A... Meetup?

 “Meetup” is too big a word, this was more of a hangout with friends. But after months of only wearing lolita for myself and not seeing any of my friends, hanging out with others wearing lolita was a momentous event. So that deserves its own post, just like in the “good ol’ times”!

| Metamorphose Sailor Tiered skirt | Ank Rouge cutsew | Dancing Days cardigan | Angelic Pretty Candy Fun Fair OTKs | Primark shoes | Angelic Pretty Twinkle Sky headbow | offbrand hair clips | handmade choker and bracelets | After Midnight necklace | Twinkle Kitty Boutique rings | Angelic Pretty British Ribbon ring | offbrand ring | Dear Celine badge | Tea Party Club’s Dream Masquerade Carnival pin |

Since I wore a mask all day, makeup was basically just these magnetic lashes and lip tint that doesn't wear off easily.

Finally a reason to wear ALL the jewellery!

You’ve already seen a flatlay version of this coordinate, last month when I put some for accessories I haven’t used. The only difference, other than now being 3D, is that I swapped the beret for a pair of blue clips which I found recently that are the exact shade of royal blue I needed. The day required that I stay comfortable, as well as I was low on energy, so going with something I had already planned saved me a bit of time. It all worked just as well as I was hoping it would, though after so many months at home my feet aren’t used to walking this much because these shoes gave me blisters. Still, absolutely 100% worth it for the day that I had!

So let’s backtrack a little: how did this come to be? Short answer is: pretty spontaneously. There is a Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester, which I kept meaning to visit and never did. After mentioning this to a friend in our group chat, they were very much like LET’S GO and with everything happening, we settled on last Saturday. In between our combined moods were low, which we were sharing on our wider social media and along the way we collected another local friend to join us. As I said, three people isn’t quite a meetup, especially since to me a meetup means that something is opened up to everyone, which this couldn’t be for obvious safety reasons. But three is enough for a hangout, which this definitely was.

And it was a much needed one for all three of us! We were all cooped up in our homes, some alone, some with families starting to annoy them, none of us have seen a soul beyond one or two select folks since March… This was exactly the remedy for our aching hearts. Even though it was awkward to not be able to hug, like we’d normally do, and I personally felt I had to raise my voice to comfortably talk in public spaces with a mask on, it was still worth everything. The limitations were acceptable given the reward of being able to hang out with good people.

We started off with a quick lunch, before making our way to the museum (briefly distracted by a charity shop along the way). The museum was definitely a good one to visit, though the one-way system got a little confusing at times, especially in areas that were busier. The bottom floor, all about Manchester’s industrial history and mills, was both more spacious and simply emptier, with plenty of nice tidbits of local history. There was even a gigantic Victorian weaving machine taking up the entirety of the middle space, which apparently is sometimes switched on, but not this time.

I love this mural, it's such a mood!

Korean BBQ beef, very nice, particularly given that it was cheap.

Fabric sample books like this are super cool.

I forgot to note down what was this a scale model of. Probably a mill though.

Kitchenware aesthetic goals.

It'd be cool to see this turned on, but I imagine it'd be noisy as hell.

The second floor was where all the gamified science was (think small experiments and cool tricks, mostly aimed at kids, but fun for everyone) and the special exhibition about the Sun. Not going to lie, all that space filled with kids and parents, not big enough for social distancing, but also kids don’t social distance, especially when they’re desperate to play a game, made me nervous and overwhelmed. In the end it wasn’t so bad, the museum definitely made it easier by keeping sanitising gel and wipes to clean the equipment at hand, but it still got a bit too much for me too quickly.

The Sun exhibition, on the other hand, was really fun! It was a lot more in depth and diverse than I had anticipated, touching on both physical/hard science and social science like cultural and religious significance of the Sun for people throughout times and across the globe. Whilst the spaces were mostly corridor-like, it wasn’t always easy to keep distance without inadvertently starting a queue, though as this was mostly visited by adults with far fewer children (and older children), it was better. I particularly enjoyed the video showing the Sun at various UV exposures, which you can totally see I was entranced by. It’s one of those things one could watch for hours as it’s just soothing and satisfying.

 

Couldn't miss the special exhibition, not even if you tried.

This allowed you to observe sunrise and sunset from various locations across the world and in different seasons. The only bit of travelling I'll be doing for a while is observing sunrise and sunset in Hong Kong and Rio.

Definitely my favourite part of the exhibition.

Entranced.  Photo by Steph.

If your ring glows in UV light, you take photo of the glowing ring, that's he rules.

Afterwards we wanted to carry on hanging out, which meant finding someplace for tea and dessert. This proved trickier than expected because we had no reservations anywhere and everywhere was full/required queuing. Fortunately we were lucky to finally get into a milkshake place called Black Milk - we first opted to sit outside, since it wasn’t too cold (just wet, but hey, that’s Manchester), but then a tiny table inside freed up. I was in full treat yourself mode and went with a pancake, which was delicious, but (predictably) too much and too sweet to actually finish. Still, my regret count remains at a firm zero, so it’s ok. 

The whole thing was delicious, but the chunks of brownie in particular were divine!

Our last stop was Arndale shopping centre because that’s what people do in Manchester. Again, I was nervous about how this would go, but once we got in it actually wasn’t so bad. I have certainly seen it busier and worse, especially on Saturdays. Kenji, a shop with Japanese bits and bobs, was a bit cramped because it is a tiny store, but Disney Store was much better due to more space. What we didn’t account for was that with everything happening shops in centres like Arndale close earlier to allow for thorough cleaning. Half the shops were shutting at 5pm, so Disney kicked us out (probably with benefits to our wallets), we stopped at Topshop for a bit because that was open until 6pm, but once we were done there, pretty much everything was shutting. So we parted ways (again, with lots of love that we could only express through words rather than hugs) and headed home. On my own way back I was blessed by seeing a tiny doggo on the tram (whose owner even took a half-empty bottle of wine out of his backpack so that doggo could sit on or in it, bless), before I finally made it home and could change into comfy socks.

 

Squad <3

Tiny doggo on the tram.

Words really cannot express how much better I felt after that day. Yes, I was physically knackered, but emotionally I felt like life was good again and I could be myself. Phrases like “back to normal” get thrown around too much and too freely, things like masks, social distancing etc. definitely prevented this hangout from feeling like we were truly back to normal. However, this venture calmed my anxiety a little bit, allowed to see that it is possible to navigate these new circumstances in a way that has space for both fun and keeping to safety regulations. I cannot control other people’s behaviours and actions, so I focused on controlling my own, and being with friends who did the same reminded me to stay on top of it instead of flying off too far on a high of socialising again. With our local situation being what it is I still hesitate to organise a proper meetup, but now that I know that I can spend 8 or so hours in a facemask in public with a small group of people encouraged me to maybe do a little bit more of the things I used to. It feels like a big step forward and a big weight lifted off me, so I will definitely be exploring what else I can responsibly do while we wait for long-term solutions such as effective vaccines to kick in.

I will leave you with a random bit that is more for my own memory and gratification than anything else. During one of the many random conversations we have decided that our fictitious band would be called Footpath to Deansgate and our first album (available on iTunes :P) will be called “You Wouldn’t Download the Sun”. That’s all. I hope that you are also finding ways to navigate the current situation in your own cities/countries that allow you to do things that are more enjoyable and more social whilst staying comfortable and within the safety precautions.