It is no secret that in 1957 the Wolfenden Committee recommended the decriminalisation of private homosexual activity between consenting adults over the age of 21, but with heavier penalties against homosexual activity in public places.

This is precisely what Anathema thinks of when she comments in the book that her book had been left in the back of the car of 'two consenting cycle repairmen'.

Not only does that inform us as readers that the characters within the book perceive Crowley and Aziraphale as being a couple, especially by the (arguably) cleverest witch in the book, but also that their appearances (physical corporations) do in fact look older than 21 years old. (the age of consent)*

*It would take until the 2000s for the age of consent to be equalised, and for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender personnel to be able to serve openly in the armed forces.

But coming back to the term 'consenting' and the significance within the overall plot of Good Omens series-wise is the fact that they chose 1967, precisely 10 years later after the Wolfenden report and the year the Sexual Offences Act was passed (which decriminalised private homosexual acts between men aged over 21 in England and Wales, while at the same time imposing heavier penalties on street offences) as a crucial point in storytelling.

This is the last scene we see of them after the montage; this is precisely the point where Aziraphale makes that big, first move towards Crowley and manifests himself inside of the Bentley to protect him from a burglary that could have ended in disaster. This is Aziraphale stepping outside from his own box and venturing into admitting that yes, he would enjoy Crowley's company as more than just an Arrangement. He would like the picnics, he would like to dine openly with him.

And this comes precisely at a time, a real world setting where even the Archbishop of Canterbury agreed, saying: “There is a sacred realm of privacy ... into which the law, generally speaking, must not intrude" (referring to homosexuality).

Although we know Aziraphale and Crowley are not men, but rather men-shaped beings of the world, there is something to be said about how the 1967 act reflects on Aziraphale's 'heavenly' beliefs and how that can be attributed not only to homosexuality*, but also a realm of privacy where neither Heaven or Hell (religion itself) need to interfere with his affairs.

*we do know, however, how much the book and tv series lean into Aziraphale being 'gay', at least in our human understanding of labels and categorizing even though he is not; "pansy" "nancy boys" "gayer than a treeful of monkeys on nitrous oxide" (this one specifically marking Aziraphale canonically in the book as appearing to be a homosexual) "you've got the wrong shop" among others.

A real life anecdote from the time says: John Carter was 17 at the time and doesn’t have a clear memory of the bill passing; he only realised the significance of the change with hindsight. He came out in the early 70s, after making contact with his university’s gay society, which wouldn’t have existed were it not for decriminalisation. “It meant that people could meet … and freely associate.” That was crucial, he says, because, “if you don’t even have a space where you can go, then people are cruising, they’re cottaging * ... It took many years for people who had been constantly looking over their shoulder, being worried, to develop proper ways of relating to each other. Ways that were not just based on sex or compromise or fear.”

*(No, cottaging is not living in a cottage)

No matter that the law had been passed, there was still a lot of stigma surrounding the word 'homosexual'. It wasn't until the 80s and 90s that it stopped being a crime in Scotland and Ireland; being further stigmatized with the AIDS crisis in the late 80s.

Regardless of the nature of the open confession Aziraphale lays bare to Crowley in 1967, it most definitely can be read as a 'coming out' for him. Perhaps not dealing with sexuality directly, but with religion layered on top of that. It is still too fast despite of the year, in spite of the millennia worked together under false pretenses. But it is an exterior, real life push that reinforces the idea for him to see that- if humans are able to recognize that man could be with man and not call it a crime, why could that same thinking not be applied to an angel and a demon living on Earth?

Aziraphale is doing more than blurting his heart out, he is openly hoping for the time that matches 1967 in its decriminalisation of homosexuality to one that applies for him and Crowley. So the thermos, the "better not" say thank you just yet, is a lingering promise to be there for when it finally happens. One which Crowley accepts with bare, open hands.

GOOD OMENS "Hard Times"

This is now my new favorite best friend duo

Aziraphale thought Crowley might need a little help with handling a gun, but things didn’t go quite as planned

Part 4 of Mind the Shop is here! Finally got to use that classic line “there you are” <3

Now that we have our demon back, do you think he’ll be able to help the Angel?

<Prev pt. 3

An old project that I'll probably never finish, so I'm sharing it with you. Angry Crowley !

Is Aziracrow Canon?

The weirdest thing is that at the end of the book/and Show S1, we know that Adam has changed elements of reality (there are books in Aziraphale's bookshop that weren't there before, for example), so it seems like Adam has rearranged some things differently. Before the nightingale sings, we are told:

That is, it could be that Adam, upon seeing Crowley and Aziraphale, rearranged the universe so that something more romantic could blossom more evidently between Crowley and Aziraphale. But this cannot in any way be used to say that they were not in love before, since Adam looked deeply at both of them, back at the air base, and Crowley thought:

It is also impossible to say that A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square is not an implicit/subtext reference to Aziraphale and Crowley's relationship, since the lyrics make very precise references to elements of the book/show, so it is to be assumed that the song was placed in Aziraphale and Crowley final arc, on book, specifically, and also on purpose.

The show uses the same principle; in the series, the song "Bicycle Race" plays very literally when they run over Anathema, as well as playing "I'm In Love With My Car" very literally in relation to Crowley and his car, so I must assume that it was also literal when they played "You're My Best Friend" when Crowley was going to Aziraphale's bookshop (p.s; this song was written by Queen's bassist, John Deacon, for his best friend, better known as HIS WIFE).

Aside from another curious fact, there is a correlation between the couples in this plot; Anathema & Newt, Tracy & Shadwell, and Crowley & Aziraphale, they all have something in common:

(1) Each of them has their own arcs to finish their plots;

(2) their arc is closed in duos, they are considered as couples and their arcs are closed together ("Anathema & Newt", "Crowley & Aziraphale", and "Tracy & Shadwell", respectively according to the final arcs in the book);

(3) they all had everything to hate each other, Anathema was a witch, and Newt was a witchhunter (apart from the fact that his ancestor killed her ancestor), Shadwell cursed Tracy all time, and called her a Jezebel (as if it were the most unlikely thing for someone like him not to repudiate someone like her), as well as Crowley is a demon and Aziraphale is an angel (which should make them enemies), but in the end all these characters end up together and on good terms;

(4) They all end the plot as a couple, although it seems that with Anathema and Newt and Shadwell and Tracy this is more explicit, while with Crowley and Aziraphale, it is more implicit (So you see, the exposition of Crowley and Aziraphale's relationship using the plot of other couples to show the parallels didn't start in the second season through Maggie and Nina, but this has already been noticeable since the book);

(5) If you stop to think about it for a moment, even Adam's final arc (which is the last arc of the book) is a love story, but here it's a story of his love in relation to the world he lives in and how much he's willing to appreciate it.

It is also important to remember that, although I am equating Crowley and Aziraphale with the other humans in this plot, we should not take this too seriously because they are, in fact, mythical creatures (occult/ethereal) and not really human.

They can mimetically simulate some human behaviors (like breathing, the book emphasizes several times that they don't even need to do that, but they do it anyway), so they simulate human behavior when they want to, but that doesn't mean they do it completely (for example, Az can eat, but never needs to use the bathroom, both can drink, but don't detox the same way we do, Crowley can sleep, but for an extensively longer period of time than a human being). The point is, they can adopt some human behavior, but they will adapt it to their own way and preferences.

So we could say that they are a couple, but is not the same as we do as "couple” as human, they are a couple whatever that means to them and how they adapt that to their way of existing.

This is why humans mistake them as a couple at various points in the book (Shadwell and Anathema, for example), but the truth is that humans translate Aziracrow relationship into human aspects, the behavior they exhibit within the human aspect is similar to that of what we call a “couple”, that’s why they seem like a couple for us. But, for real, whatever they are to themselves, it is, in fact, ineffable. Although this is, undoubtedly, a love story.

I was a little sad when I did this and somehow It comforted me

michael sheen's micro expressions are so hard to pin down but i tried

A very mildly angsty one beneath the cut today! I'm currently working on a Priest! Crowley fic and very much looking forward to sharing that soon 🥰 hoping you all have restful weekends 💜

Last meme post

I was walking on a rather remote beach when I came upon this Whip eel drying up in the sun. These are intertidal eels that can actually handle themselves out of water for a bit, but it’s not normal for them to be fully exposed in direct sunlight like this. The tide was at least six hours from coming in and I felt like this eel was in distress, so I made the decision to dig him out and return to the ocean. His body was too delicate to be simply pulled from the hole without injury, so I got to digging.

This endeavor took about 40 minutes as the eel was quite long and difficult to excavate. Also had to continually refill my temporary eel pond to keep him from drying out entirely while I worked.

If you are an eel aficionado like myself, please enjoy this silly little video of the relocation process set to some jaunty royalty-free disco music.

literally what i'm thinking watching this