Standawhile
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standawhile.bsky.social
Standawhile
@standawhile.bsky.social
Retired stationery seller, graphic designer. Loves art, books, renaissance and baroque music, typography, theatre, nature, food and drink. Life’s absurdities. Amuse me.
Anyone else notice the fabulous foyer of Soho Theatre Walthamstow, site of a recent @frankmatchamsoc.bsky.social guided tour, featured on the first episode of this year's Strictly Come Dancing where contestants met their professional dancing partners and sashayed down those glamorous stairs?
September 23, 2025 at 3:27 PM
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Thanks to @musichallsociety.bsky.social for a fab morning yesterday @lambetharchives.bsky.social. We saw wonderful items from the music hall archive. Thanks so much. #MusicHall
August 8, 2025 at 2:38 PM
I spent a decorous, though fascinating, couple of hours looking at items from the #BritishMusicHallSociety open day @lambetharchives.bsky.social on Brixton Hill. The sheet music is sooo fragile and requires careful handling. Thanks to #BMHS for sharing with us.
August 8, 2025 at 9:31 AM
Mosaic greeting in the foyer of the #LondonColiseum designed by #FrankMatcham on a Roman theme, opened in 1904 as an upmarket Theatre of Varieties. #MosaicMonday
August 4, 2025 at 4:44 PM
Weird questionnaire from my local health authority. I didn’t open it for ages, reluctant to answer questions about my weight or my level of exercise. There was just one question- did I smoke? No, I don’t, and that was the end of the questionnaire.
June 4, 2025 at 1:52 PM
This is the year I finally remembered to put a support around my peony bush before it grew too big and the blooms flopped over face down into the mud. #peony #gardens #flowers
June 4, 2025 at 1:46 PM
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Good morning. We are open. 📖☕️
June 4, 2025 at 7:34 AM
Enjoyed visiting the London Coliseum with @frankmatchamsoc.bsky.social. yesterday. It has a Roman theme from ‘Hail’ in the foyer, lavish use of gold & marble, a fabulous winged beast newel post (with Edwardian moustache) through to a victory figure and leaping lions in the auditorium. #Matcham #ENO
May 31, 2025 at 11:57 AM
Sourcing plants for my garden, I look for thrift - the interweb offers me charity shops. I try my local garden centre and search for sea pink - they offer me sea salt scented candles, pink flamingo dog toys, and nibbly cat treats. I'll have to go full Armeria maritima, won't I?
May 27, 2025 at 3:01 PM
"More tea, vicar?" Vesta Tilley is dressed as a curate, offering tea on a tray following the theme of food and drink for #MusicHallVarietyDay #MHVD2025
May 16, 2025 at 4:40 PM
"The lips of time leech to the fountain head" on International Dylan Thomas Day. His poetry has been with me all my long life. #InternationalDylanThomasDay
May 14, 2025 at 8:49 AM
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Just one week to go until #MusicHallVarietyDay #MHVD2025 (NOTE - there is no 'AND' or '&' in the hashtag)...theme #FoodandDrink. You can find us this year on BlueSky, Instagram, Facebook and Friends of the British Music Hall Society Facebook Group. Join in!
May 9, 2025 at 8:43 AM
I saw the chiropractor today for ongoing treatment. She noticed a small bruise on my back. “I think that is one of mine” she said and I swear there was a note of satisfaction in her voice.
April 15, 2025 at 10:24 AM
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Fab 3 days with @frankmatchamsoc.bsky.social visiting theatres - Royal Hall Harrogate, Leeds Playhouse, Leeds Grand Theatre & Opera House. Finale was old time music hall Leeds City Varieties with @realbasilbrush.bsky.social. Boom boom. Thanks for great theatre tours. @musichallsoc.bsky.social
March 30, 2025 at 7:02 PM
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James Boswell ( 1906–1971 ) 'Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex' ❤️ #Britishart #artofthesay #Sussex
February 3, 2025 at 2:40 PM
I'm trying out a new Roasted Onion Dip recipe from the internet. I like to read the comments underneath. Most people who've tried it think it's great. But there's one dissenting voice: "Not a huge hit... had a strong onion flavour".
January 30, 2025 at 4:32 PM
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Fun fact: if you're buying from a creator on etsy, you can reduce their etsy selling fees from 6.5% to 2.5% by ordering via 'shopname.etsy.com' instead of 'etsy.com/shopname' or searching from the main site. It costs you the same but the creator makes more
January 22, 2025 at 8:39 PM
For the third time this month I’ve heard someone haggling over the price in a charity shop. Don’t bother “cost-of-living” me. The item in question was a glass model of a polar bear. Disgusting behaviour.
January 18, 2025 at 4:41 PM
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'Gallery of the Old Bedford' (c.1895) by Walter Sickert

(Walker Art Gallery)
January 15, 2025 at 5:02 PM
Misty, magical, frosty day at #BletchleyPark.
January 11, 2025 at 6:00 PM
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We made a few wee collages like this for a review of 2024. They're on Insta if you're interested.
The year we made our Off Broadway debut, had a successful EdFringe run, sold out some lovely regional venues and started work on a new piece, made possible by the people in this pic.
#HappyNewYear!
December 31, 2024 at 6:49 PM
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Another day, another pantomime performer. This time, Daisy Dormer as Maid Marion in Babes in the Wood. @youngalison.bsky.social #pantomime #panto #theatre
December 12, 2024 at 4:56 PM
Is Partytown Brighton rethinking its image?
December 10, 2024 at 10:35 AM
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At the American Shakespeare Center’s Blackfriars Conference, if you run over your time, you are literally forced to exit, pursued by a bear.

The bear can and will take your paper from you to shut you up.
I could not tell you how often I have done readings with male writers who go way over the allotted time limit, biting into other people's reading time or making the event last way longer than it was supposed to.

But the worst ones are the ones who go: "I'll just read until someone stops me."
Ending on time is a feminist act.
December 9, 2024 at 5:15 PM
I’m in a coffee shop that asks for your name so you can collect your drink at the end of the counter. I give a shortened version of my name for convenience. “Oh that is so, so beautiful!” gushes the barista and I don’t have the heart to say it’s a name I never use.
December 9, 2024 at 12:10 PM