Finding Dreamland

Stepping off the train into the Margate sunshine, I could see the skeletal bends of a ferris wheel amidst the skyline, its colourful carts like dangly limbs, waving in the distance.

It took us an hour and 40 minutes to get here from London Victoria. Here being: Dreamland.

The park had only been open for two weekends at the time so I was anticipating queues, but surprisingly, it was quite quiet. The longest queue was for the Dodgems (solo riders – what ya gonna do?) and after a quick glance, you could easily steal a siesta on the huge, pastel stripy deck chair in the entrance.

Dreamland first became Dreamland in 1920, when its scenic railway opened (which also just so happens to be the oldest roller coaster in the UK). The walk towards the entrance is decorated with walls lined in old black and white photos, taken throughout the park’s history. It’s easy to romanticise a place when you can picture men and women catching the train from London to spend a night at the ballroom, meeting lovers and then letting their cares drift away in the blinkering bulbs and stir of the sea air, mid-spin on The Twister.

In the early 2000’s Dreamland began to decline in popularity, and by 2005 was handed over to Margate Town Centre Regeneration Company. Luckily, residents weren’t going to give up on such a special attraction that easily, and so petitioned to have it brought back to its former glory. And it worked, re-opening in June.

The care and thought that has gone into this project is truly amazing. Every little detail of the park is magical, from the vintage arcade machines and low-lit roller disco, to the live band playing retro jams in the food court and doughnut cushion prizes (which I am still sore about not winning).

While the exterior may seem pastel perfect, what I really loved about Dreamland was how the history of it has been kept alive. Many of the rides, if not all of them are originals to the park or date back to previous eras, having been restored to fulfil their destinies once again.

You can read about the origins of each ride while waiting, which got me thinking about how truly amazing theme park rides are. Not only is the engineering just incredible, but also the designs. Whether the crazed charisma of an enlarged caterpillar coaster face, or the classic glittering gold of a carousel horse’s handle, it all goes towards creating this fantasy world, where for a few minutes you can just focus on the breeze against your cheeks and butterflies in your stomach.

Yet as you step outside onto the Margate promenade, you realise what a strange little place Dreamland is. This obnoxiously colourful paradise of fun and ice cream and nostalgia, sat awkwardly amidst the broken skyline of Margate.

Dreamland has so wonderfully captured the atmosphere of escape, where you can disappear for a while into fun, into love, and into the past. Though the sky is the one reminder that nostalgia is just a feeling, and we’ll never quite capture the way Dreamland was before, and that’s ok. That was their Dreamland, this is ours.

It Follows

I love horror films, yet bizarrely, rarely watch any modern releases of the genre. I’ve become completely switched off from them, expecting another lazy plot that relies on cheap cliches with no originality behind them. Horror, in my experience, has become a genre that requires you to dig a little deeper to find the good, or at least intriguing stuff.

When I heard about It Follows though, I was excited. The plot sounded curious, recommendations were enthusiastically spooked, while the retro-style of the posters just made it look very cool. So last night, at last, I settled down with a mug of hot peppermint tea as the weather perfectly timed the rain, and pressed play.

Written and directed by David Robert Mitchell, It Follows is a hark back to 70’s and 80’s horror, with a synth-tastic score reminiscent of John Carpenter and a lazy, suburban setting where the only distractions are a large, leafy pool and old black and white movies playing in a dimly lit living room.

David’s idea for the movie apparently originated from recurring dreams as a kid, in which he was being followed. That unanswerable, uncanny, ghoulish nausea in the pitt of your stomach after waking up from a really bad nightmare is the best way to describe the follower. We don’t know what it is, or where it’s come from. We only know that it can take various zombie-like forms, that it walks slowly to its prey, and the only way to get rid of it is to pass it on by sleeping with someone.

Oh, and there’s one other catch — that person you sleep with? They have to pass it on too, because if it kills them you’ll start being followed again. So you see, you’re never completely in the clear from this haunting presence. Once you’re part of the chain, it could be walking towards you at any moment.

Jay Height, played by Maika Monroe, is unluckily made the next link. After sleeping with her boyfriend, Hugh, she is rather un-romantically chloroformed and tied up in a car park, where Hugh explains to her the situation, and that whilst he is very sorry about doing this to her, the follower is her problem now.

The style and direction of this movie was so refreshing to watch. Long, lingering shots, slow zoom-ins, lonesome locations and that soundtrack — this movie isn’t all about the jumps and easy scares. It uses instead the nostalgia of older movies to create a recognisable, yet oppressively creepy atmosphere that offers no relief from its spookiness.

I suppose my only frustration was the desire for answers. Where had this thing come from? Why was it following people after they’d had sex? What would it do if it ever reached the very first person it started with?! But on thinking about this more, I became content that this premise isn’t meant to be answered. I enjoyed the chill of such an idea as though it were a manifestation of anxiety; this emotion that you can’t quite pin down and so it remains scary.

Horror movies aren’t for everyone, but I still find it sad when I hear others say they actually hate the genre because, “it’s rubbish”. Horror movies can be creative, terrifying and stay with you throughout the long night’s sleep after watching it. It Follows proves this.

PS Not one to watch if hoping to get lucky on a date night.

Rating: 4 stars

Battersea Booty

Hello!
It’s that time of year again where I go absolutely crazy for visiting car boot sales every Sunday (hence the thrift-heavy blog posts of late).

Since Thursday one of my best friends has been staying with us and so I booked two days off work to hang out. It’s been really fun! On Thursday we visited Spitafield’s antique market, on Friday we went to the Horniman Museum, Saturday we ambled about Covent Garden and got Chinese takeaway, then today we went to the Battersea car boot.

I’d been doing some research into the car boot sales nearest to Peckham and loved the sound of the Battersea one for two reasons:

1. It’s a large and very established car boot
2. It’s on in the afternoon

That second reason was what really won me over. I’m really not a morning person and in truth usually only make it to other car boots right before they close! This whole afternoon thing sounded like a dream to me.

After a short(ish) bus journey we found ourselves walking into a rather large queue of fellow car booters. Luckily the weather was lovely and the queue moved quickly, so it wasn’t too bad. You pay a 50p entrance fee and then the thrifting can begin.

The first thing I spotted was these vintage roller skates:

I haven’t used roller skates since I was about eight but have been wanting to buy some for a while now. I love the idea of roller skating places this summer (though after my attempts outside the flat earlier, It’s going to take some practice!)

The next item I found was this beautiful 1970’s vintage dress:

Dreamiest pattern ever?

My friend managed to find some great stuff too, including a large elephant throw and a £2 St. Michael jumper. While the Battersea booty definitely led us to some fruitful treasures, there were some downsides. Firstly, it’s more expensive than your average boot sale. Most items I enquired about were selling for £5 and above, which compared to Hook Road, where most things go for 50p upwards, seemed like quite a lot.

Secondly, it’s VERY busy. This is to be expected, but the narrow lanes meant my friend and I were sometimes trapped for a while trying to get through the crowds.

I’d still definitely recommend it for anyone looking to find some unique things on a Sunday afternoon. The area of Battersea nearby also has lots of cute little shops, including charity shops filled with bric a brac (heaven!) I made one more purchase on our way back, because, how could I leave this behind?!

Have a lovely week everyone!
Amber xx

Hook Road Car Boot Sale

Hey hey,
I thought I’d finish off the Bank holiday with a quick little blog post about some of the vintage, kitschy treasures I found today at the Hook Road car boot sale.

My dad got married on Saturday, which was lovely, but I’ve felt in this permanent state of sleepiness lately. Life has been strangely busy for me and as an introverted, sloth-like soul who spends most of their time hibernating, I don’t think my body’s coping too well with having so many plans! I can’t really complain though, having spent yesterday recovering at my dads with my dog, boyfriend, cheese strings and cozy TV.

I also managed to persuade my dad to drive me to the Hook Road car boot sale this morning. He may grumble about the early start but I know that he quite enjoys perusing too! I haven’t been to very many other car boot sales, but the Hook Road one really is great. The atmosphere’s always bustling and friendly, with an ice cream van and lots of cute little dogs about (always a plus!)

Today’s car boot was the largest yet, stretching all the way to the very back of the field. An hour and a half, along with three bags of kitschy treasure later I headed back home. Here are some highlights of what I found:

A little vintage poodle, which just so happens to match the lamp version I own. I love finding long lost sets of things!

A set of vintage deer for just £1.

This wally dog was sold to me by a man turning them into lamp bases. He told me about how he’d not got around to completing a lot of them so had ended up with a lot of ornaments with holes in their head! I loved his idea though so still bought one for £2 and am going to buy a vintage pleated lamp shade for it.

It’s a little Fred Flour! He now has pride of place on the kitchen shelf, alongside all the cacti and my succulent.

Of all my finds these are my favourite. The lady that sold them to me mentioned they used to be popular in the 70s as bedroom decor for little girls.

Is there a better way to end a lovely Bank holiday weekend than with a brilliant car boot haul? I don’t think so! I hope you all had lovely weekends too.
Now, I’m off to bed — g’night!
Amber xxx

My Kitschen

I live by the rule of, “if I need a thing I’m going to make it a cute thing.” Nowhere is this rule truer than with my kitchenwares. Forget the fact that I’m a rubbish cook and only have a tiny kitchen, a girl can still dream of one day opening her own diner by buying the kitschiest versions of every essential, right? Here are a handful of my favourites…. This pastel balloon patterned cocktail glass is part of a set that I found on Ebay. It’s pretty much the most adorable set ever and when I bought them I was totally visualising becoming a cocktail master, shaking up fancy concoctions at parties. These banana plates are meant for banana splits. They’re another vintage Ebay purchase though I think the original make is called Carlton. I’m planning on using them for snacks mainly (and maybe an actual banana split at some point!) Knowing I’m obsessed with ice cream, my mum sweetly bought me these little ice cream bowls, complete with teeny tiny spoons! Next up: Babycham glasses! I think these are 1950s ones due to the style of the Babycham deer. Apologies for the grubby glass! And here’s another picture, featuring my little Babycham figure. Lastly, a Czechoslovakian pink coffee set! I found this in a dusty corner of an antiques store and managed to buy the coffee pot, 6 cups, 6 saucers and a sugar pot for £20. Bargain! Do you like collecting cute kitchenwares too?

Visiting Crystal Palace Park

Today we went to Crystal Palace Park (cue Jurassic Park theme tune).

Visiting a park is a pretty ideal way to spend a sunny Saturday, but a park with dinosaurs?! How could it not be amazing?

Crystal Palace is about a twenty minute train journey from where we live. After grabbing a coffee and apricot pastry we were all set to go (even if I was slightly regretting wearing such a light dress — it was unexpectedly windy out!)

The park is right next to the station, so after arriving we excitedly headed for the dinosaurs. Right after taking a picture with this dinosaur mural, that is…

The park itself really was beautiful. Having read some more about it since getting home, I found out that the life-sized dinosaur models were built by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins and completed by 1854 (thanks Wikipedia!) These particular dinosaurs were newly discovered at the time.

These weren’t the only sculptures built back in the 1800’s though…

The above is called a megatherium! Also known as the largest ground sloth. I couldn’t get a better picture of it annoyingly, but like to think this back-of-head shot has more of a mysterious quality to it.

And then there was this majestic stag…

… that was right beside a pedalo ticket office, which would have been great if we hadn’t forgotten to bring any cash with us :(. So instead we went for ice cream (which luckily did accept card AND had mint choc chip!)

I couldn’t not photograph this creepy cute lil’ elephant ride outside the cafe too.

Other strange sights seen include this headless statue…

And a gorilla

It was just so nice to be outside with a camera! I’m definitely planning on visiting this park again too, and if you’re in the south London area and looking for an unusual park to visit, this is the place to go.

Thanks for reading — RAWR!

Stuff & things.

Last month I went to see an exhibition at the Barbican Centre called, “Magnificent Obsessions: The Artist as Collector”. Each room was filled with bits and pieces, all so strange looking within the blank spaces. I felt as though I’d walked into a locked away part of each artist’s brain, the odd details of their worlds floating aimlessly in front of me.

As I let my eye’s dart from the dusty old witch puppet to vintage pinball machine to large horse statue in Hanne Darboven’s collection, it made my heart sore. I felt like if I could just stare at each object for long enough, I might understand all the mysteries behind it: Where had it come from? What era? What was it about that old Turkish shoe that Peter Blake loved? Would Andy Warhol and I have been friends because of our similar taste in cookie jars?

…Then you’re brought back to reality. It’s just a thing. There’s no answers or connections to be found within the ceramic structures of a mouse figurine, or the fragile wooden frame of an old chair. It’s breakable. Disposable. Nothing, right?

But I can’t follow that argument through, because I too collect things. When I was younger it was car models and limited edition chocolate bars, while nowadays it’s patterned jumpers, Babycham merchandise and vintage figurines. These are more than just things to me. They’re the narratives people have given them, and will continue to give them. They’re the still portals to different minds and different times. They’re something to focus on in the midst of worry, stress and sadness, enabling you to curate and organise your own little microcosmic worlds.

When I think about collecting, I also think of one of my favourite films, Ghost World, in which there is a character called Seymour. Struggling to make connections with other people, he’s turned to collecting objects from the past as a way to connect with life instead. In his case, he’s not happy. It’s something that’s completely taken over his life, creating even more of a barrier between him and others.

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One of the most interesting things I read at the Barbican's exhibition was that Andy Warhol's cookie jars had been mostly found in the bags he'd bought them in, sitting in the corners of his apartment untouched. This made me think about the negative side to it too; about the ways we all try to fill our lives with meaning through stuff, and how when that stuff becomes destructive to your life it's a trait that has to go.

And so maybe I'm romanticising collections when they're just clutter, or a distraction from facing life, but I can't give up the argument completely. Because whenever someone laughs at the ridiculous amount of ornaments I have or looks despondent and weirded out by it all, I do get a little concerned, but then snap myself out of it. Because you have to be confident in your choices and trust yourself. And because everyone needs to find the things that make them happy and different, and for me that's holding still these fragments of life that intrigue me.

I like to think the things I own aren't all just things, but will rather one day be a way for others to understand a little part of me, as distant and abstract as they may seem in the larger scheme of things.

Cotton Candy on a Rainy Day

When I was very young I remember going to visit my aunt at her flat. It was about half an hours drive from where we lived but had felt much further. The surroundings were all a bit bedraggled, quiet and lonesome and the grey sky had made everything look a little sadder. More ghostly.

Right beside her flat was an abandoned train station, and for some reason, this is the part of that day that has always stuck in my memory. I can’t remember anything else we did, or ate, or talked about, other than the way staring down at those broken tracks from the road above made me feel.

I’m not sure if I’m alone in my fascination of abandoned places. That’s why a lot of us love zombie apocalypse movies, right? That eeriness of seeing energetic cities, bustling with life suddenly completely deserted. It’s that realisation of what life would be like without us in it; all our creations suddenly so alien.

Without a doubt though, the abandoned places I’m *most* fascinated with are theme parks. The big, caricature style kitschy faces of certain rides left still and staring into the empty grounds, their bright, pastel colours rusting and weird amongst the solitary environment. Then there are the tall, skeletal structures of coasters bending over the clouds and random carts, just sitting in overgrown grass. It’s all so creepy and yet beautiful too.

Although I’ve never actually visited an abandoned theme park, I’ve looked through pictures of the most famous ones endlessly and read their stories, entranced. It’s that extreme contrast, of these things that once would have been symbols of such charisma, excitement and life, now amongst deserted, grey landscapes. It’s the realisation that these objects are as motionless and lonesome as they always have been, and when taken out of context they make life feel like a surreal dream, filled with fragments of the uncanny.

I recently saw this beautifully shot video of abandoned city, Chernobyl. It’s by Danny Cooke and perfectly captures the haunting quality of such places.

Visiting Hyper Japan

Yesterday I went to the Hyper Japan Christmas market. It was really fun!

I LOVE going to conventions. Even though the busy-ness can be stressful, experiencing an insight into the microcosmic worlds certain interests (or countries in this case) have created is fascinating.

I’d seen Hyper Japan advertised before but been unable to go at the time, so when I spotted it in the Metro on my morning commute last week I excitedly booked tickets straight away.

In an attempt to try and not blow all my money (which easily happens at these kinds of events!) I made a mental list of things I’d get:

1. Strange flavoured kit kats
2. A bonsai tree
3. A plush llama
4. Presents for OTHER people

I just about stuck to the above, by which I mean, I did get number 2 & 3 (plus a whole bunch of other kawaii things, but all for myself. Oops.)

Everything was just SO cute.

All the sellers were super friendly too, especially the lovely lady that handmade this kawaii banana necklace:

As well as staring longingly at all the alpacasso merchandise (alpacasso is the official name for the cute llamas) we also took advantage of the delicious free alcohol samples on offer. I can’t remember the names of all the drinks we tried, but know one was a very strong Japanese whiskey and the rest sweet favoured variations of saki.

We bought a cup of warm saki to wander around with and stopped for a while to watch the cosplay competition contestants show off their character moves on a catwalk styled stage. Even though I had no idea who a lot of the characters were, I still was in complete awe of the amazing detail each person had gone to with their costumes. Also, there was a giant, burly man in a huge Hello Kitty outfit, which might have been my favourite. (I was too busy eating noodles at this time to take any pictures!)

Also, check out our beautiful bonsai!

I bought way more than I should have, but hey ho, that’s always the way! It was really fun and I’d definitely like to go back when it’s next on.

Have any of you been before? Let me know in the comments!

Have an eggcelent Sunday 🙂

Amber x

A little spring in autumn

It’s been a while since I’ve done a charity shop post on here and seeing as I’m having a very lazy Sunday (with a Chinese takeaway on the way and pj bottoms already on) it seems like the perfect time for an update.

Over the last few months I’ve found a lot of treasures here and there, though mostly at car boot sales throughout the summer. Now that the colder weather’s set in and car boot season is over, I’m back to popping into the charity shops when I can for a quick browse. I’ll be moving from my dad’s house further into London next month too, so am making the most of my local haunts and on the lookout for any cute home wares while I’m at it!

Yesterday was a cold, rainy, errand running day (not the most exciting of Saturdays!) The positive was that I found two cute hand knitted blankets, a pastel pink cardigan, vintage floral dress and little rabbit figurine. I feel like the below pictured purchases are especially spring themed, but work also as cosy items to brighten up these darker months.

I collect kitschy ceramics so was ecstatic when I found this little one at the bottom of a bargain box for 50p!I’m in love with pastel colours and the fact this cardigan is cropped too should make it perfect for wearing with high waisted trousers or over long dresses.

I think this dress will be great for wearing to work with thick black tights, boots and a chunky cardi. That’s what I love about this sort of style of floral vintage dress, they can be dressed up or down really easily and work perfectly to brighten up winter outfits. I also love how comfortable they are! The one above is a medium but fits fine, with just enough slouch without looking swampy.

So there it is, a quick little charity shop haul. Until the next post, ciao!