Finale

THE FINAL TALLY: £287.12

Thank you so much to everyone who contributed to making that happen! For a tiny, spontaneous solo effort like this, it’s pretty incredible… thank you all. If you would still like to make donations to the cause, you are of course welcome to do so, it just won’t be added to the tally shown here.

(I did mean to put this up yesterday, but I slept in so late, was so concussed when I woke, and on top of that disoriented by the loss of one hour, that I was pretty much quite dysfunctional.)

Here are a few yummy last photos of Holland Park:

And finally, a question for everyone:

Filed under: !modpost, photos

Holland Park – Orangery and Gardens

When I got to the end of the path, crossed the lawn, and headed right, this is what I saw:

Holland Park’s most famous garden is the Kyoto Garden, which unfortunately I couldn’t navigate my way to before it got dark (this place is huge!). That said, I was more than happy with this one, which set me into paroxysms of humming under my breath and smiling daftly to myself.

My stroll onwards led me to this very unprepossessing looking corner:

Keep in mind I had never ever been here nor heard a thing about it. I turned the corner expecting nothing, and quite literally, this took my breath away.

This was, I found out later, the famous orangery of Holland Park. Pictures REALLY do it no justice. I actually squealed out loud. And laughed. And then I backtracked to take the “before” picture to emphasise the gorgeousness of the “after”. It was honestly an Experience. It was the best moment of my entire tour. This is going to sound really lame, but the thought of being able to post about this at 8:30pm has kept me going on and off over the past 24 hours, because it was really just such an amazing moment.

I remember Kevin saying to me a couple of weekends ago, as we looked out over Regent’s Canal at Camden Lock, that London was really quite nice after all, and just earlier this week Nicole said exactly the same thing after we’d just had a really good afternoon at Chinatown. This was one of those moments for me when I feel like London is really beautiful when you know where to look.

Unfortunately it got dark really fast after this. So I couldn’t take the million more photos of Holland Park that I wanted to, and I couldn’t go hunting for the Kyoto Garden, but I was really, really happy with what I had managed to find.

Filed under: photos , holland park

Holland Park – Inside

I knew exactly nothing about Holland Park before coming here. All I knew was, it was a park, I hadn’t heard of it before, it was near Notting Hill, and it was convenient for me to go. So I had no expectations whatsoever. My first glimpse of the park, however, exceeded whatever expectations I could possibly have had.

And this was just at the entrance!

That photo of the pink flower is one of my favourites of the whole blogathon, if not my favourite. I haven’t retouched it at all. It’s as it was taken. ♥

A statue of Lord Holland, for whom the park and area is named. This area is called Lord Holland’s Pond. It was coming to dusk by the time I got here, and you can see a twinge of sunset in the background. This also explains the varying picture quality in the remaining photos (my camera’s meant to be decently good in low light, but I haven’t quite mastered it yet…).

Stepping through the almost magical leafy archway in the first photo brings you to the path in the second, lined with flowers on either side of the path and a lawn and building in the distance. I felt a little like Alice making her way to the Red Queen’s croquet-ground. It was all very fairytale, definitely helped by the fact that the sun was setting and the park was so quiet. There were plenty of times wandering through when I was the only person in sight for as far as I could see.

Can you tell I’m completely smitten with this park? The best is yet to come (saving it for last)!

Filed under: photos

Holland Park

(This will of necessity be a short post, as I’m completely STARVING. And running late!)

After MOBPA, I took a quick break in a nearby Starbucks. I realise Starbucks is hardly untouristy, but this one had a nice interior.

I then popped over to Holland Park, which was conveniently one stop down on the Central Line. I like old-fashioned tube diagrams like this, so I snapped the one at Holland Park after getting off the train.

I really wanted to incorporate some kind of outdoor space into the itinerary because those I’ve featured thus far – London Fields and Lincoln’s Inn Fields – I kind of stumbled into, and didn’t really spend much time there. So I was very happy that Holland Park fitted in nicely with my post-MOBPA lull.

Holland Park is regarded as one of the most romantic parks in London, due to, in Wikipedia’s words, its “abundant wildlife and secluded hideaways”. There are two Japanese gardens, a famous Orangery, an open-air theatre which has its own resident opera company.

Filed under: photos

Protected: MOBPA – Special Features!

This post is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:

Password:

Filed under: photos

MOBPA – Part 5 (The End!)

UHHHHH… could this tea towel (I’m assuming it’s a tea towel; it could, for all I know, be a banner or dishcloth or napkin) be any more ominous? Could Diana look any poutier? No, no, I thought not.

This can’t not bring you back if you were a teenage girl of the 90s with average taste in music (as I was)! I wonder if the assorted Spices ever look back and think, wow, I was so much healthier and fresher-looking back then. Because they were. I mean, Victoria was actually a normal size and she was really hot. (She was my favourite.)

Evolution of Johnson’s Baby Powder, 1940s-current!

Maybe I’m missing something here, and this will turn out to be an incredibly common thing like the turtle soup, but OXO with milk strikes me as COMPLETELY disgusting. I would never, ever want to drink OXO cubes with milk even if it is indeed “200% Nourishment”!

Now this is interesting. Most packaging has changed throughout the years, whether radically or gradually. Lyle’s Golden Syrup is one of only a handful of brands which has kept pretty much exactly the same packaging since its inception, as you can see from the picture. I think it works in their favour – golden syrup is such a traditional product.

You’ll have to look at the high res versions of the pictures to see this, but basically, in the 1930s-1950s design (L) the Sikh servant is holding a tray and serving coffee to his master. In the newer design from the 1960s onwards, the tray has been dropped and the Sikh man stands there almost as an equal. This apparently caused a huge ruckus among old-fashioned imperalistic types stationed out in India. Today, following pressure from racial equality groups in the UK, the Sikh is depicted sitting down side by side with the white man to have coffee.

Filed under: photos , mobpa, museum of brands

MOBPA – Part 4

If anyone is curious what it feels like not having slept for more than 20 minutes at a time (and that only twice) for approximately 35 hours – quite manageable, on the whole. However, even though I don’t actually feel incredibly sleepy, I am experiencing noticeable physical slowdown and motor coordination problems. Takes me longer to type things than I normally would, and I keep clicking the wrong things because I’m mis-aiming the mouse. T__T But on the whole, am surprisingly chipper!

Paraphernalia from the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II! Awww! She was so pretty (and things looked so different back then). I really like that even Shredded Wheat got in on the hoopla.

Okay, so clearly I’m incredibly naive, and I should have taken my Alice more seriously, but – I had NO idea that turtle soup was actually consumed by any other culture but the Chinese (who eat everything). And here was Heinz, a mainstay of heartwarming wholesome canned soup, selling Real Turtle Soup as well as Mock Turtle! So I looked this up on Wikipedia and discovered to my horror that indeed, turtle soup was and is still consumed in many parts of the western world and is especially popular in Philly and New Orleans. You learn something new every day…

You have to admire the candour of the Milky Way ad, I guess. If you’re marketing your chocolate as one you can eat between meals without spoiling your appetite, aren’t you happily ackowledging that it’s completely empty, unsatisfying junk? (I say this with the greatest possible love for Milky Way. I adore Milky Way.) From the second photo, I quite like the Polo ad on the left. That stylised girl was a mainstay of Polo’s ad campaigns during this time. I think they should bring her back.

FREEZE-DRIED BRUSSELS SPROUTS. Peas, okay, I suppose they aren’t that bad as they’re often bought in a frozen bag anyway. But BRUSSELS SPROUTS. :OOOO I could NOT believe that this was actually sold. And purchased. By people. To be eaten. I’m still a bit in shock every time I look at this photo actually. And could you make the packaging any more unappetising? It looks like medication.

The pound sterling was decimalised surprisingly recently, something I hadn’t realised. It wasn’t until 1971 that the UK finally switched to the decimal currency system. And immediately, fun board games to help you learn it were produced! I suppose that was the 70’s equivalent of educational computer games?

Filed under: photos , mobpa, museum of brands

MOBPA – Part 3 (WWII Edition)

War against Hitlerism souvenir teapot! What will these people think of next? I’m sure they love being reminded of the ongoing war while having their afternoon cuppa… but RIGHT SHALL PREVAIL, so I guess that makes it okay!

The blackout began 1st September 1939, 2 days before the outbreak of war. It meant everyone in every household had to cover their windows and doors at night with heavy blackout paint, cardboard or the like – whatever would keep light from shining through – so that it’d be harder for German aircraft to target their bombs. The card in the first picture actually gave me chills, probably because I have absolutely no clue what it is and because of the nonchalant, matter-of-fact way it’s just like… I can’t see anything. Second item, however, nearly killed me with laughter. This frilly armlet GENUINELY (GENUINELY, KAT! Are you reading this?) LIGHTS UP in the BLACKOUT! Will wonders never cease?

Women were starting to get in on the action too, evidently. I actually find printed material like this a bit creepy, probably because it’s so blatantly nationalistic and at heart, I’m something of an individualist. Can you say national pressure for women to do something?

HILARIOUS anti-Hitler items. Completely. Hilarious. I can’t imagine how anyone at that time took them seriously, I certainly wouldn’t take an Osama in Blunderland seriously. Particularly like the ashtray: DROP YOUR ASHES / ON OLD NASTY / CAUGHT IN THE ALLIES’ WEB. Nice, guys!

The postcard in the second picture is really funny in an Oliver-esque way. The Dolly’s Ration Book in the first picture, however, is one of those toys that strike me as really sad actually. It’s depressing when you have to teach your child to ration by making her play pretend rationing with her dolls, isn’t it? Isn’t playtime for imagining things that aren’t happening around you right now and getting away someplace better?

Filed under: photos , mobpa, museum of brands

MOBPA – Part 2

Ah the women’s rights movement is hilarious -wipes away tears- I couldn’t really get a very clear picture of the close-up card in the corner, but it says “VOTES FOR WOMEN. DOWN WITH MERE MEN.” Hear hear

The firs picture is a war poster which I found slightly depressing, actually. I guess I can believe that at that time of optimistic, jingoistic WWI sentiment, women of Britain really did say “GO!” to their menfolk and happily sent them off to war. But in the unexpectedly contemporary context of viewing this poster, and the not-very-happy-looking women on it, I felt a little bit sad. As for the second picture, I have no idea what Bovril has to do with war… maybe it represented a handy meal in a bottle? Maybe people drank Bovril for sustenance.

Hey, what do you know! The curry man of yesteryear is still right – I reckon you ought to use genuine Madras curry powder indeed if you want a real Indian curry.

Man, early Felix dolls were ugly. I was oddly moved to see that Monopoly tokens had barely changed at all from their first inception to current usage. The car’s been updated (I like the old one…), but everything else is much the same.

War time packaging was depressing. Of course, in fairness, war time was depressing all round. But as you can read from the label in the second photograph, strict rationing of materials and constraints of economy made it necessary for packaging to be stripped back to a bare minimum. Almost everything became a generic tin can with one thin strip of identification round their middle.

Filed under: photos , mobpa, museum of brands

MOBPA – Part 1

(Let me begin by stating upfront that I have a ridiculous number of photos in MOBPA. Something like, 60. And these are the photos I have left to show after vetting. It was just that addictive. So there will be many, many photos coming. Joy! Low bandwidths, beware…)

The museum was mainly structured in a time-tunnel-esque fashion, taking the visitor through myriad fascinating branding and packaging samples from Victorian days to the present.

Rowland’s Macassar Oil caught my eye because there’s a reference to it in one of the poems in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, and I always wondered exactly what it was, mostly because the phrase “macassar oil” rolls so smoothly and wonderfully off the tongue. It’s clearly some kind of medication, but I still don’t know what. Time to stop being lazy and read the Penguin footnotes in detail, clearly.

I think that butterscotch tin of young, shiny Queen Victoria juxtaposed with old, frowny Queen Victoria (produced for one of her Jubilees – either Golden or Diamond, the tin doesn’t say) is really, really funny. Almost like the tinmakers were trying to take a subtle dig at her, except I’m sure they didn’t go in for such things back then (did they? I’m a Victorianist, I should know this, but I don’t).

Apparently, owning a Baby Daisy vacuum cleaner makes your domestic servants redundant, as you will then be able to tell your housekeeper “No thanks, I can manage myself now” while competently hoovering the floor, impeccably well dressed. Why it never occurred to the Edwardians to simply shove the vacuum cleaner at their housekeepers and do other things while being impeccably well dressed, I don’t know.

Filed under: photos , mobpa, museum of brands