Our recent Steampunk event at Blist’s Hill was a lovely, if rather warm day out. It is of course very sensible when the UK is having a heatwave of 28 degrees, which is far too warm for the likes of us pale people more used to downpours, to dress in many layers, and a top hat.

It was a beautiful venue, one I definitely need to return to as there are many more museums there to visit. I loved the little shops, particularly the chemist and haberdashers and the sheer scale of some of the artefacts of engineering such as the replica of the first steam locomotive and the brick kilns and the winding wheels. It just makes you wonder at the changes that era experienced and the reactions of people to those changes.

There were some splendid costumes as well, though many people were very sensibly in hot weather costume so not as many amazing creations as usual. I loved the three people who came as Alice, the Mad Hatter and the caterpillar, the latter costume was so wonderfully constructed.

This peacock hat was very splendid indeed, putting my few feathers to shame and there were some very lovely top hats like this purple one, again a Mad Hatter theme.

We saw this beautiful costume at the end of the day, the woman who created it looked stunning but it must have been so hot to wear.

James looked amazingly cool all day despite wearing a coat and hat, whereas Kerry and I were mainly modelling very pink faces but it did give us the excuse to stop in all the nice cafes for drinks and ice cream.

There were other newer wonders as well, I had never seen this marvellous airship/boat before. The ingenuity and creativity of the Steampunk community is fantastic, a true testament to the creativity of all those who made the Industrial Age happen.

Following on from Blist’s Hill was the wonderful Whitby, we had a fantastic time and will post again soon with all the lovely things we saw there. In between was another week of getting rid of possessions and booking future adventures which I hope I will be able to share with you soon.

Tomorrow marks my official last day at work…ever. I retired on the 25th June and have been on leave since then but have still been going in some days to tie up loose ends and do some late marking, but as of 5pm tomorrow it will all be over. I hand my laptop back, finish clearing my office and loose all access to e-mails 🙂 I think that will be the best bit actually knowing I can relax and not have to worry about students any more. It has been a tough year for us all and I am very glad that for me it is over. I wish all my students and colleagues the very best of luck for the coming academic year.

It has been raining here all day and the sun has just come out so I am looking at the beautiful moors, I am so lucky to have spent time here and am looking forward to more of the UK’s lovely countryside in the coming months.

I hope that your weekend ahead is good, have fun, take care, stay safe and thanks for visiting.