Confessions of a Theatre Snob

Sunday, December 11, 2011

At least this year we weren't knee deep in snow

Last weekend was the Robin Hood’s Bay Victorian Weekend. J and I went two years ago, when I had so much fun that I hatched a plan to hire a cottage, and go for the whole weekend last year. And then the snow came, so we had to cancel, and hold the Victorian Murder Mystery Party at my house, and only wear half of the costumes that I’d planned to wear.

So this year, there were particular things that I wanted to wear; a beautiful black and white dress from an Opera North production, and a violet coat. I also had a skirt bought in the Costume Hire sale, my own blouse, and a hired hat. As Dean also had costumes, and I had costumes for Cat, you could say that my car was rather loaded up.

Having dropped off all the evening wear in Pickering, we headed over the moors, to meet Cat. Thankfully the weather was cold, but bright and sunny. +6 degrees is vastly different to -12 last year.

Meeting Cat in the car park, we headed into the village hall to get ready. It was as I walked across the car park, and ended up chasing my hat, I realised I’d left the hat pins in Pickering. On all the pictures, I’m hanging on to it, so that it doesn’t blow into the sea.

After a quick old time dance lesson, we were joined by K and V, and headed down the hill into the village to find lunch. We quickly realised that it wasn’t very busy. There were a few people in costume, and others who were just looking, but it was much quieter than two years ago. I think the weather last year must have put a lot of people off, both visitors and traders.

As there was a group of us, we quickly drew a crowd of photographers, and at times it was like having the paparazzi around us. At one point as we stood on the jetty (admittedly, a rather fabulous setting) we had drawn quite a crowd, and at this point we were joined by J and P, also in full Victorian costume. As I’m sure you’ll realise, I hated it – though, having seen some of the results, I really need to make sure that I pose!

There was also a Tombola down by the Dock. Oh, the excitement - and I broke my recent run of bad luck by winning four prizes!*


We called into one of the pubs to listen to a Victorian geologist talking about his discoveries, and stopped off again for mulled wine. It was rather quiet, so there weren’t that many other people in costume to interact with, but it was still great fun, and I loved just being able to walk around in full costume – though I think, another year, the skirt would easily take a crinoline underneath it.

*Which is, frankly, the point. I don’t mind what I win, and I’m happy to give the prizes away. It’s the winning of them that counts.

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1 Comments:

At 6:24 AM, Blogger Chris said...

Val, you are mesmerisingly elegant... :-)

 

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