August 27, 2013

Beautiful Art Deco Bingo Halls That Time Forgot

August 27, 2013/ Claire Spence

Britain's Bingo Heritage is as every bit quaint as donkeys on Blackpool Beach and fish & chips wrapped in newspaper. Art Deco styled Bingo Halls are dotted all over the country, plush-carpeted meeting places of the OAP getting out for the day.

The game has had a new revival in recent years, thanks to online Bingo via sites such as Butler's Bingo. The sites have all the games and buzz of a morning at the Bingo Hall, but advantages include special offers, 24 hour game play when YOU want to take part and the opportunity to socialise with bingo lovers all over the world.

My interest in bingo lies in my appreciation of the Art Deco Bingo Halls which still stand in cities and town throughout the UK. Photographer Michael Hess's project to capture the heart of these bustling centres sees a collection of photographs of the inside and outside of the impressive, retro buildings. Fascinating pictorial investigation.

I've put together my own selection of Art Deco halls, some worse for wear, but all of them beautiful in their own way.

August 27, 2013

My Heatons' Department Store Picks for September 2013

August 27, 2013/ Claire Spence

Heatons is an Irish department store, and their products are also available to everyone else via Heatons.ie

I picked out some homeware items that I haven't seen elsewhere, and bought myself this black shift dress with leather-look collar for €20.

Hello Kitty ceramic plate. It's huge. You could use them as part of a full-size dinner service, if you were as weird as me.

Delicate, Cath Kidston style tea set. Owl door stop. Satin cushion. Selection of reasonably priced glass storage jars.

August 27, 2013

You CAN Make Coffee Shop Quality Hot Drinks at Home. I Adore My Dolce Gusto.

August 27, 2013/ Claire Spence

When I was little, I wanted a Snowman Slushie Maker. When I was a teenager, I genuinely thought Teasmaids were cool (they kind of are). As an adult, the drinks making gadget I lusted after was the pod coffee maker, and thanks to Argos, I now have my own, brand new, bright red, shiny Krups, Dolce Gusto machine.

The pillar box red, kitchen residing beauty usually is priced at £129.99, but Argos has some impressive discounts on many of their coffee makers right now. This model is only £79.99 and you can reserve online and pick up at your nearest store the very same day. It also comes with two boxes of pods, so you can get started right away.

I've owned a coffee making machine before, but the hassle of cleaning it meant after the initial novelty wore off, I was back to kettle made coffee for speed in the mornings. The Dolce Gusto system is the answer for lazy lumps like me. You simply fill the tank at the back with water, put a pod in the front of the machine, turn a switch, and that's it. The only bit you need to clean is the removable pod holder, which can be rinsed in seconds. Reading the reviews on the Argos site, where it has a five star rating, it seems I'm not alone in the relief that you can have proper coffee without the proper hassle of soil-like beans all over the worktop afterward.

The pods can be bought online, or from your local supermarket. You can make teas, hot chocolates, any coffee you can dream of, and cold drinks. I feel like a kid at Christmas with my new, cherry red, best kitchen friend.

If a pod system isn't for you, there are also dozens of other discounted hot drinks makers on the Argos website, in every colour of the rainbow.

August 26, 2013

Have a Look at Some Enchanting & Inviting Stepping Stone Paths from All Over the World

August 26, 2013/ Claire Spence

We went to Tollymore Forest Park today. Situated close to the town of Newcastle in Northern Ireland, the park covers a section of the mountains of Mourne, an area of outstanding beauty.

As a child we stayed caravaned here many a summer, and I found my mind map of the section of forest quite useful. We visited the two sets of stepping stones that cross the river, a favourite place of children along the deep, wooded walk.

The first photo is mine, from today, and the others are some interesting or pretty stepping stones from all over the world.

August 24, 2013

Heroes in a Half Shell They're Back!

August 24, 2013/ Claire Spence

Turtles are back. As a person born in 1980, I grew shouting, "Cowabunga, dudes!" in the playground. Santa brought me the figure of Michael-Angelo, he was my favourite because he was funny. It's a little weird to think that in 1987 or so the supermarkets didn't even stock pizza in Northern Ireland, now in 2013 you can eat like a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle.

And in 2013 a new generation of boys & girls are getting to know the pretentiously named, reptilian foursome through a swanky CGI series broadcast on Nickelodeon. This also mean shelves of TMNT figures appearing, and if you have a husband like mine, it means some very excited Dads in the toy aisle reliving their youth.

Flair sent us a Pizza Flining Mikey and Mutagen Ooze Ralph to play with. Guess who was the most excited by the post that day.

The Flinger range, You load Michael-Angelo with pizzas in a post box in his backpack, and when you roll him across the floor they shoot out. Easy to load for a five year old by themselves, not fiddly like Pez or anything. Son thought it was very cool.

Daddy was allowed to play with the slightly smaller Mutagion Ooze Turtle. This one has a back pack that loads with ooze goo that comes with the figure. You can also buy tubes of replacement ooze in toy shops. My initial reaction was, oh dear, I'm going to have give the review a negative point on this, no parent wants to bring gooey mess into the house. Even when my husband was loading it into the back of the Turle my mind was already half way to the kitchen for a cloth to clean up the inevitable mess.

Weirdly however, whatever its made of, doesn't leave residue or mess. I'm saying that after cleaning it off wooden floor, carpet rug and out of a bad (or a good) shot that landed in my son's head. It kind of bond to itself and picks up like a solid. So I'm giving the ooze a thumbs up.

Father and son have played with the Turtles all day, apart from the two hours he was at his friend's birthday party, from which he returned with his face painted as a Turtle. I think they have snared another life long fan.

Toys available from Smyths, Tesco, Toys R Us and all other good stockists.

August 23, 2013

Far Out Retro Bingo Board Games

August 23, 2013/ Claire Spence

There are some games that are destined to never go out of fashion, and bingo is one of them. Bingo had its first heyday back in the early 1930s when it was used as a church fundraiser in the States, and at the end of that decade more than 10,000 games of bingo a week were being played.

When the game travelled over the Atlantic with American soldiers during World War 2 it quickly became popular in the UK and other European countries. In the UK, after the Gambling Act of 1968, bingo halls were set up all over the country and playing bingo became a ritual for many thousands of people, especially older ladies.

Many of the bingo halls themselves were former cinemas that were turned over to a new use, and many of the bingo hall buildings are amazing art deco monuments. Today however, bingo halls are becoming a thing of the past as more and more people play online at sites like ChitChat Bingo . The fact that you can play bingo on the internet has opened the game up to many more millions of people, many of whom might never have set foot in a land-based bingo hall. Going online has also shaken up the image of bingo, which had been viewed as a game for older people and seen as a bit staid by the younger generations.

Now, though, it seems it’s cool to play bingo whatever age you are; and certainly there wouldn’t be many people who would turn up their nose at the amazing cash prizes you can win through a simple game of chance, especially when the games are so cheap to play.

Due to the take-off of online bingo, many bingo halls have now closed down and the buildings are being used in different ways again. Some have been reinstated as cinemas, but many of these large and architecturally impressive buildings are now being developed into residential flats and shops.

Wherever and however it is played, it would seem that bingo is a game that will continue to entertain future generations for many years to come.

August 20, 2013

Colourful, Kitsch, Retro Carvan Interiors to Inspire Your Own Small Space Furnishing

August 20, 2013/ Claire Spence

August 19, 2013

Three Trolly-Dashing, Retro Game Shows of Yesteryear, Plus Lidl Voucher Winner Announced.

August 19, 2013/ Claire Spence

Last week I blogged about some of the unusual groceries you can get in store in Lidl. I ran a Twitter competition to win £20 of vouchers, which was picked at random and the winner is Erica Harmar.

While I'm talking supermarkets, which of these retro game shows do you remember being on the box?