Sci-fi Scarborough and other adventures

 There’s a sci-fi convention that has taken place in Scarborough every year for, I don’t know how many years, but a number of years. Despite being big sci-fi fans, (Mum is a Trekkie and a massive Dr. Who fan while me and little Miss love the excitement of Star Wars) we’ve never been. This year, we decided to check it out and it was amazing.

Little Miss dressed up as Princess Leia, she was the only Princess Leia on the Saturday (we only went on one day), but there were lots of other people dressed as characters from Star Wars and all of them were so friendly to a young fan.

Battling Ghostrider

I didn’t dress up in costume, but I was thrilled to see so many characters that I love! 

While there was a good spread of various sci-fi interests, so much to see and do and buy, authors, artists and makers, I was surprised at how dominant a feature Dr. Who was. This made Mum very happy, although I think the very realistic Davros circulating the convention in his motorised Dalek may have given her flashbacks to her childhood, and being scared of him on TV.

Would I go again? Absolutely! I definitely didn’t expect it to be so good, and of course the blue skies and sunshine helped

On Sunday I visited the chap. A few days earlier his doggy had undergone an operation so I wanted to see him and bring him a toy from little Miss. thankfully he was all ok.

Then, me and the chap went tent shopping! I was ridiculously excited running around Go Outdoors wanting to buy all the things. I used to love camping, and I’m thrilled to be getting back into it just a little. 

Later in the year we are going to one of favourite summer things, an outdoor dance concert. I’ve booked a pitch at the camp site down the road and honestly I may be as excited about the camping as I am about the concert. Of course I drifted towards the bright Barbie pink confection of a tent!

Eventually the chap was the voice of reason, and we bought a far more suitable small tent for us both. It’s lovely though, I genuinely am so excited.

The chap approved of this one

After all that shopping we went for a delicious carvery lunch to finish off our afternoon. It was a busy weekend, I felt like I needed another to get over it, but what a fun and exciting one! 

Films, Frocks and Fun

 As I mentioned in last week’s post, my week was already off to a good start. My friend was coming over for a visit from Leeds. I met him from the train, and after grabbing a coffee at Greensmith and Thackeray I gave him a whistlestop tour of some of the beautiful sights of Scarborough.

As a fellow fan of visiting churches, I took him through the old town to the beautiful Catholic Church, St. Peter’s. All the years I’ve lived here and this was the first time I’d been in. It was beautiful.

We also visited St. Mary’s, home to the grave of Anne Brontë and with one of the most beautiful views out across the bay. 

We pottered around some charity shops. I was thrilled to find Less by Patrick Grant in Oxfam, I’ve been after it for a while. I read a lot of it during my week off, and it’s very interesting, the history of industry certainly makes you realise how political everything we buy is. I’m not sure it will stop me buying altogether, but at least if Vinted and charity shops are my main sources then I can be confident that at least I’m saving things from the potential evils of landfill!

Tuesday morning little Miss had a play date with her friend and I had a good catchup with her friend’s Mum, who happens to be a very good friend of mine. We pondered going to the pictures in the afternoon, but instead, while waiting for a prescription for Mum we decided to peruse some charity shops. 

After bemoaning the poor pickings of charity shops during the previous week, declaring them dead to me, I couldn’t believe my luck. I found two gorgeous dresses, under a tenner for both! Not bad at all, and not least because the green one is still £62 on the Debenhams website! Charity shop faith restored! 

Still £62 on the Debenhams website

After a lazy Wednesday morning we decided to head to Malton for a potter, and to see the new Super Mario movie. It was hot! So hot that I didn’t even need to wear a coat, a rare occurrence in April! 

After a leisurely lunch in the Chapel house cafe, which, as the name would suggest is within a church, we perused the charity shops. I was lucky once again, getting a nice skirt for work and a Falmer Heritage boho top. I also managed to get a lovely skirt for little Miss (that I forgot to photograph). 

Thankfully we had booked a late afternoon viewing of the film, so we didn’t miss too much of the glorious sunshine. I fully expected to endure rather than enjoy the film but actually it was quite fun and cheerful so we had an all round good time.

I always love this little building by the cinema in Malton. I can just imagine Scrooge and Bob Cratchett at their little desks.

The rest of the week was mostly occupied with boring but necessary jobs. Clearing the lean to, a tip run and cleaning the car, as well as the far less boring task of collecting my Vinted purchases from the locker. A new book and an amazing whimsical skirt! 

Sunday we finished off the week with a trip to our favourite arcade, which has now added a rather enticing ice cream parlour.

Followed by a walk on the beach, a perfect end to the week before returning to the routine of school and work.

Easter Weekend

 When I logged off last Wednesday it was in the knowledge that I wouldn’t be back online (for work purposes at least) for well over a week. As much as I enjoy my job, there’s nothing quite like a week of freedom! I met the chap after work, and we went for a pizza and beer to celebrate. 

On Thursday, we were unexpectedly graced by the sunshine, which was welcome since we had appointments in town. An eye test for little Miss and nails for me. Although the sun didn’t bring much warmth, it was perfect for wearing these Joe Browns boots Mum bought for me a few Christmases back. I love them but only cool dry days work for them.

Boots - Joe Browns, Dress - River Island.

Thankfully, little Misses eye test came back perfect. After a spot of shopping, including getting some gifts for little Misses birthday later this month, and raiding the Claire’s accessories clearance sale for bag charms, it was time to get my nails done. I plumped for a beautiful iridescent pink for my nails, and then it was a relaxing evening ahead.

YSL Cabas tote and Claire’s accessories bag charms!

Good Friday was very relaxed. I spent the morning reading in bed. That’s a rare luxury because I always feel like I ‘should’ be up and doing stuff, so I rarely allow myself the luxury of staying in bed to read. Later in the afternoon we went to mass, stopping off afterwards for a coffee. Later in the evening me and little Miss made some collage bookmarks before settling down to watch Zootropolis 2. 

Easter Saturday arrived and with it the first blusterings of storm Dave. It wasn’t too terrible though, so we took a trip to one of our favourite failsafe destinations, Helmsley. I took the opportunity to wear my new Fairfax and Favor boots for the first time, and was surprised at how comfortable they were for a full afternoon spent perusing the boutiques. 

Boots - Fairfax and Favor, dress - Jolie Moi, awkward facial expression models own

The lady in the Fairfax and Favor shop complimented how good they looked when we went in there for a browse. I was also overjoyed to find some vintage long faux pearls in a little vintage market in the town hall. These replace some I broke I while back. I know faux pearls are ten a penny, but modern ones are always too lightweight and white in comparison. I like them to look old!

Making the most of so much free time, on Sunday me and the chap took a trip to Saltwick Bay near Whitby to hunt for the shipwrecks on the beach. Ever since the chap told me about this place I’d been eager to visit with my camera. It did not disappoint but I won’t share too much until I get my images back from the film lab. Sufficed to say, after walking 8 miles we were very grateful of our fish and chips in Whitby.

This week has already started off strong, but I’ll save that for my next post. 

On Film

 You may remember a short time back I bought a film SLR camera. A Canon EOS 1000F. Something I could only have dreamed of owning as a photography student at secondary school in the 90s, and yet I picked it up with a lens for around £30 on eBay.

Mother’s Day Lillie’s using the built in flash

It sat for a few weeks while I waited for the opportunity to take it out for a test run. That opportunity came the day we decided to go to York Minster. Loading up the camera I realised I’d made a rookie error. I’d bought ISO 200 film. Not a disaster but not ideal for the overcast day and definitely not for the interior of a medieval cathedral. Nonetheless, I was determined to try this camera out, so accepted that this roll would probably produce less than ideal results.

Boring skies, but check out the definition on the building 

Once I’d finished the roll I sent it to Leeds based, Take it easy Lab, and then I waited. Oh the thrill of waiting to see if you’ve got at least one decent image from that roll of 24. It took me back. I have to say, the lab were super fast. Once I’d actually posted the film off to them, they notified me they’d received it one morning and by that afternoon I was accessing my images on Dropbox. What a perfect amalgamation of analog and digital.

Do you know what? The images weren’t all that bad! Ok, so there are definitely improvements to be made, but not bad for my first time back behind an SLR in about 15 years.

These ones of the Morris Men (ironically they were from Coventry) are by far my favourite and demonstrate the exact reason I want to return to the world of film photography. No filters, just perfect imperfection. Atmosphere and something I can’t quantify that really makes me happy.

Needless to say, the next day I was back online ordering film for my next analog adventure.