Saturday saw the museum join with the rest of the town centre for the Christmas
Of course it did not go smoothly! It never does with me.
Having woken early enough to press the trousers into a less grubby shape I fitted my imitation cravat (none of the charity shops stock them) and wore my purplish waistcoat and my aged black jacket and almost looked the part.
Once in the museum I accepted the compliments from the ladies, I usually do, and went to the locker where I had placed the Top Hat the lass had obtained for me.
Once there I discovered I had forgotten to swap money and keys from the grubby jeans into my almost pressed trousers! Where is the key to the locker? On my keyring! Where is the spare locker key? On my desk! Where are my spare house keys? In the locker! Why am I hitting my head against the wall...?
One hour later a somewhat bashed and bent locker gave up my spare keys and loaned Top Hat.
Sweat dripping from me I eventually joined the throng muttering words that may embarrass a sailor!
Stalls laid out ion the main hall were enticing for those who like hand crafted goodies, including Christmas cake and Indian samosas! The sample of cake from The Little Fairy Cake Bakery was superb! I found £5 in my now somewhat bent locker and made use of it by eating a couple of Samosas and an onion Badjie (?), wonderful!
Other stalls sold the usual woolen goods, fancy cards and gifts and such like. Several stalls, some women doing this as a hobby that makes money, others possibly trying to begin a business. A wee bit difficult that one unless you have a specific much demanded item.
Luckily I had no wallet and was therefore able to avoid the china teacups filled with smelly candles that some women of my acquaintance would like. Many customers called but I failed to ask the price.
One or two children, with parents, called into the activity room where they happily spent hours making Christmas Cards and other things. Many had left when I took this picture and you cannot see the ones hidden behind the door. The girls running this were worn out by the end of the day and I suspect much wine was downed later on! The kids were happy and enjoyed it greatly. Did we enjoy doing this when young? I vaguely remember having this at school but it does not fill my memory. I can remember some what is now called 'Craft work' activity but not much.
Around half one the boss threw us out to hand out leaflets in the town centre. I wondered what the reaction of my Top Hat and her outfit would be. However once we wandered out some folks looked but most did not notice as so many stalls were parked around, so many people dressed in odd outfits as so many adult men and women wearing hats with faces on them anyway that we looked almost normal in comparison! One or two families did come into the museum because of the leaflets.
I am not sure if he had his face painted or whether he always looked like this...?
His sister had certainly had her face painted and looked very good indeed!
Others merely wondered whether they could do the work intended.
Back on the street I was impressed with this Pizza Van! That's the way to sell Pizza! However having no money I could not take advantage which is just as well. Victorians rarely ate Pizza, most probably never heard of it. All this for a small town event bringing folks into town to entertain the kids on the activities on offer, listen to bad music form two ends of the High Street, and at five in the evening get a celebrity (who I have never heard off) to switch on the towns lights.
I missed that bit!
I sauntered back through the shopping centre where another billion people were slowly shoving each other about while queuing for fattening Turkish cakes, Turkish Delight or on the other side Roasted Chestnuts at £2:50 a bag!
Me? I crawled home to bed....
