to the best doctors and surgeons in the business - for working so closely within the current Covid guidelines and turning things around so quickly once things were relaxed enough to allow surgeries to restart.  St Mark's itself is still under quarantine (it's sister hospital Northwick Park was forced to declare a "critical incident" at the beginning of the pandemic when it ran out of capacity) so it has joined forces with a nearby private hospital that is Covid-free and which is making its facilities available to the NHS.  Come Friday morning, therefore, at the ungodly hour of 5:30am as I have to be there for 7 o'clock, my fiancée will be taking me to Harrow (whilst still trying to observe social distancing as I am, apparently, "clinically vulnerable") for what I hope will be seventh time lucky.

"I need another pad, this one's full up..."

In the meantime I intend for it to be business as usual here at Eclectic Ephemera, as once again I have a few posts waiting in the wings that are scheduled to be published over the coming weeks (yes, I've remembered how to use the Schedule setting!).  The medicos are anticipating a 7-10 day stay but given that my past experiences have ranged from everything from a week to 3 months I am not holding my breath and will just see how things pan out.  It's unlikely that I shall feel much like blogging in the immediate aftermath anyway so I wanted to have at least a few posts lined up to keep you entertained (I hope!).  Fortunately I have at least half a dozen Drafts floating around, some of which I've been finalising in readiness for my enforced absence.

"We're going to need a bigger tray..."

Hopefully this will be the last time - or at least the last time for a while - that I'll need to go through this again and I very much look forward to carrying on here at Eclectic Ephemera once I'm over this latest hurdle.  In the meantime everyone keep safe, continue following your government's guidelines and we shall all be back to some semblance of normality ere long - perhaps of the sort enjoyed by Henry Hall and His Orchestra in this splendid British Pathe newsreel from 1932. Here's to the next time indeed!

What ho, what ho, what ho!

Another kind of record...

Well that's been rather a long break between posts, hasn't it?  Must be some kind of record, I shouldn't wonder.  Certainly longer than 3 months, at any rate, for which I must humbly apologise.

"What have you been doing these last 3½ years?", (ahem!) I hear nobody you cry.  Well sadly my health took a little bit of a dip again and I've been struggling on and off with it since 2018, but hopefully things will shortly be resolved once and for all as the quacks want to poke around my insides again (supposedly next month, although whether that comes off or not now I wouldn't like to say!) and fix things one way or another.  In more positive news I got engaged in 2018 and am now a happily affianced chap (albeit currently living apart thanks to the prevailing conditions - health and other issues having also conspired to keep us from tying the knot and moving in together, although these two things are definitely on the horizon once my health is sorted and the current crisis is past).  

It seems like now is a good time to revisit the dear old blog, seeing as we're all confined to barracks at the moment, and I'm glad to see it's still here and all in one piece (and not taken over by naughty hackers or some such!).  Now I've just got to remember what all the buttons do.  I've taken the opportunity to give it a little spring clean and may well tweak it some more in the coming days, so don't be alarmed if it changes again.  Feedback is always appreciated too, so do let me know if you think anything looks a bit odd.

I won't condescend to repeat what we all know and feel about these unparalleled times (except just there!) as that's not what this blog is or ever was about.  Instead I mean to pick up where I left off and (hopefully) entertain and enlighten you with vintage-related thoughts, musings and news items (if I can find any at the moment), with the odd personal post thrown in for good measure.  I have been lurking on t'interweb all this time so have still been following all the wonderful [vintage] bloggers out there and I'm looking forward to taking my place amongst you all again.  With my impending hospitalisation (and subsequent recovery) - not to mention the other forthcoming and far more welcome changes to my personal life - I can't guarantee for how long that will be but I hope to make the most of it in the meantime (lets face it, we've all got a lot of time on our hands right now!).  In the long run I hope to keep Eclectic Ephemera running as it was in its heyday but if there's one thing the last 3½ years of my life has taught me it's not to make any promises, so we will see how things go.  Pip-pip for now, though!

Easter hellos

source

Happy Easter everyone, I haven't forgotten you all!  (Don't worry, I've got a couple of posts lined up for the next few weeks so hopefully things will soon be back to the "new" normal here at Eclectic Ephemera.)  In more exciting news I had another article published in In Retrospect magazine, with a fourth hopefully for Issue 03 in a couple of months' time!

Did you see that B.B.C. Two actually put on Easter Parade at Easter(!), on Good Friday morning?  That was a pleasant start to the Easter weekend, I thought (even though I'd recorded it from their last showing of it in... November)!  I can never get enough of the incomparable Fred Astaire...



Here's hoping you've all had a wonderful Easter holiday - not too much chocolate I hope!  (I actually got my first egg in years - from work!  What a nice bunch of coves, eh?)  Well, roll on Spring!

Views looking back - the Eclectic Ephemera Top 10

Here I am again, then, saying "What ho!" after another long dry spell at Eclectic Ephemera.  I seem to spend half my (few) posts lately apologising for my absence, and can only do so again.  I dislike constantly using work as an excuse, since I know so many bloggers who successfully juggle a good working/writing balance - it just seems I'm not one of them!  Having said that, it seems that a few of my favourite bloggers have gone quiet as the new year got underway, or have just emerged from the woodwork after months of silence, so perhaps I am not alone after all.

Anyway, enough navel-gazing, for a quite remarkable milestone was reached by this blog at the start of 2015 and it is this that I intend to celebrate in this post (for lack of anything really newsworthy!).  Quite appropriately, the start of my sixth year as a vintage blogger saw Eclectic Ephemera pass 400,000 pageviews.  Now of course that doesn't mean that 400,000 individual people have viewed this blog - some of those will have been me looking at the thing to see how it's doing (and forgetting to select "Don't track my own pageviews"!) and many, many more were probably spammers, bots, bits and other assorted members of the æthereal interweb - but the majority would have been fellow bloggers, followers and interested parties.  You, in other words.  And that deserves celebrating.  What I thought I'd do to mark the occasion, therefore, is to "run down" (to use the modern parlance) the Top 10 posts from Eclectic Ephemera's 6-year history - a sort of "best of", as it were, chosen by you the readers.

So, in ascending order they are:

10. Home linked to P G Wodehouse's Blandings Castle up for sale

 

From November 2010, the news that Apley House in Shropshire had been completely restored and was up for sale for the princely sum of £1¾ million.  I found it to be of particular interest because it is generally agreed among scholars to be the inspiration behind P.G. Wodehouse's Blandings Castle, which was the setting for one of his other book series.  With Plum being one of my favourite authors and creator of that arch-chap Bertie Wooster, even though it was not directly related to the Jeeves stories I fancied including it here.  Eclectic Ephemera was barely a year old at this point and still evolving into the blog we know today, so at this point the stories I featured were sometimes more wide-ranging than they are today.  Still this one had a vintage bent about it and has obviously proved popular, for whatever reason (perhaps the Wodehouse connexion, or just its magnificence as an English stately home).

9. Liebster Blog Award #2

 

Jumping forward two years to November 2012, this blog received its second Liebster Blog Award.  Having largely given way to other blog awards (probably due to the demise of Google Friends) the Liebster nevertheless contained most of the things we recognise in today's examples.  Given to me by Lil of the now defunct Little Lil of London blog, it contained the usual x number of questions about myself to answer and I obviously made a decent fist of it since it is the most popular award-based post on the blog!

8. Historic wooden car floated at auction

 

November 2010 again and one of my many vintage motoring posts - this time featuring a one-off wood-bodied 1932 Talbot.  This car had an interesting history, which is why the story appealed to me (and everybody else too, it seems!), having started out in 1932 as just an ordinary 14/65 saloon before some time in the 1960s acquiring a fantastic roadster body fashioned entirely from boat-grade mahogany!  Despite this it was only valued at £20,000 to £30,000, eventually being sold for almost smack dab in the middle at £25,300.  As I said at the time, I hope the new owner enjoys varnishing!

7. Cary Grant - Style Icon

 

source

February 2012 and number 2 in my personal Style Icon series is obviously number 1 in your books - Mr Cary Grant.  Proof of the man's popularity even today, my thoughts on his impeccable dress sense - and more importantly the pictures that illustrate this - have gone towards making this everyone's favourite Style Icon post from a list that included David Niven and Fred Astaire!

6. Model of new Routemaster bus unveiled

 

source

The classic [red] AEC Routemaster bus has come to symbolise the city of London, not just for those of us in Britain but more especially for people living around the world for whom this simple, long-lived vehicle is part of their own external view of our capital.  Therefore it should perhaps come as little surprise, given the international nature of the internet (and thus, this blog), that the unveiling of its spiritual successor should prove to be so popular.  The idea of modern technology meeting classic, tried-and-tested design was much in evidence throughout the story of the NB4L (or New Routemaster, as it has become known) and this has always been the most appealing aspect of things to me, as I hope it has been to all who have followed the journey of the NB4L from drawing board to now, five years later, actually carrying passengers around the streets of London.  Having since seen one or two up close I can confirm it more than lives up to the hype and it's been fascinating to see its progress all the way from inception to now.

5. Vintage Rolls-Royces honour Spirit of Ecstasy

 

source

As if to reinforce its position as "Best Car in the World" this 2011 post about the centenary of Rolls-Royce's mascot, the famous Spirit of Ecstasy, makes it into the top 5.  As well the story about the anniversary celebrations featuring myriad Royce models from down the years, I took the opportunity to throw in a bit about some of my favourite examples and it has obviously struck a chord with many people for whom the Rolls-Royce is still the very epitome of luxury motoring.

4. Film Friday - Scarface (1932)

 

The third of the Film Friday: Gangsters series that I began back in 2010 with Little Caesar (and which sadly I've rather let slide since) this post focussed on the plot - and, more importantly the fashions - of Howard Hughes' and Howard Hawk's classic 1932 gangster drama Scarface, starring Paul Muni, Ann Dvorak and George Raft.  This post has proven to be popular with both vintage film and fashion fans alike, which are who I hoped would be the target audience and which has made me think that maybe it's about time I brought this series back!

3. All aboard the song train

 

This is the most recently-written post to make the top 10, containing a selection of railway-related tunes to celebrate (if that's the word I want!) my first foray back into the world of full-time work and commuting by train.  While that job didn't last and I now commute to the latest office by bus, this post really seemed to build up a good head of steam(!) and powered its way into the "most popular" list.  I suspect this is just through people searching for the phrase "song train", but then I live in hopes that there are several thousand visitors with a liking for the music of Glenn Miller, Paul Whiteman and Bob Crosby among others!

2. Rare photographs of comedian Stan Laurel are auctioned

 

Proof of the enduring popularity of two of the funniest comic actors to have ever lived, this story regarding the auction of rare photographs of (mainly) Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy proved inordinately popular (again probably just through people Googling "photos of Stan Laurel", I reckon).  Including some very rare images dating back to 1897 and showing a young Arthur Stanley Jefferson playing with his siblings these photographs came from a family collection owned by a great-niece of Stan's living in Sunderland, near to North Shields where he grew up.  The 54 lots eventually sold for a total of £8,000.

1. Classic car firm Morgan building new three-wheeler after gap of 60 years

 

This would certainly be in my top 10 favourite vintage news items that this blog has covered since 2009, so I'm delighted to see it make the number one slot with my readers too.  And why should it not?  Here is an almost perfect example of traditional, vintage design being married to modern technology and - even better - one that has been an unqualified success for the Morgan Motor Company.  For it is now the company's best-selling model, having sold more than 600 in the first few months after it went on sale and over 1,000 in the four years it has been on sale.  While that may not sound like much, for a niche manufacturer like Morgan - who still use the same construction methods and work out of the same factory in Malvern, Worcestershire that they have done since the company's inception in 1909 - it is a very big deal.  In 2014 a whole raft of updates were applied to the car in response to customer feedback and I see no reason why the 3-wheeler, having taken its rightful place back in the very heart of the Morgan range, should not endure for decades just as the other models have done.

There we have it, then - the 10 most popular Eclectic Ephemera posts from the past 6 years and 400,000 pageviews.  I hope you've all enjoyed this little reminiscence as much as I have writing it and I look forward to seeing what the future brings for this blog amid the hope of many more readers and followers to come.

Three cheers for the New Year!

source

 To all my readers, followers and friends.

I wish you all a healthy, happy and successful

2015

and look forward to my sixth year of blogging 

here at Eclectic Ephemera.  

At peace... and quiet

Evenin' all, and apologies for the two weeks of radio silence. I'm well aware I promised a post a week at the least and I must admit I'm beginning to get a bit frustrated that I can't find the time to write something at the weekend.  However I am but one man and there are only so many hours in the day; hopefully things will start to fall into place and a posting pattern will start to work out before too long.  Of course, it helps if I have interesting news of a vintage flavour to blog about...

Speaking of starting work my endeavours in that department continue to go well, much to my delight after so many years of health and employment struggles.  The downside, of course, is that I get to spend less here and on other blogs but this new place has a very generous IT policy so once I've settled right down and got my six months "probation" behind me you might even find the odd post appearing at lunchtime(!).

I had planned to do a post around about my birthday on the 19th August featuring the usual present haul and jollity but sadly this wasn't to be.  Presents (and, indeed, my birthday itself really) became the last thing on my mind because heartbreakingly my grandmother - my last surviving grandparent, an ever-present part of all the family's lives for generations and the last direct link to an era I find so enthralling - passed away peacefully in hospital on the 21st at the age of 87 after gamely fighting for three weeks against pneumonia (not to mention a litany of other ailments built up over the years), as stoically as she had always done against adversity throughout her life.  So you can imagine we as a family were preoccupied with that over anything else.  I hope to do a proper commemorative post about Nan in the near future, since she was a young woman in the 1940s & '50s; there are pictures of her in those times that I had never seen before that I know many of you will appreciate and that I'd like to show you.  Here's a taster (badly copied here I'm afraid, a scan of a scan but it will appear again better later on):

I hope to return to happier things with the publication of the next couple of posts, which should feature certain aspects of belated and potential birthday presents.  Not to mention a celebration of my Nan's [early] life in 1940s London.

Thanks for sticking with me here at Eclectic Ephemera during this transitional period and rest assured, I'm going nowhere and still enjoying reading all your blogs!

Now at work, rest and play

Golly gosh, I'd forgotten just how time-consuming a full working week can be!  Still, here we are again, what?  The first week of a new job is under my belt and now I've got some time to sit down and write a few lines of this and that - all that has been leading up to this week just gone.

The week previous - that is, two weeks ago now - I spent some time nosing around my local branches of Debenhams, Marks & Spencer and BHS hoping to score some bargain items for m'wardrobe in the summer sales.  I was not disappointed, either, as Debenhams' sale was in full swing (they don't seem to call it the Blue Cross Sale any more, unless they're saving that for Christmas/January?) and I picked up two smashing pairs of cotton trousers that will go well with the majority of my jackets for a casual summer look.  Most importantly, Debenhams' men's trousers go up to a 34" inside leg - perfect for the long of limb such as myself!

Maine New England Navy twill chinos, £12 from £20 at Debenhams
(**sold out**)

The navy blue is a nice, muted colour - giving off an almost workmanlike vibe - but the terracotta twill is my absolute favourite, adding a welcome and different dash of colour to my outfits.

Maine New England Terracotta twill chinos, £10 from £20 at
Debenhams

Marks and BHS had less on offer (and M&S wonders why its year-on-year clothing sales keep taking a battering - definitely a "could do better" on the men's clothing selection, at least) but I was still able to score this beautiful "Autograph" knitted silk tie for a frankly unbelievable £4 (it was actually still marked up at £7.50 on the ticket - I do like pleasant surprises!).

It actually goes quite well with the terracotta trews, don't you think?  It's wonderful to the touch, of course, and knots well too - something that's not always a given with knitted ties, I've found.

Saturday last found me in Rayleigh for the town's first ever Antique & Vintage Street Market, run by the same people who put on the local Runnymede Vintage, Antique and Retro Fairs that I have been to many times in the past and enjoyed, as has been mentioned on this very blog.  Alas I can't see this street market becoming a regular one as it was really very poorly done with barely half a dozen stalls in the high street (which had not been closed as I was expecting), largely selling stuff that would have better been described as bric-a-brac.  There were supposedly more stalls around the corner outside the local auction house (Stacey's, occasional star of Antiques Road Trip and Bargain Hunt) but we - mother, sister and I - we so disappointed we didn't bother with that but instead hit the charity shops.  There I was able to pick up a nice T.M. Lewin shirt for £3.50 and an interesting CD for £1.

Twenty-four songs from The Radio Rhythm Club, a name I'd never come across before but actually that of a B.B.C. programme broadcast during the Second World War.  The Radio Rhythm Sextet was led by a young Welsh clarinetist called Harry Parry(!) who greatly admired American bandleader Benny Goodman, to the point where he emulated him with his own group of top British instrumentalists of the time.  Sadly Harry Parry died in 1956 at the age of 44; The Radio Rhythm Club and Sextet seem to have been lost to the mists of time, since I can't seem to find out much about them.  The Benny Goodman influence is obvious (but just with a soupçon of British smoothness) and it maybe this overt similarity, plus changing musical tastes after the war, that ensured The Radio Rhythm's obscurity.

Still, after all that, I'm glad I bought the CD as it certainly does bubble along.  I do like the Benny Goodman sound anyway and was only recently thinking about finding some more 1940s music, so this ticks the boxes.  Have a Boogi to this:

What else has happened?  Oh yes, I marked the 100th anniversary of the start of the Great War on the 4th August with a single candle and the "lights out" motif, as did most of the country I think.  The B.B.C.'s coverage was rather good, I thought - slightly reserved rather than overdone and all the better for it.

This was the same candle that I burned (we were all given one) at my granddad's
funeral back in 1997. 
I'd never lit it since but it somehow seemed right to use it on the anniversary of WW1

Well, that's all for now, I think.  There's going to be a bit of disorder around here for a little while longer as I continue to settle back into a 5-day working week and get comfortable in the new job but as long as I can post at least once every weekend I'll be happy - and hopefully you, my readers, will be too!  I've already got posts planned featuring the two surviving Lancaster bombers flying together for the first time in 50 years, plus a 61-year-old woman driving a 110-year-old car across Australia!  In the meantime I do still enjoy reading your blogs when I get the chance - usually now a special treat after work! - and I hope you'll continue to stick with mine during this transition.

Eyes on the prize

More time than I would have liked has passed since my last post - for various reasons, some of which will become apparent as they take the form of this entry.  I've still got a few exciting posts planned for the next few weeks, including the latest twist in the 77-year-old mystery of Amelia Earhart's disappearance and the 75 years since the first appearance of Batman, but in the meantime I feel a post letting you know what I've been up to in the last couple of weeks is a good idea.

You may have noticed that I tend to disappear from the blogosphere for a week or so at the beginning of each month - this is when I help a friend and [ex-]colleague out with the new(ish) business that he's helping to get going, and which has constituted my "working life" for the last 3 years as I've slowly recovered from the attentions of various doctors.  Alas I think even my friend would agree that starting a new company can be a painfully long and drawn out (and often unsuccessful) process so I've been spending an equal amount of time searching for a longer term guaranteed full-time job, especially now those same doctors are practically giving "get a job" as medical advice and there are bills to be paid (not to mention the obvious social and mental benefits of gainful employment).

Well dear reader, I've got one!  The plans for earning a living as a blogger/freelance writer with an online vintage shop will have to be put on hold indefinitely (!) as I return instead to my "career bread-and-butter" - research analysis.  I received the offer yesterday and start on the 4th August, which at least gives me time to get everything in order and prepare myself for my first proper full-time job in 3 years.  Wish me luck!

A casual office, sadly, so not much of this. 
I'll have to be more creative in my work attire,
at least for the first few weeks...(!)

What this means for Eclectic Ephemera is, of course, the introduction of a proper posting schedule - most likely along the lines of one or two posts at the weekend (and maybe the odd one mid-week if I can find the time).  I feel sure this will work out well in the long run, as I know many of you work to a regular timetable in order to fit blogging around a normal 9-5 job.  I mean, Norton Of Morton sticks to a Saturday at 4'o'clock and he's just won Best Vintage Blog at the 2014 National Vintage Awards, so this could be just the thing, by Jove!  Rest assured that whatever happens I've no intention of going anywhere and I continue to look forward to reading your blogs and your continued patronage to Eclectic Ephemera.

Timeless/verging on retro, or dangerously postmodern/
looking like an architect...?  Either way, they're sitting
in a drawer in two pieces now.

In other news, I visit the local optician next Friday for my biennial eye test and - whatever the result - a new pair of spectacles.  This is on account of my existing glasses breaking in a boring yet bizarre fashion  (a gentle application of hand to brow during a giggling fit at the latest edition of The Chap proved too much for a pair of specs that must have been at least 6 years old and metal fatigue finally claimed them - right across the nose bridge but at a point where it was impossible to repair them).  It could not have happened at a worse moment (although it was bound to at some point) - the afternoon before my first job interview last Wednesday!  A frantic dash to the optician only confirmed that they were indeed beyond help, with a two day wait to have my current lenses fitted to new frames.  Fortunately I still had an ancient pair of specs from a previous prescription that have been pressed into service once again, although after six years of smaller, lighter glasses these are frustratingly over-sized and heavy.

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One step closer to this...

I made my appointment while I was there - somewhat presciently it was almost two years since my last test anyway (and a reminder card popped through the letterbox a day later) - and had a look at the frames on offer.  I was pleased to see that my local optician has finally jumped on the "vintage" bandwagon by offering a selection of retro frames but disappointed to note that the selection took up all of two display columns, out of the 40-odd in the place.  Tucked out of the way, with two laminated "Vintage" and "Retro" signs wedged above them, the majority of specs were either 1960s NHS/Austin Powers/Michael Caine or nondescript 1980s/'90s styles.  I hummed and aaahed over some pairs that were either the same as my old ones or the rounder tortoiseshell style that I've fancied for a while now, before finally making my decision.  The ones I've picked are round but not too large and in a dark tortoiseshell.  Not too dark either, as the two caterpillars that have set up home above my eyes make black/heavy-framed glasses a no-no, but these are thin enough that I ought to be able to get away with it.

I'll maybe try and debut them on here next weekend, after which I'll be looking forward - through new spectacles - to a new job and a fresh start this summer.

A good idea In Retrospect

You may remember within my Easter post last month the tempter of a comment I made about an upcoming "exciting project" that I had been working on.  Well, I'm delighted to be in a position now to reveal all!

Yes, I am now a contributor to a wonderful new vintage magazine(!!) called:

In Retrospect

Co-created by Mat from Tales of a Southern Retro, In Retrospect quite rightly describes itself as "a modern magazine for old-fashioned people" and is chock-full of fascinating articles written by some of the best, most well-known vintage bloggers in Britain (and me!) including Missy Vintage, Norton Of Morton, Old Fashioned Susie and The Forties Floozy.  I think you'll agree that it's a very welcome and well-presented addition to the vintage scene and I'm thrilled beyond words to be a part of it.

Currently In Retrospect is available online only (and only free until tomorrow so hurry if you want to get a look at it for nowt! - apologies for the short notice but I've been away for most of the weekend) but with any luck the next issue will be on a shelf in a (British, sorry again international readers!) newsagent near you before too long.

Until then, pop over to the site, have a look round (do please spread the word too) and let me know what you think! 

Coming Soon...

I'm delighted, thrilled and slightly overwhelmed (literally) today to have a series of interesting news items come along like buses, an avalanche of exciting happenings that hasn't occurred on this blog for some time.  I may end up doing two posts a day, just like the early days of Eclectic Ephemera!

Rather than use up space in another post I have instead decided to write this quick individual one by way of a "teaser" (all the rage these days!).  Therefore get ready to read, in the next few days, the kind of stories this blog was made for, including:

• 21st century steam locomotives!
• 1930s Bugatti racing 'planes!
• Gershwin, Whiteman, Giordano and all that jazz!
• George Bernard Shaw
• and a 100-year-old Parisian diary.

My blogging ethos and taking the corporate shilling

I've been toying with the idea of writing this post for some time now but since the subject has been playing on my mind again lately I figure I might as well get it off my chest.

I've said it before and I'll say it again that in the near-five years I've been writing this blog it has evolved beyond my wildest imaginings into what I hope is a bona fide vintage blog able to sit alongside its peers.  Last year I wrote my first collaborative, sponsored piece and I continue to have high hopes for the future of Eclectic Ephemera.

Even before that Hawes & Curtis post last December I had many calls from those close to me to "make more" of this blog and take it in a direction where I might actually earn some money from it (seeing as times are tough at Partington-Plans Towers).  It was pointed out to me that my links to purveyors of Classic & Vintage Clothing and Accessories are little more than "free advertising" for the companies therein and that it is foolish of me to send business their way and expect nothing in return (this presupposes that someone actually reads my blog, clicks on a link and then buys something from the shop in question, something which I consider rather unlikely to say the least).  Perhaps, it has been suggested, I ought to approach all these companies whose products I like and admire and demand that they provide me with some tangible benefit in exchange for a place on my blog.

Now I know that there are many successful vintage bloggers out there (who I admire) who do sell advertising space on their blogs to businesses relevant to their (our) interests, or who offer sponsorship deals, product reviews etc.  Frankly a lot of it is all a bit beyond me even at this stage, although I wouldn't rule any of them out for the future.  I'm sure the benefits to both parties are worthwhile, but I don't pretend that I am in their league.  Just recently this blog passed 300,000 pageviews (although that's using the notoriously inaccurate Google Stats - with something like Google Analytics I'm sure the figure would be far lower).  I have 182 valued Followers (plus 60 on Bloglovin', although some if not all of them will also be among the original 182).  But the likes of Fleur, Jessica, Jill and Gemma (among others) have upwards of a thousand Followers and probably 300,000 pageviews every year (all fully deserved).  In comparison I have never considered myself anything other than a complete amateur, with a capital A.  I have no custom domain address.  My blog template is a simple Blogger one, tweaked here and there as best I know how.  My pictures still sometimes appear gappy; I occasionally curse Blogger's embed function (and others) to this day.  I barely know my HTML from my HDMI.  I post what I like to read about and what I hope you like to read about as well.

My attitude to this blogging lark therefore puts me in a bit of a quandary when it comes to advertising/ sponsored posts.  As mentioned I still currently see myself as an amateur - a gentleman amateur if you will (a description that has elicited exasperated bewilderment from some quarters) - and the idea of paid advertising is one I still have some difficulty reconciling with.  I don't want to alienate anyone.  Is it for me to put you through looking at distracting banners each time you visit?  But like any advertising you could just choose to ignore it, right?  Is it any different to the links bar and other banners on this blog?  But, in the spirit of amateurism and the real friendship that exists in the vintage blogosphere, is it not a public service to point out these sites - many (although admittedly not all) of them small independents - where we can find clothing and other items intrinsic to our lifestyle that are difficult or impossible to get on the high street?  I sometimes get the feeling that I'm being encouraged to participate in a world where everything has a price, where good fellowship and helping other enthusiasts is naïve and outmoded, and it makes me feel sad - and old.  I suspect we've all had that feeling once in a while(?).

My positive experience with H&C has proved to me that collaborations can work - and work well - and as I say I wouldn't rule out doing similar again.  But it must be on my terms and I'm still working out in my mind what is best for this blog and for you, dear readers.  I'm still on the first tentative steps towards this potential path, still learning the ins and outs of "social media" and I remain unsure of it all.  I enjoy blogging, I admit it is an escape but it is a joy to maintain and share.  I don't want to wake up one day feeling I have an obligation to it, or to end up resenting it because of some commercialisation - that I've maybe "sold out".  On the other hand it is everyone's dream to be paid to do what they love and there are many professionally-written blogs out there, even in the vintage blogosphere.  But what does it entail, being a self-employed writer/social media whatsit etc.?  I suspect quite a lot.  Always I wonder if what I write is of any real value.  Just words spewing forth from m'brain really; my thoughts on interesting stories I find.  I get told by these same people that my writing [style] is very good, a genuine skill I should be proud of (and paid for), and maybe it is but without doubt there are others out in the æther whose prose is the equal of mine if not better.  Could it really be mine is worth as much?

To potentially interested parties I say: don't let this stream of consciousness put you off contacting me - I can only say "No"!  I just felt the need to get this off my mind and throw it out there where I can maybe gauge reaction and hopefully find similar thoughts and opinions.  I've got a lot of classic Eclectic Ephemera subjects on the way after this too, so normal service will resume shortly!

Good fortune for 2014

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Wishing you all the very best for a happy and healthy 2014.  

Thank you for reading and for your continuing kind comments and support.
I'm looking forward to following all blogs old and new into the New Year and beyond.

A Merry Eclectic Ephemera Christmas

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Wishing everyone a very Happy Christmas!  May you all have a blessed Yule.

Sent from mater's new Kindle Fire (other tablet computers are available).  I'm converted!  What a fantastic piece of equipment; I may have to look into these things...

Plus fors - and againsts

What ho, everyone!  I trust we're all fully in the festive spirit now and having a tip-top time of things?

In the vintage blogosphere I do believe things have never been better and I myself have an idea for a couple of what I hope will be cracking posts before Christmas and the New Year, involving classic Yuletide tunes and recently-acquired knitting patterns(!).

I'd like to take a moment first, though, to apologise for any technical problems you, dear readers, may have encountered lately when trying to leave a comment.  You see, I recently finished creating a Google+ account for m'self and linked this blog to it.  Seeing as Google appear to own most of the Internet (and who knows where that will end...?), particularly my usual haunts of Blogger, YouTube and Google Search, it seemed a good idea at the time to have a profile to keep them all in one place.  Little did I know that by linking this blog to my Google+ profile I would be changing the commenting system to Google+ Comments, for which apparently anyone wishing to leave a message must have a Google+ account themselves.  Took me a while to cotton on to the fact too, seeing as I'm still very much an amateur when it comes to the internal workings of Blogger.

I then spent a day or so toying with the idea of leaving Google+ Comments in place until I decided yesterday evening that it is not for me to force anyone into creating a Google+ account just to post a comment and despite that firm's ubiquity there are probably more people reading this with just a good old Blogger account (or similar) then there would be on Google+, so to cut a long story short Blogger Comments have made a welcome return to Eclectic Ephemera.  Of course during that time of confusion and indecision some of you had left comments using Google+, which have now disappeared into the æther (they must be floating around somewhere, because if I switch back again they magically reappear and some of them are on my Google+ page) and I wanted you to know that I haven't forgotten them and that I value every one.  Jessica, garofit, Mim, Jennie, anyone else I've missed - sorry for faffing you about and I hope you will continue to comment in the future.

In fact, I hope everyone and anyone feels welcome to continue to comment.  I can't tell you the kick I get out of seeing "n message(s) awaiting moderation" when I open my Dashboard and reading the wonderful thoughts you've been kind enough to share with me.  In fact, there's another reason why I went back to Blogger comments, plus I can see all the messages in one place (and moderate them if - very rarely - necessary) which is something - unless it's passed me by - you can't seem to do so readily with Google+.

I will still be keeping my Google+ profile and posts published here on Blogger will continue to appear automatically on Google+, so please feel free to leave comments here or there.  I read and appreciate them all and they make writing this blog all the more worthwhile.  Sorry again for any bother; normal service has now been resumed!