Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Armitage Place - holla for period dramas!

It's no secret that I LOVE Period Dramas. I LOVE LOVE LOVE period dramas. One of my TV goals is to watch all the British period dramas of the last 15 years. In fact, I love period dramas so much that my husband and I have Period Drama Wednesdays: every second Wednesday, we spend our evening watching a period drama. It's my favourite day of the week. In fact, I think my husband is unconsciously absorbing period drama manners because he has, on more than one occasion, referred to me as "The Mistress of the House." It makes me GIDDY. However, he's mistaken if he thinks he's the Master of the House; he's the butler at best.

Of the many things to love about period dramas (The dancing! The manners! The manners while dancing! The quick wit and hilarious misunderstandings!), one of my favourite things is the depiction of how mail is delivered. Who doesn't want mail delivered on a silver platter?! I WANT MAIL DELIVERED ON A SILVER PLATTER. How can I make that happen? What if I put an ad for "silver platter mail deliverer" on something like kijiji? That's a completely rational thing to do, right? Only people completely dedicated to the art of delivering mail on silver platters would apply, right?

I also love how houses were known by estate names. I wish houses were still referred to this way. Pride and Prejudice would probably have been less charming if Mr. Bennet's response to Mrs. Bennet's "have you heard that Netherfield Park is let at last?" was something like, "Netherfield Park, is that the house between 67th street and 34th ave? Is that before the McDonalds or after?"



I often think about the estate name I would use to call my house. I've come up with Armitage Place, which is in honour of my favourite period drama leading man. "Did you hear? Armitage Place is hosting a ball!" Doesn't that just sound lovely?! Of course, I can't dance, but we'll just gloss over that for now... what about my other period drama lovers? What period-drama estate name would you call your house? Why did you choose that name? Let me know! To sweeten the pot, I'll send my favourite estate names some silver platter-worthy mail from Armitage Place, c/o the name of your estate house. Oooohh! Well, that makes ME excited.

Here's a little fact for you: I intended to call this blog "Armitage Place" before deciding on its current name. It's such a weird thing to be starting up a blog in 2012. I imagine it's similar to a person switching from a corded phone to a cellphone years after everyone else has switched... you feel behind the times. I had the hardest time trying to find a blog address that was still available. All that was seemingly left were bizarre and random addresses like:

thevelociraptorstalksthegrocerystore.blogspot.com
or
theturtleandcatstartedaphonecompany.blogspot.com
or
chewiechimpanzeesnailymail.blogspot.com
or better yet
ibelievewoolymammothsarealiveinaustralia.blogspot.com

On a serious note, if anyone actually takes any of the above blog addresses, please let me know. I think that's worthy of a link!

Where was I? Oh yes, Armitage Place. That's it, I'm single-handedly bringing back the concept of estate house names!

For those of you who haven't had the pleasure of watching North and South and aren't familiar with Richard Armitage, I leave you with this:



However, I absolve myself of any guilt or responsibility if you fall into a time suck in which you watch that clip over and over again....

15 comments:

  1. I want to name my new house something elegant and refined and very much Victorian era England. I was thinking "Hillchester House" :P

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    1. Hillchester House is a great name! It sounds very elegant and majestic! Also, it has the H alliteration going for it, which is an awesome bonus! :)

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  2. OMG. The proposal scene from 'North & South' gets me giddy with the romance of it, but at the same time makes my stomach churn because I just *know* she's going to reject him. It's like 'Pride & Prejudice' all over again, when Mr Darcy declares his intentions to Elizabeth ("In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you." **swoon**), and Elizabeth throws it back in face by basically calling him an egotistical bastard. Gosh, I love it!

    I now have urges to go home and watch 'North & South' and 'P&P'. Again. I'd watch your clip, but I've no sound at work. Although, you don't really need sound to oggle at Mr Armitage, do you?

    As for house names, it's quite a common thing in Australia, particularly with older or heritage homes. We're currently researching our house (Victorian stone cottage) and will decide upon a name based on its history, then we'll have a terribly sweet sign made up and stuck at the front.

    ~S.

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    1. On twitter a few weeks ago, someone organized a world-wide viewing of North & South! People were encouraged to watch an episode a night at a specific time and tweet together as they watched it. I kind of wished I had learned about it earlier to participate, but then again, I like to watch my Armitage all uninterrupted.

      Your comment made me SO excited! Especially since you wrote out part of the P&P proposal!!! Swoon indeed. After the rejected N&S proposal and he goes home to his mother and utters "Miss Hale will not have me," followed by, "No one loves me," I can't decide if I'm more: a) perplexed (What do you mean she won't have you?! IS SHE CRAZY?!!) b) heart-broken (oh, a sad Thornton/Armitage makes ME sad!) or c) 100% swoony (this one requires no further elaboration).

      That is so exciting to know that house names are common in Australia. I can't wait to read about the name you pick and see a picture of your awesome sign!

      And oh, you don't need sound to oggle at Mr. Armitage. But it certainly helps being able to hear his oh so delicious accent.

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  3. I'm ashamed to admit that I've never watched period dramas... At least I don't think I have! Maybe when I was really young and I don't remember?

    I love your blog names. How about these ones?

    donteatyellowsnow.blogspot.com
    thecheesestandsalone.blogspot.com
    pleasewritemelongletterslikelauradoes.blogspot.com

    Can you tell it's almost time to go to bed? I used to turn the lights off around midnight, but this month I've been going to sleep between 10pm and 10:30pm and suddenly I feel like there are 36 hours in a day!

    OK good night! xox

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    1. Ha! The first 2 blog names I listed are actually already taken! Unbelievable... At least the last one isn't... Phew!

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    2. Julie, what kind of blogs are you trying to drive me to visit?!! Don't Eat Yellow Snow...! I see right through your nefarious ploy. :)

      Phew indeed because I quite like pleasewritemelongletterslikelauradoes.blogspot.com!! Let's do this!

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    3. I'm glad that you like my last suggestion...

      Oh and by the way, I started writing you a letter today! Hopefully it won't take me a month to finish it this time... ;)

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    4. YAY!! But you take your time. You can't rush genius! :)

      I'm also glad to see that you have more free time for Penpal of the Week! I'm pretty sure I speak for lots of people when I say that we've missed you!

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  4. You know you (when I write "you" here I mean me) are too far into it when you read the Netherfield quote and then are like, "Waiiiiiit a minute! That's a picture of Pemberley!

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    1. Anna, you get the top medal of this blogpost for knowing that the image was Pemberley! Or being the first person to point it out at least! :) Great job! It never occurred to me that putting the photo below the Netherfield quote would be misleading! Silly me. ;) But luckily, I have your eagle eyes to clear up any confusion! :)

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  5. thevelociraptorstalksthegrocerystore.blogspot.com and ibelievewoolymammothsarealiveinaustralia.blogspot.com should both be used as research/evidence blogs to prove their username's statements. XD I always wonder what the postman must think of the letters he delivers, if he bothers to pay any attention to them at all. How do you suppose he'd react if you received a letter with a note to him on the envelope, with specific instructions of delivering it to you personally and addressing you as Lady Laura when doing so?
    Of course, silver platters aren't standard postal service issue these days, so I might have to send one along with my letter...hmm...
    On a side note, ^___^ Wonder Woman postcards = pure awesomeness.

    Sadly, however, I have no creativity when it comes to an estate name for my house. I would probably refer to it as the Tragic Gnome, in honor of said nameless lawn companion who tragically met his end during the mowing incident of 2012.

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    1. When I wrote the velociraptor one, I considered putting in brackets: Kay, don't click here. It's not a real link. Because I'm always looking out for your best interests! Hee!

      We need to submit a research proposal titled "Looking into the possibility that wooly mammoths are alive in Australia: a comprehensive search," and find a funding agency to give us grant money. Do you want to duke it out to figure out who gets to be principal investigator?

      LADY LAURA... oh my. I think I just swooned. I'd probably come home to an irate postman every day. He'd declare, "I don't get paid just to sit here and wait for you every day. I do have other mail to deliver, Lady Laura!!!" But it would be well worth it to hear him say it. Would you like to join me for tea, Lady Kay?

      Tragic gnome?! Mowing incident of 2012?! OH NO!! WILL NO ONE THINK OF THE GNOME CHILDREN?!!

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  6. Oh is that the chatsworth house? I love it! I've had pride and prejudice's DVD and novel and have read and seen it for umpteen times! I have read the children version one when I was younger and I've gotten the adult version 2-3 years ago. How I wish people still talk with grace and do the bows and use all the beautiful china for meals. *sigh*

    Regards,
    Gladys.

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    1. I think this version of Pemberley is Lyme Park, but it's still gorgeous! I too wish that we could go back to the manners of the old days. I could do with a good walk as part of courting rituals, couldn't you? :)

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