TARDIS Tuesday - 13th Doctor cosplay challenge!

 I'm not sure how we got into conversation about it but somehow one of my year 6 pupils and I ended up talking about cosplay and she asked me if I could/would cosplay a character.  I happened to have a mug with a cartoon version of Jodie Whittaker's initial 13th Doctor on my desk.  I pointed at it and said, "Ok, I could cosplay that character!" and she laughed and said, "Really???".  I told her she had to remind me the night before the next lesson, via the school messaging system, and I'd give it a go.

Lo and behold, a week later, she messaged me to remind me so I duly prepared.

The outfit in question:

https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/sci-fi/doctor-who-jodie-whittaker-costume-outfit/

Image from Radiotimes 

This is my 5th appearance of this outfit on the blog, the last being October 2021 (really?? I had no idea it was so long ago!).

Here it is:

This is the first time I have ever worn the coat to school (the rest of the outfit, on numerous occasions).

I was asked if I was dressed as a wizard by a year 3 pupil, there were lots of nice comments about it from staff and teachers but only my year 6 girl realised what I was dressed as!  She grinned like anything when I said to her, "This is for you!" and said, "You have inspired me to cosplay one day!".  Not quite my job brief but it was nice to make a quiet girl smile.

The coat was a really happy 2nd hand find a while back, the top came from Berksha (2nd hand), the trousers from ASOS (not the regular culottes but I couldn't find them). My boots are from Leggero and my socks from CBC's Olympic opening ceremony costume.

The weekend went well.

Friday, my Samba band performed excellently at the interschool festival.  They really sounded impressive and we got the audience grooving!

The trip to Scotland (Ayr) via Northumberland (Whitley Bay) and back via Hexham went well. 

CBC and I arrived at our hotel in Whitley Bay on Friday night around 11.40pm.  It was past midnight by the time we went to sleep. The alarms went off at 3.15am.   CBC left around 4am to head to the starting line.  I woke up properly at around 7.45am to find a message from my Godmother asking me to call her. Weirdly, I had been thinking I needed to call her, as her husband, a dear family friend, had been in hospital with a broken arm.  It was awful as she said she wanted to speak to me as she thought he was near the end. It was such a shock! He'd gone in with a broken arm but as a result of trauma and treatment, he was going rapidly downhill and was near the end. We cried together on the phone and she asked me if I would play flute for his funeral.  I was deeply moved as they are musicians and know many very good musicians.  As it currently stands, he is still going, so please keep him in prayer. His name is Leigh.

After crying and talking to Mum, I went down to breakfast where I had a delicious fried breakfast and some cereal. I packed my things and then headed for a walk along the gloriously sunny esplanade.

I then walked to the Metro station and got the train back to Newcastle Central station.  I waited for the train to Edinburgh, then changed for a train to Glasgow Central (which was SO slow and crowded- the man next to me had a stinking cold and coughed in my face the entire journey and his toddler kept kicking me and spreading out!) finally I changed for a train to Ayr and walked 20 minutes down to the seafront to find the Chase the Sun finish line!

I waited an hour and 15minutes for CBC who came in at 7.15pm.  He had completed his 200 miles and he was within the first 50, possibly 40! I was super proud of him and he was VERY tired!

We walked to the hotel where there was a dinner for the finishers (sadly not for me) and then I walked/ran the 20minutes back to the station (he cycled) where we caught the train back to Prestwick where the B&B we had booked was. It was a lovely quiet place in a lady's house.  Comfortable and quiet.  He promptly fell asleep on top of the bed. I covered him with my duvet, watched Doctor Who, showered and went, very comfortably, to sleep.

The next morning, we woke, packed and ate a brief breakfast.  We headed for the first train of the day.

Prestwick- Glasgow Central; Glasgow Central to Carlisle; Carlisle to Hexham.

We enjoyed a lovely lunch with CBC's mum and then she drove us to Newcastle.

We got the next train back to London, then the tube across town and finally, the last train to Essex.

It was exhausting but fun!

Hope all is well with you!

TARDIS Thursday- Day of the Doctor Clara

 I had an awful headache lasting from Sunday evening to Wednesday morning and I couldn't face a computer screen so TARDIS Thursday it is, instead of Tuesday! I also had a first rehearsal for The Rite of Spring which I am playing with the Orchestra of the City in Holborn on Friday 19th July (if anyone is interested!).  It was really exciting! It is such a difficult and interesting piece to play and I am playing the Alto flute part which, to me, actually seems the best part out of all FIVE flute parts as I get solos but none of the dreadfully difficult high stuff! Admittedly, I didn't enjoy it as much as I would have done with a stonking great headache but I did have a nice little treat as I bought a battered sausage from the nearby chippy to eat just before (I'd had some salad and fruit plus marmite on bread) and the guy threw in a little scoop of chips with it which was really kind!

Anyway, onto a TARDIS Tuesday which last featured in October 2021.  It hasn't changed since my last two permutations except I switched in some different black boots.

Let's look at this very 90's looking outfit: 

Image borrowed from this Pinterest

Image borrowed from https://www.pinterest.com/pin/339881103102661537/

And here's my 2024 rendition:

The main element of the outfit is yet another red garment for TT- it's the 3rd week in a row with red as the main feature!

The red dress is from River Island and really needed an iron!

I added a black belt and Clara's Topshop boots from some other outfits. I didn't bother with the SA boots.  Considering slowly discarding all my uncomfortable Clara shoes- I already sold 2 pairs!

My jacket is from Barbour but hers is Belstaff. I like this one well enough!

I like this outfit very much and it's a nice Summer outfit- if I wear the dress with leggings rather than tights and sandals rather than boots! I'm wearing a tiny horseshoe necklace which I bought from eBay a long time ago!

This Friday, I am taking my Drumming Club to a interschool festival, this Thursday we have an author coming to visit the school and this weekend, CBC and I are going to Northumberland and Scotland for Chase the Sun North. He will cycle the 205 miles from Whitley Bay to Ayr and I shall attempt it by Pubic transport! Ahrgh!  We have to get to Whitley Bay at around 11 at night and then he has to get up at 4am or earlier to get to the start line. YUCK!

Hope all is well with you.

My day was good today  as my Year 3's had a jolly, well-behaved lesson in which they composed and performed their own recorder roads melodies and the year 2's enjoyed learning about Benjamin Britten's opera, Peter Grimes, listening to two of his sea interludes, Dawn and the Storm and then learning a song with contrasting verses about the sea and creating Dawn and Storm interlude music in between.  They seemed to be having a great time!

Hope you are well.

x

10 reasons to be thankful and things that made me happy

 1. Free cherries!  I picked more!

2.  Saw a really cute skinny little fox in the garden and then a skinny squirrel running across the road on the way to school.

3.  Children auditioned for the two solos in our Les Miserables songs this week and so many of them were good! No idea how to choose the soloists!

4.  A work colleague who was a good friend and I had a really lovely chat this evening. I missed her!

5.  I mentioned another colleague who I have become better friends with over the last year.  She was feeling annoyed and upset and I managed to engage her in a fun chat with a supply teacher over lunchtime and she seemed cheered up.

6.  Ran out of time with my year 6 class today performing their Haydn-inspired pieces (they had to create a piece in Sonata Form based on his Hen Symphony rhythms).  Had the genius idea of leaving all their instruments out and cancelling singing assembly tomorrow so I can get the performances finished before my first year 6 lesson at 9.45! 

7.  Sent an email to all staff members asking if they had any random ropes, nets, wicker chests, camping mugs, any of the such like and already got offers of ropes, chests, shovels and mugs!

8. The election means we will have a polling day at school so we will have close. This is annoying and a disaster BUT it means we can have an all day treasure island rehearsal which is MUCH needed!!!!!

9.  My lovely year 6 girls! They now stay in my room to chat every week, come to find me at lunchtimes and are just sunshine in human form. They are so appreciative. One girl, D, whose mum I used to go to school with, are is hilarious! She brings a satsuma to her music lesson every week, which she puts on my desk. We have an ongoing 'feud'/'skit' which we enact where I say, 

"Don't forget your satsuma!"

She replies in a thick French accent, "No, it's an orange!"

I retort in an even thicker accent, "SATSUMA!"

"Oraaaange!"

"Satsuma!"

"ORANGE!"

"Satsuma!"

"ORANGE!!!!" 

"Clementine?"

"Nooo, orange!!!!"

"MANDARIN???!!!!"

The other children look on it glee as the debate becomes increasingly impassionated!

We did it once walking through the school and suddenly saw 3 bemused teachers staring at us... I shall miss her!

10. Seeing Dad, stepmum and sister today for birthdays!

What are you thankful for?

Wearing something more summery

 I don't think I've ever got to mid June before doing my Summer wardrobe changeover before! The weather has been rather crazy!  However, last week, I chanced wearing some more summery garments.  As I have said before, I definitely prefer the summer season for clothes

For church on Sunday, I wore this red linen jumpsuit from Seasalt.  CBC bought this for me for my birthday a couple of years ago. I forgot how comfortable and pleasing it is to wear. It's light and practical.

These Accessorize espadrilles came from a Hexham charity shop and were brand new.  They are light and comfortable and I can cycle in them but I'm not sure they were the right choice for the jumpsuit.

For school on Tuesday, I wore this F&F @ Tesco dress (charity shopped). It's was perfect for this weather.  This red Primark cardigan has a big hole in the sleeve seam but I really like it.  Lunar leather pumps from Haltwhistle shoe shop.

Another charity-shopped shirt-dress, this time from M&S worn with a charity-shopped cardigan and green suede loafers by Rieker from Finale Shoes in Corbridge.  Hmmm, all my Summer shoes seem to come from Northumberland! Worn on Friday.

The 

My final outfit was worn on Saturday for rehearsals. The clock skirt came from Cath Kidston and the top is from H&M.  It's the green loafers again!

Which one of these is your favourite?

xx

sdsd

TARDIS Tuesday- Oswin Oswald

Last TARDIS Tuesday was a bit of a unloved one!  Thank you to Ivana and Vix for their nice comments! This week, I am keeping my colour scheme from last week's Sarah Jane cosplay and passing it onto Oswin Oswald.  This was Clara Oswald played by Jenna Coleman's very first appearance in Doctor Who, back in series 6, in the guise of Oswin Oswald.  Here's a short Youtube video showing her character's first appearance: 

And here are a series of stills showing her outfit

Image borrowed from
https://www.reddit.com/r/doctorwho/comments/ch7suw/for_everyone_who_loves_clara_oswin_oswald_and_who/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eW2cQPFUcHg

https://silvermarmoset.tumblr.com/post/170466432024/clara-oswalds-wardrobe-the-eleventh-doctor-years

Image from
http://promotedancing.com/sqjjb.asp?iid=52125658&cid=25 

I HAVE worn this outfit on here before but I CANNOT find it anywhere in my links! I reckon it's been at least 3 years since I wore it on here.

Here's my 2024 iteration.

It's pretty much identical to whenever I last wore it except that I think I may have worn a different belt.

I adore this dress which I bought second hand from Zara, but for the fact it is so short on me with my longer legs.  I would wear it with leggings in public.

My trainers come from River Island as do Clara's but for the fact, mine have some weird cut outs at the side- CUT OUT TRAINERS????? The socks came from eBay.  I added the belt which was from Primark. I don't have all the items she has on her belt, but you might see I added a whisk on the left hand photo!!!


By the way, I inadvertently cosplayed another TV character with this outfit.  Below is Zooey Deschanel from TV programme, New Girl and my dress happens to be the same model that she is wearing! 

https://www.reddit.com/r/findfashion/comments/o459ds/looking_for_a_red_dress_similar_to_the_one/

By the way, since the Swing Seat is out, I couldn't resist trying to recreate the hammock photo from the pictures above! This took a few attempts as I had to rearrange my skirt quite a few times

I really love red and it is a colour that comes back repeatedly into Clara's wardrobe! Stay tuned for more red next week!

What do you think of this outfit?

xx

10 reasons to be thankful or 10 happy things

 1. Bird app- CBC was looking a bird app which can identify bird song and he speculated as to whether it could be tricked into recognising bird song. When he tried whistling, it said it could not identify it!  I declared that I could trick it.  CBC was very cynical and said he bet it couldn't.  I decided to do my best Nuthatch impression and to his sheer disbelief and my delight, it identified me as a Eurasian Nuthatch!  My second attempt at a Wood Pigeon was again successfully accepted as such but when I tried my third attempt at a Blackbird, it told me I was human!!!  2/3 isn't bad!!!

2.  Rescuing a Pallet from the bin!  For our treasure Island production we don't really have much scenery but as I walked past the big bin at school yesterday, I saw a large wooden pallet sticking out.  I went to get my partner in crime, J to come and inspect it and we hauled it out of the bin for a closer look.  We then tried dancing on it and then turned it on its side to try and see what else it could be used for.  We then manhandled it down the corridor, into the lift and up the stairs like the Chucklebrothers, giggling, and then covered it with blankets, took a comedy photo of ourselves standing by it to inform staff it was there and then went to get on with stuff.  It's bittersweet because my colleague is leaving and I am really going to miss him, as one of my closest friends at school, one of the most genuine and astute people, an absolutely hilarious raconteur, a wonderful person who the children adore and we only got to do 2 productions together because of Covid and having no hall.

3.  Making a lego bumblebee with a child yesterday!

4.  Picking cherries for free from nearby flats carpark.  I picked some last year when there were few left after being annoyed at them littering the pavement without being picked and this year, I saw they were in prime, I went and picked a load!

5.  Actually having my voice for choir this week.  N, one of my lovely Y6 girls told me, delightedly, "It was so nice to actually hear your voice properly this week, I missed it!" (I've been croaky for a while!) 

6. The sheer delight of the year 2's playing handbells.  They loved it! When you see children managing to organise themselves 

7. I am having to play tenor saxophone for Chicago as well as all the other winds. I am so grateful that CBC's school had a really good Tenor saxophone donated only a few weeks ago and that it was not too difficult to play despite my having not played Tenor before and having not played my own alto saxophone for about 12 years!

8.  The weather has been quite good this week. I have enjoyed wearing warmer weather clothing such as some lighter dresses and wafty tops.

9.  Thought we had run out of toothpaste and was getting very desperate having rummaged the drawers to find a new tube but then suddenly found a tube!!

10.  The first part of this is not happy. I had a bit of an accident on my bike this morning on my way to work. I accidentally drove into the fence at the station entrance and got my wheel caught in the ditch and fell of my bike quite heavily and ripped the knee of my favourite trousers (the ones I wear for all my Clara and Yaz cosplays) and scraped my knee and hurt my wrist.  I am thankful I did not hurt myself any more than that or that if I were to have a bike accident, it was something like this and not on the road.

What are you thankful for?

xx

A hole in the brickwork

 I was waiting with our last pupil from  our Treasure Island rehearsal on Tuesday night and we were standing on the slope outside the school office/main entrance. All of a sudden, I heard a clamour of tiny high-pitched tweets. I listened and tried to follow the direction of the sounds and noticed a small hole in the brickwork further up the wall. I realised that there was probably a nest there with babies being fed by a mother/father. I told the pupil what I suspected and suggested we watch the hole to see if a parent-bird came in our out. At that moment, a sparrow flew out and we looked delightedly at each other.  The babies quieted down and I told the pupil they were probably doing that to stay safe whilst the parent wasn't there  We watched and the parent returned and the noise increased again.  She stared at me with wide eyes and said, "Birds are really clever!".  It was a really special moment for both of us to see and hear the tiny family.  I told her to look out as she came in each morning and she left smiling.

A tiny moment but a precious moment when you can be tired, melancholic and a little lost.

Look for the small moments in life. The small details, the tiny joys for they are the joyous moments that make your heart glad.

x

TARDIS Tuesday- Sarah Jane Smith's Andy Pandy outfit!

Hi! 

It was lovely to have a week off from school but now back to the grind...pity the weather wasn't fantastic but we had a lovely Sunday 15km walk with friends with a great lunch so I really enjoyed the ending!

Let's get onto the main event.

Today, I am featuring another Classic Who outfit from Sarah Jane Smith and it is one, featured for the first time, last year. Last time I wore this on here was June 2023.

Images borrowed from:
https://theultimateguidetothefashionofdoctorwho.wordpress.com/2017/10/25/sarah-jane-smith-the-hand-of-fear/

https://bradleybasement.wordpress.com/sci-fi/doctor-who/doctor-who-timelines/the-doctors-timelines-index/the-fourth-doctors-timeline/the-hand-of-fear-tv/

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/461970874251169940/

https://www.ciaranbrown.com/sladen.html

I've added a few extra images that I didn't include last time.

If you were here a year ago, the wonderful Ang Almond, blog friend and genius adaptor of garments took a simple jumpsuit for me and transformed it into Sarah Jane's Dungarees!

The outfit has had one of two adaptations which I thought I'd note.

Firstly, when I was in Hexham last week, I found a more suitable top in the charity shop for £6. Last time I wore a thicker jumper and then a knitted short-sleeved jumper but the Joe Brown top I am wearing this time is much cooler and more of a match for the original. The previous two tops were not really wearable in the Summer.

I also wore my Red and white Toms espadrilles this time- they are less accurate than the Clara shoes I wore last time but I wanted something more summery.

I didn't wear a headband last time but I realised I had bought a Fairtrade one last Summer in Alnmouth that would work well for the outfit.

When Sarah leaves the Doctor at the end of the episode, she has all her belongings from the TARDIS including a cuddly owl.  Annoyingly, there used to be a similar owl in the loft at WOMOTM's house but it was chucked out before I could rescue it when he died.  Luckily, CBC was a big owl fan as a child (and still) and I just borrowed Mr Owl for these photos! He's an 80's owl rather than a 70's owl.

CBC asked me why Owl was downstairs and gave me a rather nostalgic description of how soft his fur was once upon a time. It was really endearing! He loved that Owl!

Hope all is well with you and you have been having a good week.

Did any of you watch Doctor Who, Dot and Bubble this week?

It was a very effective episode in my opinion and a rather cautionary tale about the dangers of absorbing ones self too much in Social Media as well as a horrible take on the vaccuousness and danger of a very inclusive and racist undertone that social media can have if you aren't aware of it.

Poor Ricky September- he was really nice. The only nice one in the episode.

xx