Today is going to be the best day ever. I
have absolutely no clue where I'm going
I'm spending the day with my dear friend
Cathy Hay--only exactly what it is that
we're doing remains a complete mystery
to me. My day begins with the most
elaborate voice message from the lady
herself, instructing me in gruesome
detail firstly how to find a train.
I wish I could tell you that there was a steam locomotive waiting at Platform 9 3/4
But unfortunately that is very slightly beyond my powers right now.
Follow that red symbol, and you will come up out of the belly of the earth
into St Pancras Station.
Go slightly to your left, just in front of a flower seller.
You may hear a piano
playing because there's a piano directly
behind the glass elevator and if you get
into the elevator and go up to the next
floor--you can't get it wrong because
this elevator only goes from ground
floor up to the first floor--you will
find yourself in the train shed, as they put it, which is a very
sort of self-deprecating for this...enormous...
...it is a shed, but it's a very large one.
And you'll
see the station clock in front of you.
You can pass among Muggles unnoticed
by taking on a suitably confident gait.
Out in the train
shed aforementioned you will find if
you look up high above the beautiful
brick walls built I believe in around
1868, some beautiful Minton tiles which are only
recently rediscovered when the station
was restored. Over the top of you you
will see a lot of pale blue
ironwork. This is painted all in what is
called Barlow blue named after the
architect of the station who insisted
that when train passengers look up they
should be looking at the sky. You may
also see various medallions in the floor,
beautifully engraved with lines
of poetry by John Betjeman, who was a former
poet laureate in the 1960s and he was
responsible partly for saving this
beautiful building. So I hope that all makes
sense and I will see you soon.
And we haven't even left London yet.
The train
I'm catching is the 11:05 to Loughborough,
and I've been expressly instructed not
to Google, an excruciatingly difficult
urge to endure in the hour-and-a-half
journey from London. I was, however, given
the single clue that apparently the
place that we are going is very 'on-brand',
whatever that means.
Alright, my friend, it is Choose Your
Own Adventure time. Unpause the video and
continue watching to get in on Cathy's
secret; or skip to the timestamp to come
along on the surprise adventure with me.
Greetings, Gentlefolk, I am not
Bernadette Banner, but Bernadette Banner
will soon be arriving at this Loughborough
station. Bernadette usually doesn't
make it out of London when she makes her
trips over here but today she will, and
she's got a very special surprise
waiting. We are going to take her to
Great Central Railway. I thought I might
let you in on the secret as well so that
we can surprise her together. But we are
going to Great Central Railway where
she'll be able to ride not a modern train
like these; she'll be riding on an
original steam locomotive. Bernadette is
all about original practice in her
sewing, so we're going to see lots of
people who are interested in original
practice on the railways
*squee*
hellooooo!
Hello!
We are in a car which is a novelty.
Yes, we are.
We didn't introduce Cathy, but
that's Cathy Hay.
-Hello!
You've heard me
speak a lot about her for obvious
reasons.
Cathy is the Founder / Mastermind Wizardess
Foundations Revealed which you've heard
me rant about profusely on this channel
She's a fabulous human being, and we're going on an adventure.
We are.
Apparently, we may pass a sign post for
this place on the way so we may figure
it out.
I don't know, you may see signs for it
and think 'Oh that can't be it,' or it may not
be obvious. But since you're smart cookie,
-We hope!
-You probably will get it.
So, she sneakily told me that there
would be something interesting to film
over this bridge but really she was just
distracting me from looking at the sign
to the place on the other side of the
road; so please enjoy this realistically
uninteresting footage.
We are driving
places and I should also let it be
known that I still have no clue
where we're going but I don't think
we're going to the place first.
-Oh we are, we're going to
-We are. Ok.
I'm just having trouble finding it.
Oh, ok! Yes, it's a
mystery for us all.
And I'm also I'm also trying
to bring you round a back way so that we don't
So that it doesn't become obvious too soon.
I also sort of missed it the first time, sorry.
I looked at the sign--oh! Oh, it was back
You could...you could
just say this is deliberate.
-Yes.
Apparently we are here.
Yes, we are definitely here. We are definitely here--
Oh my!
What is this?
What is this?
-There it is.
Oooooooooooh...
Ok... ok. It's the Great Central Railway
for those who I did not manage to get
that in frame I don't think at all but I
don't necessarily know what that means.
So, you were definitely trying to give me a
hint earlier--
-yes
-when you were talking
about steam trains.
-yes.
-Wait are we gonna go on the train?
Look!
Oh my god, that's what we're doing!
That's what we're doing!
-Yeah!
*gasp*
That's why you said 2:45!
Look at it go!
*squee*
You're right. This is, like, ridiculously on-brand.
In the 1960s, parts of the rail network were shut
down.
So there was a chap called Beeching, and the
Beeching report said, essentially, the rail
network that we'd been so used to wasn't
needed anymore. Lots of people are buying
motorcars, so we didn't really need as
much of it. So a lot of the older, smaller
stations and a lot of the smaller lines
were just shut down, and it was very
controversial at the time,
and very much protested against.
And this particular line was seen to be superfluous
because you have the other line that you came in on. But in the 70s,
a group of enthusiasts bought what was left
and started buying up old trains
and this is all run by volunteers. This station is set up as it would have been in the 50s.
Aw. How long do you suppose
the waiting room's been closed?
You don't
suppose.
This is not the train that we
are getting on; apparently we are getting
on one that is older. People who know
trains, which is not me, which is I feel
like a lot of the internet, will know
that this is not a steam train I guess.
Oh look, it's you!
-Oh! Hello!
But essentially this is Hogwarts, right?
*bell*
yeah.
Anything from the trolley?
-I was just thinking that!
So this one apparently is our train.
They are--they have to attach the...the steam
thing...
actual train people roast me in
the comments please.
I don't know what
they're doing.
Are they pushing it?!
Oh my goodness, they're pushing it!
-They're going to push the whole train down.
And thus we embarked on a journey from
Loughborough to Leicester via the
historic stations at Quorn and Woodhouse
and Rothley; sadly a journey devoid of
trolley witches but perfectly pleasant
nonetheless.
 
So as it happens,
We have both
surprisingly brought things for one another so
we're doing a little gift exchange now
we're very over exposed.
*gasp*
I know what this is!
-Yes?
-Beautiful!
-Oh my word!
So I recognized it immediately; it's a glasses case
containing a pair of period spectacles.
-The story behind that is Cathy's been
looking for period spectacles for ages.
-A while, yes.
I've worn glasses since I was eight years old
and I've never had a pair of glasses that I liked.
So the note says:
"My dear Cathy, your face is beautiful with glasses or without."
"P.S. My research turns up a reference in 'The Optical Journal and Review'
to a specific H. Gruman, Lebanon Optometrist,
The issue is dated the 14th of June, 1923, in case you wanted a rough date estimate for these."
Now we really will look alike.
Now we really are related!
-And Cathy has very kindly bought me
this most beautiful brooch!
There we are.
Look, it's so pretty!
There we go.
-Yes. Show the people at home
-Oh my goodness! Oh, it's delightful. I'm gonna wear this all the time.
-And I shall wear these all the time.
-Good!
For those wondering about the little
wire spectacles, I found both mine and
Cathy's on eBay.
Prices vary amongst sellers but keep a
watch out. Both of these were purchased
for around $10 and Cathy's even came in
their original case with the original
optician's label, which is quite cool!
Each station along the line is restored to
reflect a certain decade: Loughborough to
the 1950s, Quorn and Woodhouse to the
Second World War, and Rothley to 1912.
So, naturally we alighted at the latter,
to stroll along the gas lit platform and,
you know, twirl around on old staircases
and such. Like you do.
*Train whistle*
We're sitting in a waiting room--in an
Edwardian in waiting room, to be more
precise, and we've got half an hour until
our train back to Loughborough
-Yep.
So, we're just--we're just sitting here
having a chat.
We have made the decision
I mean as is our lives, you know me you know
my wardrobe, and you may know Cathy if you follow
Cathy on Instagram (you should go do that, @cathy.hay)
Do you dress like this every day?
-More and more often now. I'm in that
transition period because I think an
interesting part of it is the way that
anybody who dresses like this didn't
just get up one day and change their whole wardrobe.
-Yes. Yes.
You go through a transition process, like our
friend Constance used to be in jeans
all the time. It's a really interesting
process to me it's I mean it's great to
look at somebody like you, or like Zack on Instagram
and it's like, wow! Look at that!
And they live it 24/7.
-I don't, though. 
-And it's like, how did that--
happen...well Zack does.
-Zack does, yes.
But I'm interested in that transition period, like how
did that happen, because I'm gradually. I think I
notice--I'm trying to do it
*bell*
in my wardrobe--I think there might be a train coming.
I make some things and then
other things just look right, but they're vintage.
Like, this shirt is from the 1950s.
This waistcoat is just random
secondhand from a secondhand shop.
and so is the cravat.
The jacket is
actually modern. So there's a way that
you gradually kind of put pieces
together and make it look *ish* for a
while and then I think gradually you
just go
-yeah.
-You change an element here
and there
-Well because the reality is--
-and make it more and more--
-The thing about historical clothing and historical
wardrobes is that, historically, if you
want to do it correctly, you have to do
it the way that they would have done it.
They didn't have gone out and bought--
I mean, unless you're of a certain class--bought a whole new wardrobe in one day.
You accumulate your clothing
slowly over your lifetime because your
clothes last a lifetime, as they're
supposed to. If you are interested in
getting into historical dress--wearing
historical clothing in your everyday wardrobe--
that's kind of the way you have
to do it; it doesn't happen overnight.
I've been accumulating and making
clothing pretty much my whole life.
*Train whistle*
-Let's go out and look at the train!!!
Momentarily overexcited about trains but that's fine.
-I was looking to people like you and
Constance and Zack and going, 'wow that's really cool, I'd love to do that,'
but as I've started to do it a
little bit myself, I've discovered
another reason to love doing it which is
the effect you have on the people around
you.
It doesn't just mean--it's not
like you're doing it for ego, for
everybody to look at you, but what I love
about it is you do
stop people in their tracks. People are just
like going through their everyday kind
of mundane boring lives--we all have mundane
boring lives in a way--but as people are
going through their normal everyday
lives,
they suddenly see you and kind of double
take. And they might compliment you, they might
stop, they might take a photo, but it's kind of like
you've sort of slammed them into the
present moment and they're no longer
just like off worrying about this or that.
I love the fact that you can go
stop.
and appreciate today. It's like you're forcing people to smell the roses.
I did that with Constance one day; we went to Chatsworth one day and just the way
people seemed to just stop in their
tracks.
It's lovely not--and I say not from an
ego point of view, more from the fact of
being something magical passing through
their lives.
My aspiration for all of
this is I want to be mistaken for a ghost.
And it's making magic real.
-Yeah. That's valid goals.
We should switch places
because I'm very ghostly right now.
There we go.
-Oh, ok. Now I'm a ghost.
-Yeah! Yeah.
One thing that I get asked a lot is
I don't--see, the thing is like these are my clothes
I don't feel like they're a costume, so like, 
I don't dress weird.
You dress weird.
Anyway but one of the things I get
asked a lot is how do I deal with
people's reactions around me and I have
to say that I don't think I've ever had
anyone react negatively to the way that
I dress. I mean again I don't feel like I
dress fully historically but I mean
maybe I do. But the effect that you have
on the people around you is wholly
positive. It makes their day--if they even notice
you because I mean I'm sure you have
more of a problem with it in ye olde country
side, but in New York--moreso in London,
weirdly, I do get a lot of weird looks in
London but in New York nobody looks;
nobody turns around.
That being said, it
was time to now catch our train back to
the 21st century; back to a now
comparatively boring East Midlands train,
and back to London.
 
We've had a lovely day. We've had an absolutely lovely day.
This was a wonderful
activity, a wonderful surprise.
I actually had no idea.
-you had no--
-I had no idea. I genuinely--well you heard, when I
was like oh my god we're getting on it?
-Yes!
-That was a great moment.
It was a wonderful day.
Thank you so much, Cathy.
-Thank you for coming with us!
-Yeah! I hope you enjoyed it, because we had lots of fun.
-We did.
- yeah.
-Yes.
-Have a good...day.
-Come to England!
-Come to England!
Come ride trains.
-Come ride trains.
Why do I have your scarf?
-Because we are the same person.
-This is true.
We have merged into one and the same.
-Yes.
-This is the thumbnail.
-Yes.
