Posts Tagged ‘Antiques’
Cooperation Vintage
As you probably know by now I have, in recent years, become quite the regular in Northern Ireland. Home to my Special Gentleman, it was previously somewhere I had visited only once, during Transition Year to partake in Cooperation North; a special project where fairly privileged Catholics from the South went to stay with even more privileged Protestants from the North to show that the two religions could actually get on just fine and really we were just like each other. The trip would then be reversed and our new Protestant friends would come to Dublin to once again see that we had absolutely no beef with them and life was dandy. Of course the ‘cooperation’ never actually took place in ‘troubled’ areas … don’t be silly. You just never know what you might encounter for goodness sake. Actually when I went up to stay with my Northern equivalent her parents were on their annual month in Africa so I stayed nearby with a neighbour. Random. However, they had the most impressive cake collection I ever did see so I was quite content. I came away with a deep understanding of crumpets, sc-on-es and trifle. Northerners truly excel in this area.
Taking It All In…
My friend, Miss Perfect Coffee, takes a great interest in all things Vintage on my behalf and is always sure to let me know of anything fabulously old she comes across. She has often spoken to me about her Granny, Eithne Ryan’s contributions to Woman’s Way weekly in the 60s as wedding advisor, and last week was kind enough to bring me some copies of the magazine that her own mum had kept. I’ve been thoroughly immersed in them since, reading the charming articles and feeling nostalgic at the propriety of it all. The short stories are less Cosmo and more parable – it’s actually rather refreshing! I particularly love the ads featured in the issues which are an acute reminder of how much has changed since then: How to Use Velcro and What is a Cotton Bud? are my favorites of the bunch. Talk about saying what you mean. You can definitely expect further wisdom from the 1960s lady in future posts but it was the Easter special that particularly interested me this weekend – from week ending March 24th 1967, Easter Fashion was the big pull of the issue as they advised ‘Hats …. are back in a big way – even for the popsters which means that you, Mrs. Everywoman, needn’t feel a square any more when wearing one!’
Fine advice indeed and with the sun beating down over Dublin on Saturday morning, this Everywoman and her special gentleman took my beloved Donald’s roof down and set off in the direction of Kilkenny… straw hat firmly fixed on my head (my poise was sadly lacking in comparison to the Woman’s Way ladies however). Absolute Style at Set was taking place in the city and, as we were keen to head out of the capital for the day, I declared Vintage browsing was as good a reason as any to visit somewhere. Donald coughed into action, we turned up the music and pretended that neither of us were cold as the wind blew straight through our ears whilst we gathered speed on the motorway. After a splendidly short jaunt down the road, we pulled up into a buzzing Kilkenny City and simply followed the stylish ladies to be led to Langtons.
