Red, white and blue knitting

I've gone a bit majestic for my latest knitted tea cosy.

Red, white and blue in honour of Her Majesty the Queen.

Quite jolly isn't it?

It is for sale, so email me if you would like details.

Love, Liz
If you love the Hornblower novels, you might like the latest blog post on The Greenockian - espionage, and imprisonment during the Napoleonic Wars!

Queen Victoria close up

These are just some of the amazingly intricate details from the statue of Queen Victoria by William Silver Frith (1860 - 1934) which stands at the top of the Doulton Fountain.  It was sculpted as a celebration of Victoria's golden jubilee.  The fountain is sometimes called the Victoria Fountain.

The Doulton Fountain is just outside the People's Palace in Glasgow.  Originally it was situated in Kelvingrove Park as part of the International Exhibition of 1888 and later gifted to the city by Sir Henry Doulton (you may have heard of Doulton Pottery).

The fountain itself was designed by Arthur Ernest  Pearce (1859 - 1934) who worked for the Doulton Company.  It has lots of other beautiful sculpture and it is hard to believe that the fountain was almost destroyed by vandals in the 1990s before it was moved to its present position. 

You can read more about this amazing fountain at Glasgow - City of Sculpture.

Love, Liz

It's the Polis!

Got another fabulous vintage Ladybird Book from my collection to show you today.  It is The Policeman from 1962 and how much of a different world does this show!  Look at those old traffic signs in the background.

Personally I think these uniforms are so much smarter, but where on earth would the modern police officer keep all their kit?

The book comes from Ladybird's Easy Reading, People at Work Series by L & J Havenhand with illustrations by John Berry.  Published by Wills & Hepworth Ltd, Loughborough, England in 1962.

Traffic duty wearing a white coat - the neon of the day!

Hope you've enjoyed this wee trip back to the 60s.

Love, Liz

What games did you play in the Brownies?

I used to be in the Brownies when I was a wee girl.  I loved it!  Working towards badges and being with my friends - it was great fun.  For some reason a game we used to play just came into my head - perhaps you know it - "port and starboard".

Everyone lined up down the middle of the hall and then one of the leaders would shout port - and we'd all run to the left hand side of the hall.  If she shouted starboard we went to the right.  Last one over was out!  There were lots of other things too like man overboard - you had to lie down and pretend to swim.  Captain's coming - salute.  Crow's nest - pretend to climb up a rope.  I'm sure there were others too.

A great way to get the smarty pants or big girls who could run fast out of the game was when the leader, once everyone was at port would shout "port" again and a lot of them would have started to run to the other side and were then "out".

Happy days.  Good exercise too.  Did you play "port and starboard" when you were young?

Love, Liz

You might be interested in the latest post on my other blog - The Greenockian.  It tells the story of a riot that took place in Greenock in 1820.  This is a memorial sculpture to those who died or were injured.