Thursday 24 January 2013

Thriftbag Thursday

Yesterday I explained the history of an American tradition - the Girl Scout Cookie. I thought this would be an appropriate Thriftbag Thursday.

T-shirt: Thrifted
From a hipster thrift store in 
Manhattan's West Village many moons ago. 
Five bucks well-spent, even if I was(am) a poser 
who'd never tasted a Girl Scout Cookie until this week.

Scarf: Marks and Spencer
Seriously, thanks nan.
Who needs Anthropologie?

Shoes: Michael Kors
Because why not?

I'm a little embarrassed to say I wore this t-shirt for so many years without knowing that a Thin Mint is wearing ear muffs and that a Samoan likes to surf. I never got to do the Girl Scout Cookie thing. I was not a Girl Scout. Although Scouting was founded in the UK, the UK does not have Girl Scouts; they are known as Girl Guides.

The (Boy) Scout Movement was founded by British Lieutenant-General Robert Baden-Powell in the early 1900s and at the time girls were not encouraged to do the same activities as boys. When a group of young girls protested to Baden-Powell, he founded the Girl Guides, a special organization just for girls named after a corp of the British Indian Army.

I was a Girl Guide, but all our Guiders got pregnant and we never got to do anything cool, such as go to camp. I don't think it helped that our patrols were named after birds and I was in the 'Swallow Patrol', which in retrospect sounds highly inappropriate.

At any rate, Girl Guides in the UK don't sell cookies, and as far as I know Girl Scout Cookies are entirely unavailable in the UK. If you're a US expat living in the UK with nostalgic pangs for Thin Mints and Peanut Butter Patties, I'm sorry (Viscounts and Tunnocks Tea Cakes are far better biscuits anyway, and your local Girl Guides might even have a 'bring n buy' sale with homemade bakes).

By the way, I haven't forgotten the photo tips idea, I'm working on it and will keep you updated!

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