Pears: Acquired 2019, definitely vintage

Lynn bought me this tea towel at Christmas, not for Christmas.   Lynn and Helen have always given a donation to charity rather than buying gifts that people do not need.  I like that idea; the gift of giving is still there but the recipients are not people who have everything they want or need.  Their charity of choice is St Martin-in-the-Field.  I think Lynn must have extended her charity-giving, this year, to her favourite Charity Shop, where this tea towel has undoubtedly come from.

“What do you think those fruits are?” I asked Liz.  “Do you think they are pears and apples?”

“No” she replied.  “I think they are all pears or maybe pears and cherries”

“Do you know the names of any pears, other than Conference Pears? because those aren’t Conference Pears” I ask, as if I know what I am talking about.

“There’s William Pears” she answered, but we all know there must be hundreds of varieties of pears; we appeared to have abandoned the idea that there might be a cherry or two here.  I decided to resort to Google!  We looked at the pictures of pears and seeing all the various shapes and colours realised that there are no cherries on my tea towel; they are all pears.  There was now the question of matching the illustrations to Google’s definitive description of pears.  Finally, we identified the three pears: Green Anjou, Bartlett and Starkrimson.

“That took a while” I say to Liz “longer than I expected.   I have to wash my hair today, before I go out, because tomorrow is New Years Day”.

Liz looks at me, bemusedly.  I can see her thinking: where did hair-washing come into this?  “Your hair looks fine, it’s clean”

She doesn’t realise the significance of New Year’s Day.  “You know you can’t wash your hair on New Year’s Day, don’t you?”

“Why” Liz asks aghast.

“Because you will wash all the good luck luck away for the whole year”

“I’ve never heard that” says Liz

“There are lots of superstitions but the one that I know is that you shouldn’t wash your hair or your clothes on New Year’s Day because of the good luck” but when I looked it up on Google, to prove to Liz that I was right, it actually said that washing hair or clothes “can lead to washing a loved one away”.  Even worse, this is getting depressing.

I have washed my hair today in preparation for New Year’s Day; I won’t do any clothes washing tomorrow but, worst of all, I can’t wash any dishes (so I won’t be able to use any of my beautiful new tea towels).  Now that is a disaster!

Irish Emblems: 2019

My friend Jenny went to Ireland this year, for a holiday.  She wasn’t sure about this, because of when the holiday fell in relation to Brexit.  She had a wonderful time, met some great people and thoroughly enjoyed the culture, traditions and countryside.  What she saw was very different from the media representation and felt pleased that she had made the effort.  She also bought me a tea towel of the Four Irish Emblems: the Clodagh Ring, the Irish Harp, the Irish Shamrock and the Celtic Cross.  It is a beautiful, colourful, vibrant and traditional tea towel.  I love it.

As I opened it, there were memories that came flooding back, that touched some sore, somewhat painful, parts.  I could see the old box, with a tiny catch and a handle, used for carrying LPs.  This was leftover from my parents house.  My mum had removed all the LPs, to store them on some book shelves, and filled the box with 16mm home cine films.  There must have been 30 or 40.  What she didn’t keep was the cine projector.

I found this box, together with the films, when I was clearing out her house in 1990.  Although I couldn’t play the films, I couldn’t throw them away either and they have sat in my house ever since.  Then I remembered that Chris, my uncle, had a cine projector; he used to play the old family films on it.  One quick phone call to him dispelled that fantasy; Chris said that he had had access to a projector because his neighbour owned one.  The neighbour had moved away; Chris had all his cine films put on a DVD so he had no need for one now and didn’t know anyone who had one.

The issue is that I, too, could put my films on DVD but I know that most of them are ‘rubbish’.  A lot were taken in Ireland in early 1970 and are quick spans of countryside in the rain; my father was a really bad photographer.  I wanted to check the films before putting them on DVD.

I was then inspired: I bet my friend Pete has a cine projector; Pete has everything.  Yes, Pete had a projector, but it didn’t work.  He promised to find the part to make it work.  He didn’t manage that.  “What about looking on eBay for a projector?” I said, another inspiration under my belt.  We looked on eBay; there were various models but we weren’t sure which would work.  We didn’t want to end up buying 20 cine projectors, only to find none of them worked.  The end of this story, to date, is that the box of cine films is sitting in Pete’s house because I haven’t claimed them back yet; I still haven’t seen them and I don’t know what to do.

Answer: as I was writing this, I wondered if I should ask on Twitter if anyone has a projector that I could borrow, in order that I could see what was in my ‘box of horrors’ and then I could get them on to DVD.  Brilliant.  Thank you, Jenny, for the inspiration to have at least one final try to get a look at my family history.

Badger: 2019

As I opened this tea towel on Christmas Day, I recognised the style.  It’s very different in colour, and composition, from the two happy Santa’s of yesterday but recognisable all the same.  As the colours emerged, I thought “This is stylish”.  Liz was watching me carefully pick off the wrapping paper so it could be used next year and said “It is really beautiful”. I looked, I liked the colouring but thought it must be an abstract design.  She said “The image is so clever and so instantly recognisable.  I love it”.  It’s good, she loves it but, I thought, “what is it?”.  It wasn’t instantly recognisable to me.  Can I admit I don’t get it?

Bravely, I thought, I said “Can you interpret the design for me, what is your perception?”. I thought it was quite clever, ‘putting the ball in her court’.  “It’s a badger” she said with distain.  “What did you think it was?”  I looked again.  I didn’t see a badger.  “You’re looking at it upside down, you p—–r!”

OMG, I’ve never done that before.  “How did you recognise it? It’s upside down to you as well”

“I turned my head, how do you think I did it?”  Embarrassment swept over me, a Tea Towel Aficionado who can’t spot an upside down tea towel.  So hanging the correct way, Liz was right, the image is so instantly recognisable, so clear and so beautiful.  I love it and for anyone else who does, you need to look at anorakonline.

Thank you Jai, Roger, Hamish and Lyra for such a stunning tea towel.

PS: if you look at it upside down you can see what my problem was!

Father Christmas: 2019

“Any idea what you might want for Christmas?” Jai asked her mother “Don’t worry about Barbara, she’s easy to buy for.”

Of course I’m easy to buy for; give me a tea towel and all my dreams come true.  There might be a problem; there could be a duplicate, how would you know unless you waded your way through  more than 1100 tea towels in http://www.virtualteatowelmuseum.com?  As yet, no one has fallen foul of the ‘Duplicate Problem’.

‘Father Christmas’ was a Christmas present from Jai, Roger, Hamish and Lyra; they actually gave me two, very different from each other, although from the same firm.  I was so excited by being given a Christmas tea towel, at Christmas.  It has never happened before.  I always used to buy my mother a Christmas tea towel at Christmas, but I’ve never received one myself.  I love this one, a simplistic design, no doubt what it represents and made of strong cotton, good for wiping up.

Thank you Jai, Roger, Hamish and Lyra for a truly wonderful tea towel that I love, such vibrant colours.  You have good taste!

Yellow and White Checks: 2019

For any Readers to this Blog, they will know this is not my usual sort of tea towel.  However, it has the right to have it’s story told, as much as the others.

It was a ‘significant’ birthday for Liz in February, a Big ?0.  She had decided to have a meal for close family in a restaurant in Woodhouse Eaves.  There were eight of us.  I thought it would be a good idea for each guest to have a ‘Goody Bag’ when they left, to take home.  I had a number of ‘Happy Meal’ type boxes left over from a previous party; save a bit of money there.  I thought it would be a good idea if each box contained a number of presents, not identical in nature but of the same type of thing; each present would be wrapped up (using recycled wrapping paper, another money saver).  It is amazing how many presents you can get in one box: sweets, erasers, pencils, biros, cooking utensil and, needless to say, if I was preparing the boxes, there would be a tea towel.

I didn’t have any duplicate tea towels at the time, so I had to buy some.  In our local ‘Posh Poundshop’ they had some towelling tea towels with a yellow and white check; normally, the check ones are blue and white, red and white or even green and white but I had never seen yellow and white.  And they were cheap.  And they came in multi-packs.  This was the bargain I needed.  Fortunately, once I had packed the boxes, there were two left over so I was able to include them in my collection, as a reminder of a really great birthday meal and a happy birthday.

 

British Butterflies: Acquired 2019, vintage

I love Christmas decorations.  I have a couple of big trees, lots and lots of smaller trees, even more Father Christmases and lights, lots of lights.  I don’t think I overdo it; I don’t think you can overdo Christmas.

However, today, I saw Anne, my reflexologist; Anne loves Christmas, and decorations.  Walking into her home, at this time of the year, is almost like visiting Santa’s Grotto, but not in a tacky way.  Anne has a way of arranging lights in such a tasteful manner, on top of fireplaces, along window sills, not lights that flash but just give a gentle, warm glow.  There are trees with lights, trees of all sizes but this isn’t ‘staged’, like in a Christmas Film, but has a natural flow.  The hall welcomes you; as you move into other rooms, each has its own ‘feel’.  She has helped her young grandson decorate a tree, in his own style.  Anne has been able to create an atmosphere that is relaxing and soothing, while she gets to work on my neck, shoulder, back, my whole body.  After each session, I walk out on ‘Cloud 9’; she is a genius.

Today was my last session before Christmas.  As I left, Anne said “I’m sorry.  I meant to get you a tea towel for Christmas but things got in the way.  Oh just wait…….” and she left the room.  Anne is interested in the tea towel collection and has ‘contributed’ vintage tea towels in the past.  “The things got in the way” actually meant her mother had died five days ago. I was even surprised that she did my feet at all.  Anne returned “here is a tea towel that I had meant to give you some time ago but I must take a picture first”.

Anne knows how to use a tea towel, I am an advocate of tea towels as a resource for a Pub Quiz: “I need to take the picture because I use it to identify any butterflies that come into the garden”.  She continued, “It does have the odd hole”

“I love a tea towel with holes.  They have a story to tell”.  I said.  For me, the only story this tea towel needs to tell is that Anne was kind and thoughtful enough to be worried that she hadn’t got me a tea towel for Christmas, at a time when she just needed to think of herself and look after herself.  It was a lovely gift that I will treasure.

I am a bit worried as to whether the household will have enough tea towels for wiping up the Christmas dishes; but I will!

 

Christmas Car Scene: 2019

Christmas has taken on a whole new look since my retirement, new traditions, new ways of organising Christmas, new leisure activities.  This Sophie Allport tea towel captures one of my favourite pastimes: Christmas Films .

From 1 November, every year on week days, on Channel 5, in the afternoon, they show two or three Christmas movies; these are either produced by the Hallmark Channel or Marvista.  They are American; each company uses a group of actors who appear time and time again.  The films have a ‘format’: always snow, often New York or Chicago as well as small town America, usually a broken relationship that somehow mends itself, dead husbands or wives, parent in the Armed Forces away for Christmas, women with high powered jobs, often in advertising; often there is a homeless or single parent shelter; almost always a Tree Lighting Ceremony, a Christmas Tree Mall, skating and a lot of Father Christmases.

I record every film, then if I need something soppy to watch I have an abundance of joy.  However, I save Mrs Miracle 1, Mrs Miracle 2 and Miracle on 34th Street until Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.

When I saw this Sophie Allport tea towel, it reminded me of all the films I had watched, with Christmas Trees on top of cars, wreaths, lots of presents, snow and Father Christmas in the background.  It gives me a warm glow.  You see, when I was at work I never knew there were all these Christmas films on TV, just think how many I had missed! And I certainly would never have admitted to watching them.

Aberdeen Football Club: 2019

Football has been important to me, for most of my life.  This is not about playing football; I have never played football.  In fact, if I’m honest, I can’t remember ever having run anywhere in my life, not even for a bus.  My love of football started with my Dad, who was a Queen’s Park Rangers (QPR) fan; for many years he was a Season Ticket holder, until he became a serious bowls player and all Saturdays were taken up with bowls.  He fitted in an occasional mid-week match or when there were no bowls matches.  He always went with some mates of his, never took me.  However, we used to listen to the football results each week.  Just to be awkward, I couldn’t support QPR, so initially I ‘flirted’ with Crystal Palace as my team of choice but then I settled on Brentford Football Club.

I remember how excited Dad was when QPR won the League Cup in the 1966/67 season; my Dad’s favourite player was always Rodney Marsh.  In 1966, my Dad bought our first colour television so we could watch the World Cup matches in colour.  We were the first people we knew to have a colour TV so our lounge was always full of people for each match.  There was often a lot of Whitbread’s Pale Ale consumed.   There was ‘standing room only’ for the final.  I never got a seat and had to stand by the kitchen door.  It was a very noisy day!  I loved it.  It was then that I understood the connection that football could offer, then and now, how it could bring people together.

In 1968, I met Nick and Rory at school; we shared a love of football and went to see Brentford play every week.  I was the driver so we were able to see Brentford, home and away.  For Rory this was sometimes a challenge because on a Saturday morning he played rugby for the First Team at school.  Often we had to ‘hotfoot’ it to the football ground.  He occasionally missed a game but Nick and I were always there, standing on the terraces, in the same place each time, come rain or shine.  We travelled to the far reaches of Rotherham, Crewe, Tranmere Rovers, Workington and Plymouth.  Stewart Houston was my favourite player and I was devastated when he moved to Manchester United.  In football, however, things move on, change and you have to love it or leave it.

In the early 70s, I worked in a pub in Ealing, the Queen Victoria.  The talk was always of football.  I ended up being treated to tickets to see England, at Wembley, in the build up to the 1974 World Cup.  Football breaks all social barriers.

In 1984, my Dad was in Intensive Care Unit, for eight days, before he died; during that time he was in and out of consciousness.  As I sat by his bed, the nurses told me to talk to him because he would be able to hear me.  If any Reader has been told to do this, you will know what a ‘plonker’ you feel talking to yourself.  I wanted to do it but I found it so difficult.  The first thing I did was to tell him this, he smiled, he really could hear me.  Then I decided to read the sports pages of the Middlesex Gazette to him, trying to make sure that I read everything to do with QPR: golf, cricket abroad, football, horse racing, rugby, snooker, bowls.  It was all there.  Reading about sport, especially football, did give me something to talk to him about.  There were times when I thought that he must be thinking “Why doesn’t she shut up?” But I plodded on.  The nurses were encouraging.  One day he opened his eyes and said “Put some gin and tonic in that drip” and closed them again.  Another time he asked if Liverpool had won, no idea why but the nurses were right, he could hear me.

Ever since my Dad died, I have followed the results of both QPR and Brentford.  I stopped going to watch Brentford when I moved away from Ealing but not a week goes by when I don’t look up the results.  Living in Leicester was interesting; Leicester City had a good, faithful following and the conversation at work was always about them, it brought people together.  That is until the 2015/16 season when, against all the odds, they won the Premiership League.  It was stunning with the world praising Jamie Vardy.  There wasn’t a person I knew, even if they hated football, that wasn’t following the last few matches of the season (and could they do it again this season?).

In 1999, I met David, living in Hertfordshire for 40 years but originating from Aberdeen, retaining a Aberdonian accent.  David enjoyed sport, both playing and watching.  He played tennis, table tennis and golf but also watched football, not generically but mainly Aberdeen Football Club (The Dons).  He had followed the Dons all his life.   I don’t think he could ever understand why I didn’t want to play golf.  Some of us are spectators and some participants and I am definitely a spectator.  Every time I saw him we talked about the Dons (meant I really had to do my homework).  In 2015, David had a massive stroke leaving him unable to talk or walk.  The things I learnt in Ealing Hospital Intensive Care Unit came to play.  When we visited his sister Jean who still lives in Aberdeen, we decided to visit the Dons Shop.  In all my years I have never been to a football club shop.  Each visit we bought him something: a sweat shirt, a mascot.  Lyn, Liz’s sister, bought a cushion with a picture of the stadium.  We took Hamish, Liz’s grandson, who bought a notepad and some pens.  Everyone got Dons birthday cards.  On one visit we saw a DVD of some of The Don’s finest moments.  David loved it and one of the last things he did was watch that with Lyn, with a great deal of joy.  David died in 2018, yet neither Liz nor I can visit Aberdeen without a trip to the Dons Shop.  I have three Dons garden gnomes, a Christmas decoration, we both have scarves, gloves.  Visiting there feels important, maintaining that contact with David.  We can say “He would have liked that” or “We could have bought him a calendar” and remember.

When Liz took Hamish to Aberdeen in 2017, he loved the shop and it was he who spotted my first Aberdeen Football Club tea towel, designed by Gabrielle Reith.  On my latest visit there was this new tea towel.  I was so excited.  A football shop with two tea towels; it’s like a dream come true.  So I bought it.  A wonderful reminder of David and his love of the Dons.

I have looked on many football club shop websites and have never seen another club tea towel, or garden gnomes come to that.   I did see a 1966 World Cup Tea Towel for sale on eBay at £69; even I am not that stupid.  That’s why I am now a Dons follower, because they have such great taste: three garden gnomes, two tea towels and a Christmas decoration!!!  My love of football will never fade; it brings such great memories.

PS: If you know of a Football Club with it’s own tea towel, let me know!!

 

 

Buttery: 2019

Beth is a follower of myteatowels.wordpress.com Blog.  She receives an email to tell her when the next Blog is posted.  I am always touched that people do want to have notice when I have written a new Blog.  Recently, I received a message from Beth, after the Season’s Greeting: 2019 Blog was posted “I will be spending Christmas far from my American friends and family but in my favourite place in the entire world – Scotland…. I love reading your posts, especially when they relate to Scotland.  I think to myself  “yes, I’ve been there” or “I shall have to check that out on my next visit”.  I love the way social media can connect people across the world, in the nicest possible way.

My reply to her was “Thank you for those lovely comments…….. I am off to Scotland on 6 December for a week so I will look out for a new tea towel”.  This one is for you, Beth!

As Readers of this Blog will know, I visit Aberdeen about six times a year, often a week at a time.  Aberdeen is a city I truly love, despite the cold.  I’ve stayed in a touring caravan, a budget hotel, a luxury apartment, a cottage, a static caravan, a lighthouse, a flat, a Campervan and in a National Trust cottage.  I’ve stayed in a heat wave and a snow storm, in sunny weather and heavy rain.  Whatever the season, whatever the weather and wherever I’ve stayed, I get to see so many different aspects of Aberdeen; I am so lucky.

Sadly, over the last few years, two of Aberdeen’s iconic venues have been closed, due to renovation and refurbishment.  It’s taken a long time for the Music Hall on Union Street and the Aberdeen Art Gallery to be completed and reopened.  I have missed visiting those places.  But this December both are open.  The Music Hall has been transformed into a beautiful place; the acoustics are magnificent, new seats are comfortable and the access is amazing.  Liz and I decided to go to a Carol Concert there; I rang to ask about access because I know there are some steep ‘marble’ steps at the front, so I assumed there must be a side entrance.  The woman at the Box Office said “Everyone comes through the front entrance; there are no differences”.  I wondered what that meant.  Arriving there, I was stunned.  Press a button and the central portion of the ‘marble’ steps reverse and a platform emerges, protective sides rise up and away you go.  It’s so quick.  A member of staff said it was the only system like this in Scotland; I’ve never seen such a system in England or Wales either.  It’s brilliant.  It maintains the original appearance of the building but makes it completely accessible.  Wow!!  Why can’t other places do this?  Having been so excited about access, I forgot to say that the Carol Concert was excellent and inspiring.

We also found out that the Art Gallery had opened; we decided to go there too.  The outside of the building maintains the same magnificent look and inside is wonderfully accessible.  There are some installations that were in the original building but on the top floor is a temporary exhibition and if anyone has time they should go and see it.   It is a combination of two bodies of work: ‘Think of Scotland’ and ‘Aberdeen at Leisure’ by the photographer Martin Parr.  Although Martin Parr is not Scottish, having been born and brought up in Surrey he says “It’s a very beautiful country and the people are great”. He has visited Scotland every year for the last 25 years and also undertakes to visit a different Scottish island every year.

I have to say that the Aberdeen Art Gallery has understood the power of art and the concept of the tea towel as a canvas for art.  This tea towel, Buttery, comes from a photograph in ‘Aberdeen at Leisure’ with the strapline of ‘Buttery, Cults Bowling Club, Aberdeen, Scotland 2017’, from amongst many photos of food in Aberdeen.  Any idea what a buttery is?  On 5 July 2018, there was an article in the Guardian, headlined “The Scottish pastries that look like ‘roadkill croissants”.  The article went on to say “They are not pretty, they’re definitely not good for you”.  In Aberdeen a buttery is also known as a ‘rowie’.  Roadkill croissants make a good photo and even better tea towel!  That plate is timeless!

Perhaps ‘The Ashvale’ or ‘The Ashvale Whale’ are two of my favourite photographs from this exhibition because I’ve been to The Ashvale, eaten there and seen The Whale (a huge piece of haddock), although I could never manage a piece of fish that size.   Martin Parr’s exhibition is probably one of the best photographic exhibitions I have seen; it makes you laugh, you recognise scenes and places.  It’s just so real and I am glad I didn’t miss it. 

So, Beth, this tea towel is for you and hopefully you’ll say “I’ll check out the Aberdeen Art Gallery on my next visit”

Gigrin Farm: 2019

Since 1960s, Red Kites had almost disappeared from British Isles.  Only 30 were left, mainly in Mid Wales.  But in 1992, Gigrin Farm became an official Red Kite Feeding Station.  Gigrin Farm is a 200 acre, family-run farm near Rhayader.  Every day more than 100 Red Kites are fed, a ritual for both the farm and the birds.  The breath-taking ritual is visible from a number of hides in the area, both general and specialist photographic hides; it is now a popular destination for people staying in the area.  The Red Kite Feeding Station enables people to see the aerial agility and piratical skills of the birds, competing with ravens and buzzards.

2018 was a truly rubbish year for Jenny: chemotherapy, medication, surgery and radiotherapy.  She and her husband decided that they would take a number of short breaks in 2019, seeing things that they had always wanted to like Red Kites.  The weather was unkind but the Red Kites performed as they should.

This tea towel was a present from Jenny, from her short break in Wales; she may find my Tea Towel Collection, Museum and Blog somewhat weird yet will still contribute to their growth.  I have some great friends.  I have to say that I would really like to visit Gigrin Farm, to see the repopulation of Red Kites in Wales.  Thanks to Jenny for a lovely tea towel.