The Grand Tour Part 11 and Doll-A-Day 2023 #187: Not Elves on the Shelf

   Yesterday we talked about our visit with our friend Cheryl in Clacton-on-Sea. For some background, Cheryl started out as my penpal years ago. I went to England in 1985, and we got to meet in person.

Cheryl took this picture of me in Trafalgar Square on the day we met. I don't have access to all my pictures right now, so I can't show you any I took of Cheryl that day.

When I went back the next year, Cheryl and I actually took a trip to Amsterdam together.

Where, once again, Cheryl took this picture of me, and my pictures of her are at home.

   And in 1989, a couple of months before Ken and I got married, Cheryl came over and we took her on a different Grand Tour.

Ohio...

Niagara Falls....

Cheryl and I preparing to go under the Falls.

Ken and Cheryl at Niagara Falls.

I have a great picture of Cheryl, and me, in Toronto, but also, it's at home. Ken takes forever to compose a photograph, and Cheryl doesn't have the patience for it. So there is a wonderful picture  where I'm smiling, and Cheryl is in mid "Take the picture!" It's hilarious. Maybe I'll update this post next week...

When we went to England in 2015, Cheryl came to London for a couple of days to hang out with us.

Yes, I'm standing up straight, and she's squatting to get in the picture with me.

   This time, we went to Cheryl. On the first day we were there, Cheryl took us to Colchester to see Colchester Castle and we went to a small museum full of toys and dolls. We also had to make a shopping stop, due to our desperation to find another suitcase before we had to move on to Germany. One of our big cases had a shattered wheel. We knew we couldn't move those things without wheels. So we managed to finally find a couple of shops that had suitcases. Here you can find suitcases all year long, a million different places. In Clacton there were two places with cases at that time of year, and they had about two or three each. It was like Goldilocks looking for a chair: one was too small, one was too big, (expensive)...except none of them were just right. We settled on one that was a bit smaller than the one with the broken wheel, and more cheaply made, because at least it was pretty big, and didn't cost a million dollars. 

  While we were shopping, Cheryl developed some stomach problems. She didn't feel well, and once we got back to her house she went to bed a little early.

  The next day we went around Clacton a bit. Clacton-on-Sea  is a seaside town, as the name implies. We went down to the pier to 'see the sea'. 

But it wasn't the sort of day you'd typically do that. 

It was cold and rainy.

And VERY windy!

Yes, it was as cold as it looks. 

  I remember when I was in Clacton in 1985. Cheryl and I were looking at postcards of Clacton, all sunny beaches and happy bathers, and Cheryl laughing and saying, "Clacton never looks like that!" It certainly didn't this day.

  Ken tried to get another almost-Mr. Whippy ice cream, once again, without success.

We walked around town a bit. Cheryl was still not feeling well. She was supposed to take a group for a run, but everybody bowed out due to the rain. On the way back to Cheryl's I couldn't believe my eyes. We passed this:

It's a Masonic temple, but the thing is, it has my name on it! 

You never see that name on anything, including people, so I was flabbergasted to find it in Clacton. Cheryl circled back around so I could take a picture.

  Cheryl had planned a trip to a dollhouse/miniatures shop for me, but it was closed!

  So we relaxed at Cheryl's while I fought a bit more with the luggage. I was getting worried we were not going to be able to get everything home. I had had Cheryl buy me some English magazines I wanted, because they were much cheaper there than buying them at home. I also had her buy some of my favourite deodorant for me to take home. Okay. I know. Deodorant, what?! But I am really picky about smells, (and, if you believe my family and friends, about everything else too.), and I really love the blue Mum deodorant. It used to be called Cool Blue, and now it's something else, but it smells the same. I had her buy me loads, like, a whole box full. So I was worrying about the weight. I was heartened by the thought that we still had two more lots of gifts to drop off, one in Germany, and one in Belgium. And they were both heavy. That should free up plenty of weight, right? 

  While we were out shopping for cases the night before, I had bought a second Christmas elf. Wait. A second one? Yes. I bought one in Hull too. I actually saw one later I liked, but didn't buy for financial and weight reasons. But at this point, I was being optimistic. I still thought I could make it work somehow. And at that point, I might have been able to.

  So here are my two little guys. They are today's dolls.

They aren't really that little. They're about a foot tall.

 Anyway, I mentioned before that I saw a million different rip offs of The Elf on the Shelf in all the places we went. I bought the rather nice elf in Hull at the 1 pound shop. And he was, only a pound. (A little over a dollar.) He's the guy on the left. 

He has a sweet face and he was 'made by elves' and 'North Pole approved'.

His name is Ernie. Oh. Look what else his tag says: "Keep away from fire." Were they psychic or what?

  His suit has painted on buttons and a glued on collar and belt.

But at least he has 'real' hands that are stuffed and sewn on.

The one I bought in Clacton made less pretense about him being a 'bad' elf.  

In fact, he seems downright proud of it.

The Elf on the Shelf seems to have gone from an elf who watches  to make sure the children aren't bad, to a little wretch who gets up to all sorts in the middle of the night. His tag even says, "Watch out! Elf is about!" Next they'll be selling us elves to watch our elves. But I digress.

  He has some stitched detail on the front of his coat, and a sewn on belt, but glued on dots for buttons.

And his hands are just flat pieces of felt, glued to his wrists.

   They both have pointy toed elf feet, but flat hand guy also has flat feet. I guess he couldn't get into the army. But at least their feet are stitched on, and not glued.

In Hull I also found this backpack. It's a Christmas ornament, made of felt, and the perfect size for a camping elf...

It even has a rolled up sleeping bag, that you know I took out to see if it could be done. The sleeping bag is pretty small though.

It fits Hull elf Ernie pretty well.

  Clacton elf was a bit more than Hull elf, but not by much. Ken couldn't believe I wanted to buy something else, considering. I got the usual, "Tam!' But what harm could one more little felt elf, who weighed practically nothing and could be shoved in a pocket if I really had to, be?

  So I now had two elves, which is nice, because I love elves, and Christmas, and bringing home Christmas ornaments and things from vacations. Unfortunately these two were still hanging on my bedposts when the fire happened. In a future post we'll see what they looked like after the fire, and what they look like now.

  We left VERY early the next morning, and poor Cheryl even drove us to the station.

Still squatting to get in the photo with me.

  And what of our curse? Let's get serious here for a change. Of all the people who fell upon bad luck during our trip, Cheryl fared the worst. Let's be clear, she's doing pretty well right now, and will be fine. But after we left, Cheryl made a doctor's appointment and had some tests done. Her stomach issues were signs of a serious problem. Cheryl has leukemia. She was lucky it was discovered early and can be controlled by medication. But she has been very tired and Cheryl is used to being very active. So, you know those 'prayers and good thoughts' people are always asking for? Well, whatever you believe works, it would be nice to send some of that Cheryl's way. Ted needs her.

Even if he pretends not to.

    That's today's doll(s). See you tomorrow.