nineveh_uk

* It is week 7 at work, which is really week 8 because we have a week 0. The building water supply is contaminated with Serious Germs. The taps are taped up. We can use the toilets + anti-bacterial hand gel (no, thank you) or go to another building. Not next door, they've now got the same problem... What joy it is. On the plus side, my unexpected last hour of the day yesterday spent getting running round trying to arrange things to get someone whose visa'd passport had been stolen back into the country this lunchtime ended up working, so that was good. Since this person wasn't actually one of our employees, I am expecting a small box of chocolates to turn up in return. Mostly, though, my work thoughts are occupied in hoping to avoid Intestinal Doom, for which the incubation period is now extended.

* Is this a mid-life crisis? I appear to re-visiting my teenage years. The vampire musical watching turned into re-reading Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles, and that was all very well (I still hate Lestat, a man who deserves to be murdered many times over, and since he is a vampire, can be), but then at the weekend I bought a pair of trousers, and… There is nothing wrong with these trousers. They are excellent trousers and I shall wear them on Christmas day and for going to the theatre when I can’t be bothered with a dress and so on, which is what I bought them for. They are black with that sort of damask effect that is about at the moment, and they fit nicely and suit me well.

It’s just that I realised when trying them on again at home that I could cosplay a vampire count in them. Especially when added to the black blouse with big sleeves and beads on it (Laura Ashley late 90s) and dark red velvet waistcoat (Dorothy Perkins mid 90s) that lurk at the bottom of a suitcase in case I find myself needing a random fancy dress costume. At least I don't own a Dracula wig.

* Speaking of clothing... Does your suit jacket constrict your movements when you want to leap mighty buildings in a single bound, exercise your licence to kill while drinking a martini, dance cheek to cheek, or merely play the violin? A high armscye is the answer! I suspect that it also contributes to why Peter Wimsey can't pick up a napkin with a couple of broken ribs. On a more mundane level, you can see this effect in action on your non-Savile Row clothes by comparing e.g. the greater arm-movement you get in a tight leather jacket compared to an elasticated T-shirt with low arm-holes.

* In a fortnight's time I shall be on annual leave for Christmas! This is both good and bad... There is quite a lot to do before Christmas. I am suffering from tree indecision. After my last real tree bit the dust after 2014, failing to survive the next year, I resolved I would buy an artificial one, which is really more convenient when you're going to be away from home for nearly a fortnight. And yet I have not done so. The problem is, the artificial ones don't smell. I did the artful bunch of painted twigs last year, that isn't the same, either.

* The OTW seems to be making a fascinating hash of things.

All my summer office trousers suddenly look horribly wide-legged and frumpy rather than Katherine Hepburn. Damn. I am going to have to see if I can alter them. The pair that doesn’t look horribly wide-legged suffers from Inadequate Waistband Construction Syndrome, and I need to alter those as well, and the one on a casual pair. Argh! I am fed up of crap waistbands on what can be quite pricey trousers. Waistbands have a job to do, and they need to be shaped so that they fit the contours of the body, and they need to be a bit smaller than the top of the trousers, which should be eased into them. It is NOT sufficient to line a bit of bias fabric and sew it round the top. There is more to finishing a pair of trousers than making the raw edge not show. I assume it is all down to money, and saving the pittance that a decent waistband would cost the manufacturer in pursuit of MORE PROFIT. I particularly resent this on trousers that are in fact rather expensive, and where part of the justification for the price ought to be decent construction, which is why one pair has just been returned with a sharp note.

In non-trouser news, I have now had election leaflets from the following: Conservatives, Lib Dems (loads from both), Labour, Greens, UKIP, Socialist Party of Great Britain, BNP, and the “Independence from Europe” party (AKA we fell out with UKIP). There are Monster Raving Loony Party posters in the centre of Oxford; I am not sure if they are standing in the council elections, but I am in a different ward.

I have defeated the bleeding jeans*! After scrubbing them, and multiple washings, yesterday and today I have attempted wearing them again and I am not blue! Also not blue are my jumpers and anything I have sat on during the weekend. I might not trust them against cream leather car seats (not that I have those, though my grandfather's car did back in the day, and I thought they were terribly swish), but otherwise they are wearable and my money isn't wasted. Hurray!

Also achieved, a go on the commando slide in the local park where I went for a late afternoon stroll (if it isn't cloudy, it is now light at 4:30pm. Things can only get better). I have been meaning to do this since it was built, but haven't managed to be there when there were no children. Today I passed it and the area was empty so I seized the day. I had to sit on it, because standing up would have probably bashed my head against the support**, but I finally had a go (several times). Hurray again!


*As Peter Wimsey put it, that's not swearin', that's an adjective of quality. I'm as sincere as he was.

**It is in one of the children's playground bits of the park.

I have spent much of today trying to finish a dress I started about a year ago. I have finished the annoying facing, set two sleeves, joined skirt and bodice, and put in a zip. It fits, it looks nice, there's just one thing.

It had not struck me until I was trying it on for length that a knee-length, high-necked dress in foxglove and foliage patterned Varuna wool in brown, green, and sort of orange/fawn tones can look really quite, well, seventies...

I saw this coat in Marks and Spencers today. I liked it, but didn't think of buying it, because I don't need it, and anyway I already have a loden jacket with puffed sleeve-heads, although the sharp points of this one, which don't show to advantage in the photograph, are great.



And also because I don't live on Barrayar.