Saturday 15 September 2018

When trains had travel posters


It's that time of year again, when people dress up as Jane Austen and parade around the streets. The men affect a certain swaggering, self-conscious walk which enhances their twattish personas. This year we have an English military marching band with bright red uniforms and fixed bayonets. They are all about 30 years too old to serve in any army except Dad's.

I think that next year I will not wash for 6 months, then dress up as a genuinely stinking old tramp from the era and mingle with my fellow time-travellers. Not everyone was middle class in 1820, though nobody else is represented. Bring your Eau de Cologne.

Those women are walking beneath a banner for the Clifford and Rosemary Ellis exhibition at the gallery. C & R Ellis had a lot to do with Bath - or at least Corsham when the Art School was there. You will recognise their art - they were prolific illustrators.

There is something really charming about their illustrations - I suppose they remind me of my childhood with old books and travel posters on trains.
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15 comments:

  1. Yael15 September 2018 at 07:26

    What a wonderful window you have there.

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  2. Rachel Phillips15 September 2018 at 08:19

    I prefer a bit of rough.

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  3. The Weaver of Grass15 September 2018 at 08:30

    I am nothing if not nostalgic. I love those old travel posters - quite valuable now I believe.
    As to your Jane Austen weekend - rather like our 1940's week end - plenty of officers in all the services, never a private soldier to be seen.

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    Replies
    1. Tom Stephenson15 September 2018 at 11:24

      It now goes on all week Weave. Oh well, if they're having fun, why not?

      Delete
  4. Bea15 September 2018 at 10:11

    If you were to speak with them would they be in character?

    It be funny if you were to tramp it up for next year's festivities.

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    Replies
    1. Tom Stephenson15 September 2018 at 11:26

      I wouldn't dream of speaking to them, but most are on smartphones. I wonder if they are in character for that.

      If I were to tramp it up for next year, I would have to get myself locked up in debtor's prison for a week and I wouldn't be noticed, let alone missed.

      Delete
  5. John Going Gently15 September 2018 at 13:27

    I'd come to bath fir this , I love a pair of breeches

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  6. Joanne Noragon15 September 2018 at 14:17

    And I still ignore people en masse pretending to be what they are not. Which can turn one to a bit of a loner.

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  7. Cro Magnon15 September 2018 at 20:52

    In Brighton the men dress like those women most of the time.

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