Yours Clothing, Jeans and the Pockets of the Patriarchy

I never thought I would write this, I never envisioned I would suffer the fate of so many women when buying clothes. I am officially part of the group, but I never wanted to join, and it sucks.

Yours Clothing, what happened to the pockets on the jeans?

I will never be one of these types of women who accessorise or wear anything feminine, in fact, I admire and envy women who do. Femininity is not natural to me, or the idea of what is feminine, as told to us, in glossy magazines.

I grew up with a diet of Just 17, Cosmopolitan, New Woman (actually miss that publication) and More’s “Position of the fortnight”. Someone brought in, at school and we discussed the mechanics of “how is that possible”.

Growing up, you’re bombarded with images. Especially in the ’90s of how to look, dress, and wear make-up, to look like you’re not wearing make-up.

The classic lipsticks were Glossy and Heather Shimmer by Rimmel, (you can still buy that) you either wore, Tommy, Charlie, or Exclamation! And your hair must be straight.

Conformity is key, with crisp sleek lines.

The 90s are having a comeback, wish they wouldn’t have bothered. But that’s the 90s for you.

When it comes to myself and fashion, I still dress like I did when I was a teenager, now entranced in my forties.

Hoodies, t-shirts, in winter the same jumpers I brought from Yours Clothing years ago, and just alternate.

I buy Yours Clothing for three reasons, it lasts years, it’s affordable and it fits.

I’m a fashion victim whose tightness is legendary, and I know this. I still wear the dress I bought for my brother’s wedding. It was Monsoon, in the sales, and has lasted longer than their marriage.

But I digress, I’m a plus-size woman, voluptuous, body positive, Rubenesque, pick one.

Like so many others I buy Yours Clothing, and as a creature of habit, I buy their jeans, they last long, not as long as they used to, which was the Isla bootcut,

It’s my style and I love it…well, I used to.

Now the Isla jeans are substandard, with non-existent pockets, instead of the deep ones we used to have.

Men’s style jeans on women’s clothing, shouldn’t be radical, but here we are.

According to this article https://sourcingjournal.com/denim/denim-trends/womens-pockets-smaller-than-mens-116568/

“Researchers from The Pudding, a publication that “explains ideas debated in culture,” recently published a visual essay comparing the pockets from 20 different blue jean brands most frequently worn in the United States. They found that, on average, women’s jeans pockets were 48 percent shorter than the average male pocket. Pockets in women’s jeans were also found to be consistently narrower than their male counterparts, by 6.5% on average.”

Maybe because women carried handbags, had husbands to hold their items, or maybe, a time when women went around by carriage and took a turn around the park.

Check out the Difference Below

But not the modern, women, and I’m being gendered because their clothes are so backwards in design. Something Yours never used to be, but they embraced this mentality, and not what the consumer wants.

Looking online for answers, you really have to appreciate it’s because women, carry handbags, and that carries all our items. Because that’s beneficial to a woman’s safety, isn’t it?

Let’s just all walk down an area, that’s rough, with a handbag, just make us targets…this is to all companies, that manufacture clothes. Your selfishness puts us in danger. Well done you.

Still seeking an answer to my question, I came across an article from The Sun, which I’m not going to link to because it’s a red rag, which states., “It breaks the human form”.

I don’t give a damn about the human form, my human form, is already broken, and some parts are held in place with metal. I just want to carry my phone in my pocket.

But the pocket of the patriarchy means that’s impossible, and having to splash out for a phone screen. Because I had to put my phone in my coat, and it dropped out and cracked.

I just had to pay £50 for a new phone screen, something that wouldn’t have happened, if Yours hadn’t got rid of the pockets. So, I’m out of pocket, because of Yours Clothing Every Day Sexism.

My old Isla jeans were sturdy, with deep pockets, so I could carry, everything, and the new ones, are poor substitutes, more expensive, and ridiculous.

The Good https://www.yoursclothing.co.uk/isla-28-bootcut-jean-indigo-p?currency=GBP&s=awin&sv1=affiliate&sv_campaign_id=176013&awc=19275_1709588910_22e0b44d4bae882179bde202b52e2432&utm_source=Awin&utm_medium=Affiliate&utm_campaign=Redbrain

Instead of denim, they are more jegging, or as the assistant in the Uxbridge store told me (by the way, they are awesome, give them a raise) “soft denim”

Glorified jeggings, with no pocket space, but at least my human form isn’t broken.

The Bad https://www.yoursclothing.co.uk/yours-curve-indigo-blue-bootcut-stretch-isla-jeans-p

Also just looking at the website, stock is abundant, with few sellouts, since no one is buying it. That’s something to take away from all of this.

Nice going Yours Clothing, for alienating a big, yes big, pun intended, section of your customers, by getting rid of the pockets. But you did, and now the original Isla jeans, are all sold out, and are now the holy grail, and can’t even be found on Vinted.

I sell on Vinted, here’s my link, shameless plug, because I’m selling everything I own, and decluttering my life.https://www.vinted.co.uk/member/182115289

Yours Clothing is plus size clothing for women from size 14 to 40, but missing something important.

However, there’s a part of this, I would let slide in my pursuit for deep pockets jeans, which is that they still come in in two of their lines, the cargo trousers, and the mum jeans.

The mum jeans, said once more for effect, the damn mum jeans.

So, the implication is that the high-waisted mums, gendered pockets for jeans since they are mums, have contributed to the gene pool. They need extra to carry around their kid’s snot rags, toy cars, dummies, happiness and insanity. And the rest of us can jump.

Ok, I know it’s a design name for the brand, but the implications are there, and that’s it. Like I’ve had a child, and I’m post-partum, I need, that entire area covered, since my wobbly bits, wobble that little bit more. Bodies change, by the way, every single part of you is beautiful.

I expected better from you Yours, I really did, that you Isla Jeans redesign, now make your customer base experience everyday sexism.

And I know that even writing, this, you’re probably going to say, “There is so much choice”, but there isn’t, and you did that.

You replaced a very popular, jeans line that was affordable, with “soft denim jeggings” with non-existent pockets, and are we meant to give you a round of applause?

Yours Clothing, you have let me, down, do better and give us our pockets back.

Having a Smear Test under Anaesthetic…Again

So, has it been really three years since Life’s Genetic Fun Bag, had a Smear Test under anaesthetic? Apparently yes, since I’ll be facing the event again within the next two weeks.

It’s weird though since I wrote the original article, the feedback has been amazing, people commented, and contacted me. Strangers, not knowing they could have the same, even colleagues at work, came up to me and said it was a good article and they also had no idea.

In my own small way, maybe I’m bringing about change, since my experience last time, where I had to fight to be heard and have a few breakdowns in between.

Courtesy of my lower body, refusing to reason to what my brain told it. Which was to relax.

That hasn’t changed, it’s still an issue, and instead of a battle, it was the opposite. When I went to the hospital, which I thought was an appointment and discussion, and it turned out for a smear.

At the time I was on my period, and apparently, you can have a Smear during the one week, in a month, where you have a cramp the size and feeling of Jupiter. Which wasn’t happening.

However, this time, I was listened to, I got compassion, and my doctor agreed straight away that I was going to be sedated. In the grand scheme of things, I’ll be happy with a local or epidural, but with my level of anxiety, sedation is the best way to go.

Out of all the reactions, I wasn’t expecting that. I  was expecting to feel anxious, since it’s not something I enjoy, no matter the circumstances. Even the thought of a Smear Test makes me anxious.

Since I’m not the type of person, who seeks drama, but seems to attract it in my life, even down to a Smear Test.

But it feels so strange, expecting a struggle, and getting compassion instead, making me wonder what happened over the last few years to install this type of change, or maybe I just got lucky.

I’m started to think it was due to Covid-19, which suddenly made more people aware of mental health issues.

My surgery understood, my docs understood, and I was booked in with no issues in December, also known as the worst Christmas present ever.

It was that simple, maybe attitudes to the smear are changing due to the acknowledgement of mental health struggles, which were so important during the pandemic.

Admittedly a smear test is the last thing I would consider any form of self-care, even though I know I’ve dodged the bullet so far when it comes to my family and cancer.

My last test was negative, but I doubt I’ll be that lucky in the future, and that isn’t me being morbid. It’s confronting the issue head-on.

To say it runs in my family is an understatement, and thanks to https://www.cancer.org/cancer/types/cervical-cancer/about/key-statistics.html

“Cervical cancer is most frequently diagnosed in women between the ages of 35 and 44”.

I’m in the latter category of that, which is a sobering thought. However, I do find it gratifying that at this point my nieces have had the HPV Vaccine.

Wouldn’t it be something as they enter the next generations, doesn’t face what millions have to go through all over the world each year. Thanks to Cancer UK, over 3000 people are diagnosed each year, in the UK, and one of them could easily be me, or if you’re reading this, you. Heaven forbid.

https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/health-professional/cancer-statistics/statistics-by-cancer-type/cervical-cancer#:~:text=There%20are%20around%20850%20cervical,UK%20(2017%2D2019)

But the thing is, as of writing this, I’m not nervous, probably before the event, the good old cloud of anxiety shall descend. But as of now, I’m tired and stressed, but not worried about this.

Maybe because I’d danced down the road and knew what to expect, or because finally I was listened to, with no complaints.

Three years ago, it was like screaming at the void and being taunted by a poster, saying “It doesn’t hurt, and takes seconds”, a moment of false security and feeling like a failure when that didn’t happen.

But here, as of now, I’m in the zone and happy.

So, I’ll write more about it on the day…wish me luck.

And Just Like That…the Continual Disrespect to Magda

Two seasons of Dramarama from And Just Like That…

Still no mention of Magda, not even a picture, because apparently the writers and directors, don’t care.

What makes this even more egregious, is that episodes directed by Cynthia Nixon, and have been Miranda heavy, never even had a mention.

As fans, we are not asking for an hour-long special to what made Magda great, we all know what made Magda one of the best characters on Sex and the City, though that would be nice. Imagine that on the Blu-Ray, when the Compete series comes out, an hour-long tribute, to Lynn Cohen.

The thing is, about And Just Like That...just like Sex and the City, is when it’s good, it’s very, very good, when it discusses adult themes relative to the audience or just lets us indulge in the fantasy of these characters lives. When it’s bad, it’s absolute shite.

Especially when they take the audience for idiots with the loose timeline over the ages of Aiden’s sons, who should be younger than Brady Hobbs. not older, the timeline over the months, in which one Halloween episode, was then followed by Valentine’s Day.

Whatever happened to Diwali, Christmas or Hanukkah I wonder, the idea that Stanford would become a Shinto Monk, which doesn’t happen…just like that. And let’s face it, Sara Ramirez deserves better than Che.

Yet, I’m still watching, and is my hill to die on, since two seasons in, and not one mention nor a single word of dialogue. As I was looking over Miranda and Steve’s Brooklyn home, not a picture, of Magda, and since my previous post about this read as a love letter to her

Everyone went crazy about Kim Cattrell’s cameo, but not one mention of Magda, especially since Cynthia Nixon states this is an article about her.

https://www.bustle.com/entertainment/cynthia-nixon-and-just-like-that-missing-magda

Right, so never a moment to sling in a small tribute, like how Carrie threw John’s ashes into the Seine, something illegal by the way, at least Stanford got something, Magda got sod all.

I, a broke-ass West Londoner, gave them hints (read my previous blog about this) they were good hints, nice little tributes of how it could and should be done. I even gave Magda a last name, something the show never bothered to do.

This is the moment, where I could argue, that Magda never having a last name, is a direct insult to the immigrants of America. Since whilst working for Miranda, and becoming by default her son’s nanny.

By losing her last name in the process, and in a way, her identity, and autonomy, since Miranda never mentioned that Magda was Ukrainian, it was Carrie and her narration.

By never acknowledging Magda’s late husband or family, not last name, does suggest, the dismissal of Magda’s identity, and not once referencing that, identity.

Here’s a good example for the Brits, in the 1970s show Upstairs, Downstairs, which was a precursor to Downton Abbey, but more London, less stately home. A character called Clémence Moffat played by Pauline Collins, was renamed” Sarah” since her full name, was too toffy to be a servant, in effect erasing her identity.

Clémence was gone, Sarah was the one left standing, and Sarah could do nothing about this. Magda’s last name was never mentioned by anyone, because according to the writers, she was “The Help,” so it didn’t matter.

Look I’m not the one, who did it, I just need to point it out, when you consider that Anthony Marantino, played by Mario Cantone, was in 12 episodes of the original series, one less than Magda, and both films just like Magda. Anthony got, storylines, a husband, marriage, later in the revival subsequent divorce and was Charlotte’s confidant.

Whilst Magda was Miranda’s moral compass, nanny (not at the baby shower, once again the help don’t matter). Magda was there through everything, even all the drama that Miranda went through, but she didn’t even get a last name.

And the thing that bothers me the most, and this is about, Magda you can argue that Cynthia Nixon refused to return as Miranda until the character, she portrayed was more aligned with her own life because that’s how it goes.

However, I sincerely doubt Cynthia Nixon is as pathetic as Miranda Hobbs was, in almost two seasons of the show, it took to finally see Miranda Hobbs again. A woman, sitting in LA wishing for Che to come home, instead of going off and exploring, you would never equate Miranda with a lovesick teenager, but that happened.

We didn’t get interesting stories, instead, we got Miranda flopping in an immersion tank, and for some reason raising a child so pathetic, that she had to go over and do his laundry and make Brady breakfast.

Brady is an adult, not five, and I can’t recall on the original show, Miranda doing any of that, since she had Magda who did it for her.

You can’t sit there and pretend to be a domestic goddess when you had a nanny/cleaner/surrogate mother/grandmother/babysitter who loved you unconditionally. Gave you advice, and disapproving looks, the only way a mother can, and took baby pictures of Brady, because Miranda, never did.

And the reason, the reason this is my hill to die on, is because two seasons in, and no mention of Magda. Even with all the drama, of new lives, first loves, teens hooking up, and whatever the hell Brady and Lily are.

Magda was a beloved character, and she made Miranda a better character because, with the rest of the quartet, it was a battle of wills, with Steve, and that arc was handled badly. It was Miranda realising that she could fall in love and be more than what she expected of herself, and that included moving to Brooklyn.

Incidentally, Steve’s rant to Miranda was long overdue, and yes, I was expecting Steve to say “You never wanted Brady, you were going to abort Brady, Magda raised Brady more than you ever did”.

Missed an opportunity there, maybe the context was a bit wrong. But it’s an example because she was beloved, she kept Miranda on her toes, and she made Miranda better.

Yet, no one on the writing staff, nor the directors, one of them being Cynthia Nixon, seems to care, since there is no way to fit it into an episode…and Miranda, moping around the house is riveting for the audience.

I even gave examples of how it could be done, good examples. Maybe I should be one of the writing staff, maybe it needs a healthy dose of British cynicism.

Here’s the blog post I wrote

And Just Like That…Magda was Erased

I make this my hill to die on because I loved Magda, I loved Lynn Cohen, and aside from the core four, she was my favourite character on Sex and the City.

Cohen had this way of conveying emotion with an impassive face and just using her eyes, in a way that was subtle and rare. Just because she never got the acclaim she deserved in life; doesn’t mean I’m not going to be her cheerleader.

One thing I will give, And Just Like That…, finally, we see diversity in this universe, we see friends and characters of different diverse cultural backgrounds, something we never saw in the original.

It’s nice to see excellence, we need to see more excellence, but when it comes to the class system, we never saw the working.

We did see Che going from the stars to the gutter, but in the third series, they will no doubt have an epic comeback. This is what Sara Ramirez deserves since the writers did them dirty.

Yet as of writing this, with the second series at a close, And Just Like That… managed to disrespect Carrie’s marriage to John when Carrie wondered if her marriage was a mistake.

Disrespect Miranda and Steve, as I said it wasn’t what was done, it was how it was done.

And finally disrespect to Lynn Cohen, because Magda was an important character in Sex and the City Lore, and if Stanford can get a send-off, then why can’t she?

Art Pass Adventures. Elizabethan House Museum, Great Yarmouth

Date: June 2023…yes I am behind

Just down the road from the Time and Tide Museum, and on the South Quey this is an interesting curiosity to the history of Great Yarmouth and was donated to the National Trust back in the 1940s.

So, after entry, which has the typical information and gift shop and I was pleased to see a second-hand bookcase, selling books.

I went on to the main exhibition and it was the Elizabethan drawing room, which as I learned also doubled as a study.

With the representation of the log fire and Tudor panelling, before it went into the next room, and this just forward in time by three centuries and I was in a Victorian Kitchen which led to a scully, and a rather quaint small garden.

One thing which is informative and interactive, before heading upstairs, and into a Tudor bedroom, with the original design, but the main event was The Conspiracy Room. Legend says that it was here in Great Yarmouth, the plot began for the dispatching of King Charles the First, and the installation of Oliver Cromwell.

So, this according to rumour is where a bunch of men plotting to install a man, who cancelled Christmas, wanted the Irish to be slaves and more. Cromwell was so miserable as a human being that he died and then was executed, and then we got the monarchy back.

Nice going there.

The Conspiracy Room is the draw, as well as a fetching stained-glass window, but as a museum, an interesting curiosity, but that’s pretty much it.

Also has a children’s room, and toilets, no other disabled facilities.

Verdict. It’s ok

Price without the Art Pass. £6.50

Art Pass Adventures: Norwich Castle

Date: 22^nd June 2023

I have gone past this place so many times, but have never once looked up to go into until now. Sadly, as of doing this article, there is renovation work going on so the main castle is closed. But the exhibitions and gallery are still open, so there I headed, after admiring the wonderful view from the top, easy to get into via a shopping centre.

After the entry in the British Bird Gallery, and the stuffed birds, and following that the rest in a more hexagon shape, with a small moment to when the Castle was a prison, to then the exhibition to nature which did its best to incorporate the local area.

This included a small tribute to a naturalist woman called Margaret Fourtaine, whose work in nature, also had a diary to be read decades after her death, which was a wish that was obliged.

In a way as I was going through the artefacts from other countries, I do respect a place that had the balls to represent an alternative way for the British Empire. And well to my surprise, Egyptian artefacts including a sarcophagus of a mummified cat, since the British are known for their love of animals.

The next exhibition I walked into was sponsored by Twinning’s and it was about the history of tea, including decorative teapots through the ages. Have to admit though it was amusing, and who doesn’t love tea…apart from me, I drink coffee.

The other exhibitions to Boadicea of all things and the Icini War brief, but ok, and there is also a display for the Royal Norfolk Regiment Displays.

I’m mentioning these now because in all the art and artwork there are two standouts to me, that need mentioning. The artwork is exquisite by the way, it is., but there is also The Tower of Babel.

Pictures do not do this justice

I had no idea this painting by Tobias Verhaecht was in the Castle, never imagined seeing this in person and I’ve seen this in posters. But in person, there is so much detail, so many layered details of the Ziggurat that reproduction can’t create.

From the difference in classes as you go further up the tower, to the representation of both medieval and Greco-Roman at the base.

It feels like the artist was telling us that no matter which century, you try to attain perfection and to reach to touch the face of God, but it’s unattainable and always will be. Another beauty is, is that it’s a dull painting. It’s not bright, it’s not nice, it’s not realistic., but you have to look closer to see the details, to see the message. This is a highlight for an art lover.

Another highlight of the Castle is the Exhibition of The Last Voyage of the Gloaster, lost in 1682 off the coast of Great Yarmouth and lost within an hour and for over 300 years. Which tells the story of the two Barnwell brothers who with a dream, found it.

The wait they had, to prove it was the Wreak in the ever-changing tides which could have easily swept away everything. It took years but when they found the bell, they had the proof.  There is also a documentary and a small section which asks us many years after the event to decide whose fault it was and I think you can see the public has spoken.

Just to see the exhibitions including clothes which were lost for so long and could have been lost forever if it wasn’t for a few who had a dream and produced the biggest “What if” if the Heir had been lost, even if everyone apparently blames him for the disaster in the modern age.

This is a must, just to see clothing, to see objects, to see even the cover of books (not contents) even glasses and the race against time to bring them up to the surface before they are gone for good.

This is an amazing highlight, done with care and consideration which all started because two brothers looked through a book and had a dream.

Final verdict: Even though most of it is closed (though when it opens again and the Castle wants to give me a ticket to blog about it in the future, that would be nice) this is an amazing space with so much information into Norwich’s history.

What it would have cost me without the Art Pass: £7.40

https://www.museums.norfolk.gov.uk/norwich-castle

Art Pass Adventures. Great Yarmouth’s Time and Tide Museum

Ok, how to begin with this one?

I love art and culture and museums and expanding my mind. Learning about important things and seeing something beautiful.

But I’m also a broke-ass Londoner, who can’t afford all these lovely things in my life.

It’s also a long-running joke that we are so lucky to have so many of our museums and galleries for free, that we almost begrudge paying for anything. For example, if I want to kill an hour I will just go to The National Gallery and stare at my favourite painting in the world for a while.

But there is so much of London I have never seen because you have to pay for it, and then I got an email, via Time Out Offers saying that the Art Pass, which costs £75, for a year.

You can get a discount if you pay with direct debit! You can get 3 months for £15 so I made it my mission in life to become a devotee to the card and see as much as I could before the end of September.

So many of the museums and galleries are free, or paying half price for exhibitions, so how much can I see not just in London before my time is up, and at the end I’ll add up the money I saved.

It’s almost like a mission and challenge accepted.

Time and Tide Museum

Located in Great Yarmouth

Date: 20^th June 2023

First Impressions, with the blue plaque, of Arthur Henry Pattison, and I got a bit of a chuckle of “School Truant Officer”. The next is that this entire building is deceptive, and like the Tardis is bigger on the inside.

From the first moment, you go into a representation of “The Rows”, lines of shops and homes which existed in Yarmouth for 1000 years. Until redevelopment and road expansion rendered them obsolete, and they were demolished, but it perfectly enraptures the communities and life of these people pressed in together, for many would have been generations.

Before you went outside, to see, examples of boats, as well as a play area, for the children, but this was the moment I found out that Captain Birdseye was real!

The fish fingers company I’ve been eating all my life was a real person and the entire thing started in Yarmouth! See I’ve learned something today.

On the ground floor, there are objects and information about the fishing industry which helped transform Yarmouth, the impact of fishing on the economy, and the importance of herring. They capture a real sense of the history within these exhibits and what the people had to do to survive.

Including the importance of women at every level, and how essential they were within the fishing trade.

That did include fighting for the same pay as the men during a strike in 1975, and even though the protest failed, they got their message clear by refusing to return to work. It takes a lot to put yourself at risk to preserve your dignity.

One thing I will give this museum is that it has excellent disabled facilities, including open spaces, a separate sensory area if you are overwhelmed, room to manoeuvre and also lifts. Additionally, as well as celebrating contemporary art in the space of its history with this representation of Pride Month made by artist Adam Hummal.

Upstairs in the main exhibition, there are objects celebrating Yarmouth’s history, from the early settlers, items to the various invasions and from the dunes that eventually drew into Yarmouth itself.

As you walk through history, as well as various cabinets of curiosities and the importance of the sea. As well as interactive exhibits to get the children’s attention and explain the Roman occupancy of the city, even now there are remains of the Roman Fort in nearby Caister.

What is also fascinating is the small exhibit for the individuals who were on the RMS Titanic, which sank in 1912, for those who lived and those who didn’t.  With objects that have been loaned to the museums. One of the youngest, now having a stained-glass window in tribute to him, in his home town

With the history, of the city, as it began to grow into the seaside destinations that it is now known for.

There is also a focus on the War period, and it is a tragic fact that of all the cities to be attacked, it was Yarmouth which gained the first UK causalities of WW1, and to show the typical British wartime mentality in just getting on with it.

It also shows how the history of the Lifeboats which began in Yarmouth which can’t be understated, as we moved to the celebration of the modern day, and toys and games with a fully workable Pac-Man arcade machine. I got to level three, so nothing changes there.

Incidentally some of the things in the cupboards, I own, and I wouldn’t call them antiques just my family’s inability to get rid of anything.

There is also an exhibition called “Bare Bones” which ends on the 1^st of October 2023, which is small but fascinating towards the end.

So overall, I recommend this museum, it was well spread out, very instructive good disabled facilities, and you appreciate Great Yarmouth and its history.

In contrast since for a resort city, there are elements of deprivations and as a reminder that perhaps Yarmouth needs fresh blood.

So recommended and my ticket would have cost me £7.40

https://www.museums.norfolk.gov.uk/time-tide

The Phone Box Book Exchange in Scratby

I have strange ambitions on a very stranger bucket list, but I’ve always wanted to visit a library in a phone box.

I know right, I know.

I grew up with the classic phone boxes, the old red ones, which in London usually stank of urine and had cards for call girls in every corner. Sorry to be so crass but it’s true.

I remember standing in those pre-mobile phones, as well as taking shelter in the rain and sharing a kiss or two in my teen years.

And then they were gone, to be replaced by the open phones courtesy of BT, and now there are a few. However, the ones we have are used for tourists or art installations, like the ones in Uxbridge.

The ones that are left are used to showcase flowers like the one in Uxbridge, nice, but not the Aladdin’s cave of treasures I always dreamed of.

When you think of London, there is a lot of red, from the post boxes to the phone box, red is a colour associated with the UK, with being on many flags, even the English flag is red and white before you add the two other colours that make up the four nations.

So, when I found out about this place, in Scratby, a few miles from Great Yarmouth where I was staying for a few weeks. My family member has a holiday home in the area, and suffering with a bit of burnout and stress and needed to take some leave for a while.

This place is a location for the family, they are more than happy for me to buy books and leave them there for the next time. Even though I normally just give them to a charity shop, when I go there is always a box of my books under the stairs.

It’s my digital detox, and all I do is go for long walks on the beach and read, and it’s just marvellous.

So Scratby is more of a small coastal village, and quieter than its nearest neighbour Hemsby, which does an awesome firework display in the summer months.

But I was there in June, predating the summertime, and just enjoying the quiet.

So, when I got to Great Yarmouth, instead of checking out the charity shops, I had books in my suitcase, books waiting for me and now books in a phone box

This was the brainchild of Scratby parish councillors Peter Holley and Kathryn Wendt as a chance to build the community, and Scratby is known for its holiday homes, caravans and beach. And some nice pubs, great fish and chips, the garden centre, post office and now a phone box library.

https://www.greatyarmouthmercury.co.uk/news/23301647.scratby-phone-box-becomes-community-library/

I love this, taking the invention by, Sir Giles Gilbert Scott and repurposing it with purpose.

Approaching it, straight off the bus, it’s a new installation, and I have to admit I got a rush of seeing it, perched on the corner, just by the bus stop. A perfect place to leave your books and then catch the bus into Great Yarmouth or beyond.

Looking for my treasures, expecting to see them cluttered in an organised chaos type of way and I wasn’t disappointed. To see them all stacked up just waiting to be explored like a stuffy bookshelf of old.

In a pile of thrillers (always thrillers), I came across these treasures.

Single While Female, by John Lutz, is not the book of the film, but the film, the book is based on. I had no idea that was a thing until now.

What I took…and What I Left

What Happens in London, by Julia Quinn, I’m a Londoner on holiday, this was a must.

An Innocent Traitor by Alison Weir and this book is out of print by the way, met Alison at a book event last month and can’t wait to get stuck into this.

So, these are the treasures I took, and as I was leaving, these were the treasures I left for the next person.

The books in their new home, for the next person. So happy reading.

Visiting Anne Sewell’s House

This is someplace I’ve walked past so many times, in Great Yarmouth, and it was amazing to see that it was both open and free, since November of 2022.

Anne Sewell’s House, for those who don’t know who she is, was the author of Black Beauty, the book, perhaps the first ever to be written from the perspective of an animal. And his journey through Victorian time, through green pastures, to the dinge of Dickensian London.

This was her only novel, and so ahead of its time, when it came to animal welfare. It was this book, which is marketed for children, but geared towards adults, to make them consider compassion towards horses. When it came to her home, I have been always curious to go inside. And this was my chance.

One thing I didn’t release was that this museum is only open on Wednesday and Friday, and not what you would expect from a museum. In short, it’s small.

It’s basically one room, with perhaps the most uneven staircase you have ever seen in your entire life to get up to the top, and for me, that was a struggle, even with hand grips. How it was told to me, that it was once a café, with people taking food up, without breaking an ankle is a mystery in itself. 

But this is classic and this is where Anne Sewell was born the woman who created Black Beauty, the woman who after her ankles were broken, and never healed completely (been there have the limp to prove it) drove around with a buggy which sparked the idea for her only novel. This is where she was born.

Started and staffed by the Redwings Horse Sanctuary, this was laid out in detail via a timeline on the wall from the history of Black Beauty and the origins of only a few years earlier, the creation of the RSPCA.

Leading on to the creation of the aforementioned Redwings, and it is no coincidence Michael Morpurgo’s War Horse, does have a nod to Black Beauty, since Anne Sewell was ahead of her time. I’ve also met Michael Morpurgo, a really nice guy.

By taking the story of life through the eyes of an animal, who was loved, abused, neglected, and renamed, but was always “Black Beauty”. A name he was given by Joe in chapter five, then reclaimed, in the final chapter when he was reunited with Joe, in both their old ages.

Even after being named “Darkie” in the first chapters, and no matter how many names he was given by other owners, he was “Black Beauty” to the core, a name given with love and the titular horse’s way to keep his agency and dignity.

The book may have been seized upon by children, at least Victorian children who could read, but there is a lot to unpick with the text that flows down through the ages.

I love the book, really need to re-read it, it’s been a while.

But this house, with the objects and books in glass cabinets, and more of the aforementioned Redwing Horse Sanctuary. The house itself is owned by a supporter of the charity, as memory serves, is small but essential, as it went into more of the Sanctuary work.

Including a small tribute to Phoenix, a horse they saved, which gave more awareness to the rights of animals since this poor horse was injured in an arson attack regarding a family feud.

A feud, which the humans took out on the animals, and when Phoenix passed away in surgery no one was ever prosecuted because animals at this point had no proof of sentience! Until as the wall chart informed me was in 2021 was the year, that animals were recognized as sentient beings!

More information about Phoenix

https://www.redwings.org.uk/news-and-views/phoenix-announcement

Thanks to the magic of Google, we domesticated horses 6000 years ago and dogs 30,000 years ago and for a nation of animal lovers, it took until now.

That is shocking and did upset me, all those millennia, and it took that long for Government Legislation, which protects animals something poor Phoenix never had. A horse has to be a martyr, so change would happen, and Black Beauty made sure change would happen by drawing attention. And it wasn’t intentional, maybe by the author, that Beauty, who no fault of his own, his current life depended on the whims of his new master, some good some bad.

Upstairs, is a bit sparse, but there is a fascinating table of Black Beauty books and merchandise, all donated by Pamela Jordon and her private collection and also a Redwings supporter. As a fellow book collector, impressive, would love to meet Pamela one day. And I expect her to go on Mastermind…go on Mastermind, please.

That’s what is upstairs, and even with the chaotic staircase, and as a museum, it would benefit from further information about Anne Swell.

How Sewell’s Quaker faith, tied in with her writing, her family and contemporise, and her life in Great Yarmouth. Also, the adaptations, of the work including the famous television show from the 1970s. Additionally a docudrama about her life, maybe animated would be beneficial.

Just some ideas, to draw in the crowd a bit more, to explain the cultural impact of the book and more details about the world, when the book was published.

 However, I enjoyed my experience, and for a free museum, I was provided with more information about Redwings and even brought an organiser for next year. I’m, being organised…I know right.

But this is a must-have visit because of this one thing.

Unlike Charles Dickens’s grave in The Poets’ Corner of Westminster Abbey, Aphra Behn’s in the east cloister of Westminster Abbey, Jane Austen’s in Winchester Cathedral and so many others. There is no grave for Sewell’s, she was a Quaker and her gravesite and Quaker House were lost, there is no place to pay tribute directly to her, but there is this.

Her gravestone was placed in a wall, but her final resting place was lost, even though there are many tributes to Anne Sewell, including a school, park and even a fountain in both Norwich and Ansonia, Connecticut. Sewell is not forgotten nor neglected, she’s too beloved for that.

My own copy of Black Beauty, the information from Redwings and my new organiser for 2024

However, this place feels more special because it’s a moment in time, where she must have been so happy in a life scarred with illness, and family struggles.

The place she was born, the place with activism for the ethical treatment of horses was born, the moment a woman in sickly health put a pen to paper and began to write. Even if she only lived in this home for two years, when her family moved to London in 1822. But within these walls, a woman took her first steps and would change the world with her compassion. And not just for horses, and animals, but also humanity with her words.

Anne passed a few months after the book was published, she saw the success, but not the legacy. By coming to this house, meeting the staff, and even buying some of the merchandise, you are paying tribute to Anne and that legacy.

So go now.

More information about Redwings Horse Sanctuary.

https://www.redwings.org.uk/

Fantasy Island got Cancelled

Why do I do this to myself, fall in love with a show, only to find out that it was cancelled?

Also, I wrote this a few weeks ago, but life has been too insane to post it until now.

Firefly, Instinct, Prodigal Son, for some reason, not The Rookie, which has just gained its own spin-off The Rookie: Feds following a backdoor pilot, last season.

I just started watching Fantasy Island because it came up on Sky and I was in the mood for something a bit different. Remember I’m British, and cynicism is in my DNA, so to get that experience wrapped up in a little bow where fantasies come true, but not in the way you would expect them to.

However, here’s a confession I’ve never in my life seen an episode of the original Fantasy Island.
Of course, I knew it existed, seen clips, anything that stars Nick-nack from The Man with the Golden Gun and Khan Noonien Singh from Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan, I would know about.

Come on all together “Da Plane, Da Plane”, knew it got a revamp, and a horror film, but seen none of them. In my country, there was a limit to what came over from the States in the 1980s.

I feel very fortunate in life, I got Knight Rider and The A-Team and could have done with Mister Rogers telling ME it was ok to be me, but we got Sesame Street instead…no complaints there.

But Fantasy Island, never which is a shame since I have no hesitancy in saying that Ricardo Montalbán was a beautiful man. He was easily the best thing in Spy Kids 3: Game Over, even as a voice artist, there was something magical about him.

But anyway, enough about Ricardo Montalbán.

Let’s talk about Fantasy Island.

For those who don’t know, people go to the Island, to act out their greatest fantasies, even though most never end the way they should, but everyone learns something. All led by the mysterious Elena Roarke, played to perfection by Roselyn Sánchez.

One thing I did appreciate is that Ruby Akuda played by Kiara Barnes, as Roarke’s assistant, who is in the real world is 75 years old and dying. But is young, fresh and five decades younger and are free to explore their true self and sexuality, something denied to them on the mainland.

However, there is some hesitancy there, remaining the audience of the true self in the young body, and the internalised conflict born from decades of trying to suppress themselves.

It’s a slow burn, but it’s a realistic one too. It also shows Ruby feeling homesick, missing her old life and struggling that she may be in paradise and fantasies, but is also trapped in this world. It may be her own choice, but it doesn’t stop her from the agony or overthinking it all.

As a mythology gag, Ruby gains the symbol of the Island in the form of a Tattoo (get it) incidentally this is the first show I have seen Kiara Barnes in, we don’t get The Bold and the Beautiful. She’s good and I hope she has a long-lasting career.

Also rounding out the cast is John Gabriel Rodriquez as Javier the head of transport, who has this on and off again relationship with Roarke.

Though sometimes you wonder who and what is real on the Island since at times it comes across as a simple but expensive tourist destination, and then people become young, and some turn into dogs.

Imagine walking into a room and being in Castro’s Cuba, or going back in time to meet your favourite author and stay behind in the past, to become her partner, whilst she’s in a lavender marriage.

Or go all Freaky Friday with your spouse, just before you find out you’re pregnant. Which is an ethical minefield. So much potential with this show.

As I said I went in fresh, with nothing to compare this to, and it managed to warm my cynical heart. There is no UK equivalent for this, something so feel good.

Most UK shows have an air of grittiness about them that’s hard to explain, most only have a short run to establish themselves. Spaced, Red Dwarf and BBC Ghosts have only 6 episodes, whilst the USA version had 18.

It’s quality over quantity after all, and Fantasy Island only had 10 episodes which is acceptable for the Brits.

But I love Fantasy Island, I was late to the party since it got two seasons, and I love it because it’s people having their true selves revealed. Maybe I love it because it’s set on a paradise island with perfect sea and sand. One of the reasons Death in Paradise is so popular in the UK.

My country is an incredible place, with a history going back thousands of years, we have Shakespeare, Mary Shelly, Aphra Behn, Jane Austen and Naomie Harris. We have art, culture, an NHS (God bless it) and an inability to win the Eurovision Song Contest.

However, we also have rubbish weather and a cost-of-living crisis. The entire world, is going more to hell, as we watch the Doomsday Clock, move one more minute to midnight.

People can’t afford anything, food is going up in the shops, and a distraction is a 50-minute show where all our dreams come true which takes place in a place, I’ll never be able to afford in the real world.

No wonder people are disappearing more into shows and streaming services, since they are the only options at the end of the tunnel.

In a world of cynicism, it was nice to have some happiness even if they came with an edge, like Fantasy Island, and its criminal that it was cancelled, for whatever reasons. I just found out this information and you can tell I am not happy with it.

But what brings Fantasy Island 2021 together is Elena Roarke played by Roselyn Sánchez who apart from Rush Hour 2 and The Game Plan, has been in loads of stuff I’ve never seen. Sorry, about that.

With nothing to compare her to, she is an enigma of a woman, she lives for her work and invests in the people around her as a distraction to her own life. At times, not having finished the series (looked ahead, know what’s coming) shows a remarkable amount of naivety about life, and standard behaviours, for someone who before the Island, apparently lived a corporate lifestyle.

Elena secretly reads the book of a famous author, because letting Ruby know she indulges in books, may reveal a secret. Had to have it explained what happens on a “Girl’s night”. When she hears about Hallmark films, has a look on her face, as if the information was being downloaded into her brain.

In the same way, you question what is real on the Island, you have to ask if she’s real too. Being a great-niece of the original Roarke, or perhaps just a newer reborn incarnation. You know a family drama makes you question everything in the margins.

Incidentally, Roselyn Sánchez can rock a white suit, and there had to be a picture out there of her lounging in one with a cigarette between those lips, and a whisky in hand ala Marlene Dietrich.

So, a show I got emotionally invested in only a week ago, and got cancelled, which seems so unfair to everyone involved in making this fantasy happen in the first place.
There are petitions and here’s one

But it makes me wonder if I was taken to the Island, by…how do these people even arrive, do they win a prize or is a mystery booking agent? What would my wish be?

Managed to think of some things, and attached the Wish list I made, a couple of years ago, when I was still learning how to walk.

That list and a few more impossible ones.

The Geek List: Amended

To put my right metal-filled foot to the floor and not feel like I’ve been stabbed in it

To wear high heels just one more time, ones that never hurt, and not like The Red Shoes (The Fairy story, not that show with David Duchovny) type of ending. I know Fantasy Island turns dark easily.

To see my dad, and dog Spike again. Dad passed seven years ago, Spike when I was 25.

To be in a video for Portugal the Man, that’s on my Wishlist, but I wrote that before they won a Grammy, and became super famous making that impossible.

To be able to afford driving lessons, pass my test, and get a car.

To walk literally in the footsteps of my ancestor Marianne Isabel Portugal, the last of my Brazilian link, to understand the choices she made, and also what the hell she looked like.

Just everything on that Wishlist, aside from the impossible, not asking for too much I think.

So, Fantasy Island had now joined the ranks of those shows cancelled too soon, which is a shame but if there is no season 3, whilst we had it. It was a wonderful distraction and thanks to everyone involved.

Asda, The Cost-of-Living Crisis and the Blue Light Card

UPDATE: As of today (4th May 2023) If you Link your Blue Light Card in the Asda Rewards App, you get the 10% off in your rewards pot. It lasts until 2026. This is fantastic, thank you Asda…I love you. No seriously, you made my year with this. For example today I spent £20 and got £2 in the rewards pot.

Asda and I do not have a complicated history as Stores go, and it’s a Store, not a shop. A shop is smaller items, or like Waterstones, one specific item, but a Store sells everything.

See we all learned something today.

Also, I need to point out, that I am not affiliated with the Blue Light Card in any way. Aside from the fact, that I have one.

In the grand scheme of things, the only time I have ever contacted Asda is when my Asda Rewards didn’t load, and I wanted those points.

I love Asda Rewards, hell you’re buying the stuff anyway, might as well be rewarded for it. In some way, and to quote their nearest rival, that does a better Meal Deal, more expensive but better and “Every Little Helps”.

But anyway, I’m grateful for Asda and Asda rewards, thanks to them I finally managed to get Pokémon Scarlet in January. I held off in case someone got it for me for Christmas, but that didn’t happen.

I got it for £36, RRP was £40, and I used £35 of my Asda rewards, and I paid £1 for Pokémon. In some respects, it does work out as the most expensive, yet cheapest game I have ever brought.

Finally, it’s mine

Incidentally, right now I’m trying to collect the coloured shards in the ground but can’t remember which ones I’ve already picked up. So am doing the circuit and following YouTube videos.

OpenWorld is very complicated, after all.

So yes, I finally have Pokémon Scarlet and am loving it, since I decided that my Asda Rewards would be treats for me. Since everything else is a headache right now since I’ve been diagnosed with migraines, and have a persistent one.,

My ray of sunshine in a dismal year was me buying a game where I go out, capture, and battle animals. And the only world I’m seeing is called the Paldea region.

Oh, trust me, I know every trick on the planet to survive, discount codes, the reduced Aisle and Approved Foods.

Out of my ten total nephews and nieces, I’ve got all of their Christmas and birthday presents in the sales. I’d rather be skint in January than December, and you know there are ten of them.

I’m so tired of it, just like Anastasia and the titular song “I’m sick and tired, of always being sick and tired”.

I can’t remember the last time I had a decent night’s sleep. I’m sick of exhaustion, sick of the stress, sick of my hair, which needs a cut, but I can’t afford that. Have just asked Uxbridge College, to have it cut by a junior. 

This Cost is Living Crisis, but I’m not “Living” The life I’m not living is screwing me over by the second?

You can tell I’m a wee bit stressed, can’t you?

The worst part is, I can’t tell anyone about it, being an introvert by nature, there’s the feeling that everyone is in the same boat and no one cares. Coming onto my blog is easier than admitting I’m not coping.

I’m not coping with rising prices, food, travel and everything else in between. Sometimes I feel like my dream, would be to have a long hot bath, with a Lush Bath Bomb (always thought they were false economy anyway). And eating Lurpack butter since that’s too expensive and now I use Lidi’s (Sorry Asda).

Anyway, what does this have to do with Asda, and the Blue Light Card, well for those who don’t know.

The Blue Light Card, is a card that used to be £4.99 for five years, now the same price for three, which gives discounts for those who, ok here’s the quote from their website

“We are the discount service for the emergency services, NHS, social care sector and armed forces, providing our members with thousands of amazing discounts online and on the high street”.

The job I don’t talk about at all, well I get one with it.

So, you can save money on the High Street and it’s awesome, ever since the pandemic began it was added onto Asda. You can save 10% on your shop and ever since then, I’m gone into Adsa more, and been able to afford better things.

Because that 10%, adds up in the end, especially when things are half price and you get that little bit extra, like the Garnier Body Food I bought a few weeks ago. Which was half-price, and part of the Asda Rewards, so I spent £10 and got £3 back in reward points to use. Everyone really is a winner.

Thanks to the Blue Light Card I recently brought some new jeans at Yours and saved 20%.

Also, since I buy most of my things in sales if I can get a discount on anything at full price, I feel happier about it. If I pay full price for anything, I feel bad like I’ve been cheated out of something.

Then again, I am the type of person who gets buyer’s remorse about everything I buy. Yes, I have Self-Care Guilt because I’m not that good at taking care of myself.

So, Asda has and yes this is on Wiki before anyone asks.

633 Stores, 145,000 Employees, their clothing line George, and homeware which is Asda Living. The clothes are not bad either, let’s be honest, and neither is the homeware.

They have two subsidiaries, Asda Mobile and Asda Money and I have no idea if they are good or not, I use neither.

There are no frills packaging and prices are much better than top names. That’s what I’ve been buying the most off since this whole “Being unable to deal with the cost-of-living crisis” thing began.

Asda’s revenue in 2019 was (drum roll) £22.90 billion, overall, they are not losing much by giving us 10% off, but we’re gaining, and their Brand has gained our loyalty.

As someone who worked in Retail, I know what goes on behind the scenes, I worked in a BHS and The Entertainer Toyshop, and know the mentality.

I know that from the review in Indeed and Glass Ceiling, it’s a mixed bag of experiences for the staff.

I know that they have been taken to court due to unfair work practices that this article from the Guardian will explain. I think we all agree that if you work on the store floor you should be paid the same as the Distribution centres.  

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/mar/26/court-rules-against-asda-in-workers-equal-pay-case

End of the day, I won’t be accused of being a hypocrite if I didn’t address this, since I’ve gained so much from being a shopper, I am writing this in empathy with the staff, and I hope they win.

So, the Blue Light Card has over two million members according to their site myself included, that is two million shoppers in Asda Stores.

In the grand scheme of things, it’s not much being an Essential Worker when everyone claps for you, but you are struggling to pay the bills, but that 10% makes me feel better, makes me feel happier when I’m shopping.

That 10% helps my mental health and stops me feel guilty when I’m buying something, even if that thing is essential.

So, in entirety, instead of the tease, since it’s been extended until the 4^th of May (May the Force Be With You). Imagine how incredible it would be if was extended further, say to the end of 2023 and beyond?

Asda has won me and the rest of the people who use the Blue Light Cards, loyalty, now show us much further where that loyalty lies.

Also, thanks for the Rewards…I love Pokemon Scarlet