Thursday 21 February 2013

Grumpy Old Woman. Part II

I have not had a rant on here for a while, but the time has come for me to vent once again. This particular grump I have with the world has been ongoing for a while now and I know that I am not the only one that feels strongly about this topic.

Before I proceed with my steam venting, I would like to make it clear that I am all for fashion trends, I may not agree with all of them but I don't expect people to like all the things I wear. However this trend of wearing what essentially are a pair of tights as leggings must stop. It is in my opinion a heinous crime of which people should be at the least reprimanded for. If ever there was a call for having fashion police it is now.

This winter has been pretty chilly by all accounts and so the females to which I refer have been "wrapping up" to stay warm, but I feel they have been misguided in their choice of warm clothing by reading too many glamour and style magazines which show unusually tall, waif like models in body hugging apparel.

My grump point was tipped past it's balancing point at the weekend  when I decided to take a wander into town and back. This journey very obviously took me along varying city streets and because it was such lovely weather many people were also out and about. Unfortunately, instead of witnessing the first growths of a budding Springtime all that seemed to grab my attention were the many sets of female buttocks wobbling around in a thin gauze of material. It almost made my eyes bleed. Why oh why can they not see, that what they are wearing to cover their legs, are see thru and designed to be worn with other items of clothing preferably covering their, often not so petite, derriere.

Don't get me wrong I am not a tight hater, in fact I love tights. I have thick tights, thin tights and running tights, but with exception to the ones I run in I always wear a skirt. Granted it is often a mini skirt (thank you Mary Quant), but paired with what I call bullet proof tights looks ok. I would not just wear my tights. I do not wish to show the world the colour and design of my knickers or god forbid G string. I don't understand how the opaqueness of tights can be confused with actual fabric thickness.

If you couple this particular female fashion together with trendy boyfriend and skinny half mast jeans showing off his knickers, well I am afraid it is just too much for me to take. Not only is she walking on the non sole part of her fake Ugg boots, but he can barely waddle faster than a duck walking through treacle.

 Grr grr grr!!!!!!!grrr grrrr!!!! ....... and breathe.

I know this is not just a UK phenomenon as American Apparel have printed a label on some of their products, see below, but it must stop. Please, someone, make it stop.


Peace x

Thursday 14 February 2013

Sofas and Squelching.

I have been on holiday from work this week and once again it has been filled with home decor stuff, but finally it is finished. The final pieces of the jigsaw fell beautifully into place this week with the delivery of various furnishings falling back to back. The piece de resistance of course being my rainbow stripey suite. Quite possibly the best thing ever bought.

A friend photoshopped my original picture. Fantastic.

Sofa climbing.


The other fun thing this week was a head torch 10k run round Dalkeith Country Park. It was quite possibly the most miserable night of the week, wet, windy and cold, but once we got going it was fine. Lots of fellow running nutters to keep us company. In fact I loved it, lots of mud and a totally different running experience. A very well organised event by the Tri Centre, thoroughly enjoyable.


Pre race trying to stay warm in the car.


Very muddy trainers.

Peace x

All photos by Caroline Harvey


Saturday 2 February 2013

Time to Bike.

I am not great at cycling through the winter as it is usually too cold, wet and windy for my liking. I have been out a couple of times since the turn of the year, but decided a few weeks ago to go get my bike fitted properly. I realised that I still did not feel 100% comfortable whilst riding and felt that my movement was not overly efficient, and since I have signed up for a sportive at the end of April, it was time to get fitted to become more at one with my bike.

I booked into Ronde and had the very lovely James McCallum help with the fitting. It is surprising the vast difference a few small adjustments of the seat and handlebars can make.

This morning was my favourite type of weather, cold and crisp with very little wind, so headed out on my newly adjusted bike. Rather than go on my regular loop I thought I would cycle to Arthurs Seat and go round the hill a few times. I ended up doing 3 rotations before heading home. It was only a total of about 19 miles, but a great workout and showed me that I have much more work to do before April.

Although a short cycle, it was great to test my new position. I used to feel a great amount of tension in my shoulders and never find a comfortable position on my seat. Today felt great, just lacked the fitness and stamina required for my sportive. I think the Seat will become my new interval training ground, the back road is great when traffic free.


East view.


Arthur.

Peace x

Photos by Caroline Harvey.