Crinoline Robot's vintage week

A tabby cat looking at a winner
My boy has been poorly but is all better now
Yup, it's another roundup of my bimblings. I haven't quite managed to take photos every day, owing to the Bank Holiday weekend making me forget, but I did put some effort in nonetheless. I wanted to get images of some books for the website, and hit on an idea for interesting backgrounds: papers from my papercrafting stash. I don't do much papercrafting, Halloween cards aside, so it's good to find another use for those lovely papers. And it definitely does make the books look nice, because I was able to pick colours and a style to match each one, though I could still do with working on the lighting. Much nicer than plonking them down on tatty old Victorian floorboards, anyhow.


On the subject of tatty Victorian floorboards, work on the bathroom is progressing. I think Dan the plumber has been quite startled by how keen Mr Robot and I are to get things finished. Over the Bank Holiday weekend Mr Robot sanded the bathroom floor, and then I gave it a couple of coats of dark walnut varnish. I'd feared it would look patchy, but it turned out looking very nice. I used proper floor varnish, so it would be hardwearing. Who wants to varnish floors regularly? Not me! Best to use the hardwearing stuff. When we repainted the bathroom I'd worried that the orange walls looked overwhelmingly warm, but now the floor is much darker and the tiled bath surround in place the orange isn't quite so overpowering.

Ziggy was poorly over the Bank Holiday. Poor little man. He eats all sorts of crud (slugs, woodlice, junk mail), and we think he might have been eating sticks, which made him sick. After a day looking sorry for himself, but not in immediate need of vet's attention, he seemed to perk up again and was back to swatting Pippin's tail. I swear one day we'll have to take him to have pebbles removed from his gut; he's that sort of animal. If he'd stayed in the wild, he wouldn't have lasted long, so it's good that he ended up with us.
Joan hickson as Miss Marple

One thing I did enjoy over the weekend was rewatching a couple of Joan Hickson Miss Marple episodes. Is it possible that your first Marple is always your favourite? Joan Hickson was mine. I remember my mum watching the BBC/Hickson episodes in the 1980s; the first couple of notes of the theme tune is enough to hit me with a wave of nostalgia. Nowadays I can see the 1980s influence in the younger characters' costumes and hairstyles – as I mentioned in my thinking about costume dramas recently, every decade reproduces past ones under current influences – but I don't mind that. There's something quite enjoyable in the slight anachronisms. (There's that nostalgia again.) I've shunned rewatching the series in recent years because it had become too familiar, and so watching it this time, it all felt fresh again. Funny to think that we're now as far from when they were filmed as they were from the 1950s when the programmes were set...

So, who's your favourite Marple? Or are you actually more into Poirot?

Comments

  1. Your bathroom sounds fabulous. I love the sound of the walnut floor. Very opulent and dramatic. For me, Margaret Rutherford will always be the only Marple. All the others are a pale imitation.what a brilliant character actress she was. Xx

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  2. The bathroom sounds great and yes Joan Hickson is my favorite marple too

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  3. Poor Ziggy. Hope the handsome boy is much better now. Nothing more worrying than a poorly pet.
    The bathroom is going to be fantastic, I can't wait for the big reveal.
    Loved Jon Hickson as Miss Marple, those twinkling eyes, full of intelligence. Much prefer Miss Marple to Hercule Poirot. xxx

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  4. Definitely Joan Hickson - its the voice! Just how I imagined her from the books.

    Glad to hear your cat is well again!

    The bathroom floorboards sound lovely. I have sanded and varnished floors downstairs and they're in need of revarnishing - oh what a faff it all is.....

    Have a great weekend, Mim!

    Veronica
    vronni60s.blogspot.com

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  5. Joan Hickson is definitely my favourite Marple – she's far and away the closest to the character described in the books, I think.

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  6. Poor Ziggy! Our Phoebe is like that, always nibbling things in our garden that she shouldn't and drinking water from puddles. I'm looking forward to see the finished bathroom in all its glory. I do prefer Miss Marple and Joan Hickson is my favourite. xxx

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  7. I hope Ziggy is feeling better now, poor poppet. Our first two house bunnies ate quite a bit of sofa at different times and got all impacted. Grace came out worse off, with liquid paraffin and pineapple juice having to be utilised :/

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  8. Hello Mim.
    About Ziggy: the behavior is familiar to me. I have had a kitty who had a tendency to eat all sort of stuff. We've realized it's because the kitty felt un-easy (for some reason). Some cats become obsessive about certain objects. They are attracted by some type of smell or taste - I suppose, and yours surely loves the MAIL. :)

    Keep Ziggy busy. A busy kitty in not a bored kitty, and then has less time and energy to go around munching on things.

    M.

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