It's the Spanish grand prix this weekend.
Spain is where they do a lot of testing, but this seems to result in a relatively uninteresting race. I'm not sure why - I guess because they all know how to set their cars up perfectly for the track, so there's no variability to it?
This weekend was going to be horribly busy, but a few things have dropped away. One of the more random was that my landlord was supposed to be going on holiday last Wednesday, but when I got back that evening he was still there. Well, he was there, but his wife wasn't - turns out his hip is playing up (he's never mentioned it before :/) so he felt he couldn't go, but his wife decided to go on the holiday anyway!
As such, I've no real chance to get into the shed to sort through the boxes, which is annoying. I'll still probably do a swap of summer stuff for winter stuff, but I'm also not sure because of the weather - it's been quite variable for a while now and I'm having to switch between clothes and coats quite often, which is proving to be a pain.
And speaking of clothes, I've bought most of what I need for Canada. There are a few items I'm going to make later decisions on, but I've either got most of it or it's due to be delivered. It's obviously been quite expensive, but these things have to be done - particularly for the Canadian Grand Prix. The weather can be quite variable in terms of shifting from sunny to wet, so I've had to cover both possibilities.
Now I just need to work out how I'm going to fit it all into my suitcase!
Showing posts with label clothes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label clothes. Show all posts
Friday, 9 May 2014
Tuesday, 29 April 2014
that's yer lot
I'm just going to do the one post this week.
Yesterday I was snowed under with stuff and tomorrow is my last day for the week, as I've mentioned before. It's actually two people's last day at the office tomorrow, so I'm sure we'll be going to the pub, which will probably eat up what spare time I have where I might write a blog post.
One of these leavings is not a surprise as he is retiring, but the other came as a bit of a shock, as I was given the person's leaving card to sign yesterday and that was the first I'd heard about it!
For such a small company, communication is terrible here.
Weirdly, I actually had an offer of a job interview for on the Thursday - I'm still looking to move on, of course, but have put everything on hold for a few months until after Canada so I declined. To be honest, they've also not filled me with confidence given they've taken so long to contact me and finally did so only 4 days before the interview, which is miles away in Bristol. I'd rather not have another depressing waste of my time where I'm just making up the interview numbers and it's costing me a fortune to attend.
Anyway, I'm going to use some of my couple of days off to buy the stuff I know I will need for Canada, both in terms of online and in the real world. Obviously the disappointment here is that my grand plans about losing a few stone have not borne fruit, so the clothes I will be buying will be big size stuff.
Speaking of which, I'd dropped 2 pounds on Sunday's weigh in. I can't say I was surprised by this as such - I don't think it represented a genuine loss, as such, more the reflection of the fact that I was weighing myself after a more "regular" week, as opposed to after the weirdness of the Easter weekend. I therefore now weigh 20 stone 11 pounds.
Yesterday I was snowed under with stuff and tomorrow is my last day for the week, as I've mentioned before. It's actually two people's last day at the office tomorrow, so I'm sure we'll be going to the pub, which will probably eat up what spare time I have where I might write a blog post.
One of these leavings is not a surprise as he is retiring, but the other came as a bit of a shock, as I was given the person's leaving card to sign yesterday and that was the first I'd heard about it!
For such a small company, communication is terrible here.
Weirdly, I actually had an offer of a job interview for on the Thursday - I'm still looking to move on, of course, but have put everything on hold for a few months until after Canada so I declined. To be honest, they've also not filled me with confidence given they've taken so long to contact me and finally did so only 4 days before the interview, which is miles away in Bristol. I'd rather not have another depressing waste of my time where I'm just making up the interview numbers and it's costing me a fortune to attend.
Anyway, I'm going to use some of my couple of days off to buy the stuff I know I will need for Canada, both in terms of online and in the real world. Obviously the disappointment here is that my grand plans about losing a few stone have not borne fruit, so the clothes I will be buying will be big size stuff.
Speaking of which, I'd dropped 2 pounds on Sunday's weigh in. I can't say I was surprised by this as such - I don't think it represented a genuine loss, as such, more the reflection of the fact that I was weighing myself after a more "regular" week, as opposed to after the weirdness of the Easter weekend. I therefore now weigh 20 stone 11 pounds.
Friday, 24 August 2012
zip it
So I had a bit of an embarrassing situation on Tuesday at work.
Basically to skip to the punch line the zip on my trousers broke. Now we're not talking about an explosion under duress or anything like that - this was that type of breaking where the teeth are undone even though you've zipped the zip.
I'm sure you know the sort of thing - a zip works by the teeth intermeshing, which you achieve by pulling the zipper up or down depending on if you want to close or open them. Well what sometimes happens is that the teeth become un-meshed when the zipper is in the closed position. Basically they become un-aligned and the zip no longer knits them together when it closes.
The way to fix this is to basically slide one set of teeth out of the zipper and re-align everything so that the zipper meshes them together. However, this is only really possible on those zips that are designed to come completely apart (so the zips you have on the front of coats, rather than on the pockets of a coat.
Of course the zipper on my trousers (otherwise known as the "fly") is of the pocket closing type, so I was left with the embarrassing situation of not being able to close my trouser's fly area. I ended up using a bull-dog clip on the inside to close them up.
Now actually this is the pair of trousers that's really slack and it's my intention once I get my new boosted pay packet to start to buy some new clothes. Plus of course I have another pair of work trousers, so it's not a big deal really.
I'd actually gotten rather ahead of myself on that front, expecting my wage to come in during this week for some reason, but of course it will be next week as the end of the month is on Friday.
It's a Bank Holiday Monday next week, so I'll only be blogging Tuesday to Friday. However, I will actually probably be working early Saturday morning, as there's some bits I need to do. It's not that I'm super-mega busy; it's just that I can't see how the timing is going to work out any other way.
Basically to skip to the punch line the zip on my trousers broke. Now we're not talking about an explosion under duress or anything like that - this was that type of breaking where the teeth are undone even though you've zipped the zip.
I'm sure you know the sort of thing - a zip works by the teeth intermeshing, which you achieve by pulling the zipper up or down depending on if you want to close or open them. Well what sometimes happens is that the teeth become un-meshed when the zipper is in the closed position. Basically they become un-aligned and the zip no longer knits them together when it closes.
The way to fix this is to basically slide one set of teeth out of the zipper and re-align everything so that the zipper meshes them together. However, this is only really possible on those zips that are designed to come completely apart (so the zips you have on the front of coats, rather than on the pockets of a coat.
Of course the zipper on my trousers (otherwise known as the "fly") is of the pocket closing type, so I was left with the embarrassing situation of not being able to close my trouser's fly area. I ended up using a bull-dog clip on the inside to close them up.
Now actually this is the pair of trousers that's really slack and it's my intention once I get my new boosted pay packet to start to buy some new clothes. Plus of course I have another pair of work trousers, so it's not a big deal really.
I'd actually gotten rather ahead of myself on that front, expecting my wage to come in during this week for some reason, but of course it will be next week as the end of the month is on Friday.
It's a Bank Holiday Monday next week, so I'll only be blogging Tuesday to Friday. However, I will actually probably be working early Saturday morning, as there's some bits I need to do. It's not that I'm super-mega busy; it's just that I can't see how the timing is going to work out any other way.
Monday, 21 May 2012
both coming and going
I had a horribly busy / tiring weekend for some reason.
I've mentioned before the troubles that I was having meeting my footwear needs, though I'm not sure if I've mentioned that I've been wanting to get a new mattress as well. Well I looked online and saw that the nearest millets was in Aldershot and they also have some big furniture type stores there as well, so I decided that I would try to knock everything on the head in one weekend.
The plan was I'd do my washing as usual first thing then head up to Aldershot for opening time, park at the furniture store, nip into town to get work shoes and walking shoes and then head back to get the mattress. I'd then unload all of these before heading into Aldershot with the primary intention of posting some parcels I had to send but also in case the shoes were still outstanding.
I also needed to buy some bits from smiths and Tesco's so I could park up in Tesco's in Aldershot and then walk into town. This walking would also help me tick my walking allocation box for the day too.
Good plan and it sort of worked - I got all of the things done, including the mattress, although there was one downside. The out-of-town furniture places have gotten a company to manage the parking since I last went there (we're talking years since I last went) and one of the conditions they have is that you don't leave the site and of course I did, so they've charged me.
I've actually just been doing some searching and there are quite a few websites (including some YouTube clips from watchdog) saying these aren't really legally enforceable.
Anyway, having bought the mattress it was a hell of a struggle getting it home. It's actually oddly deep (as in "high") and although it's surprisingly light it's rather inflexible. I only drive a small car so I was fiddling about putting seats down and taking off headrests and all sorts to cram it in.
I did get it in eventually but it was a bit dodgy driving as it was difficult to get to the gear stick. I remember thinking as I set off that it'd be a bit dodgy if the police saw me and of course on the drive back there was a police car that had pulled someone over (for speeding I guess)!
The reason for sending the parcels is I made a bit of a decision to get on and rip a bunch of anime DVDs and put them up for sale. I had actually started doing this with my normal DVDs but got a bit side-tracked with the whole contracting work, but I got a couple of hefty credit card bills and it kinda spurred me into action to try and get the cash flowing again if I'm honest.
The other issue was that on Thursday night I had real trouble sleeping and Friday night I wasn't able to catch up, which meant that by Saturday afternoon I was absolutely shattered. Sunday I felt so tired that I didn't go for any walk or anything - indeed I didn't actually leave the bedsit
I've mentioned before the troubles that I was having meeting my footwear needs, though I'm not sure if I've mentioned that I've been wanting to get a new mattress as well. Well I looked online and saw that the nearest millets was in Aldershot and they also have some big furniture type stores there as well, so I decided that I would try to knock everything on the head in one weekend.
The plan was I'd do my washing as usual first thing then head up to Aldershot for opening time, park at the furniture store, nip into town to get work shoes and walking shoes and then head back to get the mattress. I'd then unload all of these before heading into Aldershot with the primary intention of posting some parcels I had to send but also in case the shoes were still outstanding.
I also needed to buy some bits from smiths and Tesco's so I could park up in Tesco's in Aldershot and then walk into town. This walking would also help me tick my walking allocation box for the day too.
Good plan and it sort of worked - I got all of the things done, including the mattress, although there was one downside. The out-of-town furniture places have gotten a company to manage the parking since I last went there (we're talking years since I last went) and one of the conditions they have is that you don't leave the site and of course I did, so they've charged me.
I've actually just been doing some searching and there are quite a few websites (including some YouTube clips from watchdog) saying these aren't really legally enforceable.
Anyway, having bought the mattress it was a hell of a struggle getting it home. It's actually oddly deep (as in "high") and although it's surprisingly light it's rather inflexible. I only drive a small car so I was fiddling about putting seats down and taking off headrests and all sorts to cram it in.
I did get it in eventually but it was a bit dodgy driving as it was difficult to get to the gear stick. I remember thinking as I set off that it'd be a bit dodgy if the police saw me and of course on the drive back there was a police car that had pulled someone over (for speeding I guess)!
The reason for sending the parcels is I made a bit of a decision to get on and rip a bunch of anime DVDs and put them up for sale. I had actually started doing this with my normal DVDs but got a bit side-tracked with the whole contracting work, but I got a couple of hefty credit card bills and it kinda spurred me into action to try and get the cash flowing again if I'm honest.
The other issue was that on Thursday night I had real trouble sleeping and Friday night I wasn't able to catch up, which meant that by Saturday afternoon I was absolutely shattered. Sunday I felt so tired that I didn't go for any walk or anything - indeed I didn't actually leave the bedsit
Wednesday, 9 May 2012
shoes, shoes everywhere
Well, I'm back in the office.
I actually got back yesterday but didn't really have the time to write a blog post.
It was a good holiday I think, overall. As I said beforehand I had a few days for doing stuff and then I was off gallivanting around the country.
The stuff at home my main aim was to get some new footwear - I needed some work shoes, walking shoes and some trainers. My thoughts were that the easiest of these to get would be the work shoes, then the walking shoes, then the trainers.
The trainers would be most difficult because I won't wear anything except black trainers and I also like reeboks. These, combined with my foot size (a 10 or 11 depending on the shoe fit) which is very popular tend to make it rather difficult to find them.
I figured walking shoes would be okay as there's a millets in Farnham and they sell karrimors, which are the brand I like and it would just be a case of finding the right fit and a design that looked sturdy.
The work shoes would be a piece of piss as there are usually lots of designs that are acceptable and there are loads of Clarks shoe shops around.
The reality was almost the exact reverse. The first sports good shop I breezed into had Black reeboks in my size and I was out within 20 minutes.
The walking shoes proved to be problematic because the millets in Farnham has gone. I then wasn't at all sure where another one was locally. However, I knew there was a millets at the factory outlet place that's just up the road from my Dad's in Devon... only that had closed too!
I don't think millets have gone under and I've had a look online to find the shops. I guess I could always order online, but shoes are one of those things you really need to try on to make sure they fit properly.
The work shoes was bizarre - I went into the Clarks in Aldershot and, as suspected, they had several designs that would have been suitable, but some of them were incredibly expensive (£70 for shoes for work!) and those that weren't they didn't seem to have any sizes that fit. The ones I did try on were too small and they didn't have the next size up.
I then tried this cheap shoe place up the road, but they were awful - like walking on planks of wood.
There is a shoe shop in the town I work in so I'll try looking in there, or they could probably order them, but overall it was bizarre that I couldn't find any.
I actually got back yesterday but didn't really have the time to write a blog post.
It was a good holiday I think, overall. As I said beforehand I had a few days for doing stuff and then I was off gallivanting around the country.
The stuff at home my main aim was to get some new footwear - I needed some work shoes, walking shoes and some trainers. My thoughts were that the easiest of these to get would be the work shoes, then the walking shoes, then the trainers.
The trainers would be most difficult because I won't wear anything except black trainers and I also like reeboks. These, combined with my foot size (a 10 or 11 depending on the shoe fit) which is very popular tend to make it rather difficult to find them.
I figured walking shoes would be okay as there's a millets in Farnham and they sell karrimors, which are the brand I like and it would just be a case of finding the right fit and a design that looked sturdy.
The work shoes would be a piece of piss as there are usually lots of designs that are acceptable and there are loads of Clarks shoe shops around.
The reality was almost the exact reverse. The first sports good shop I breezed into had Black reeboks in my size and I was out within 20 minutes.
The walking shoes proved to be problematic because the millets in Farnham has gone. I then wasn't at all sure where another one was locally. However, I knew there was a millets at the factory outlet place that's just up the road from my Dad's in Devon... only that had closed too!
I don't think millets have gone under and I've had a look online to find the shops. I guess I could always order online, but shoes are one of those things you really need to try on to make sure they fit properly.
The work shoes was bizarre - I went into the Clarks in Aldershot and, as suspected, they had several designs that would have been suitable, but some of them were incredibly expensive (£70 for shoes for work!) and those that weren't they didn't seem to have any sizes that fit. The ones I did try on were too small and they didn't have the next size up.
I then tried this cheap shoe place up the road, but they were awful - like walking on planks of wood.
There is a shoe shop in the town I work in so I'll try looking in there, or they could probably order them, but overall it was bizarre that I couldn't find any.
Monday, 3 October 2011
cash strapped
I've been having some serious financial issues just recently.
There are a number of causes.
The primary one is my spend-thrift ways (you don't acquire hundreds of unwatched DVDs and unread books without spending a hell of a lot of money), but extra pressure has recently been building due to the rise in the cost of living.
In particular, Petrol now costs an absolute fortune. I easily spend more than £100 a month, which is getting on for half as much again as I spent four years ago and in that time I've not had any pay increases.
But also, this last month I tried to "pre-invest" in electricity and spent a total of £150 to try to build up a bit of a cushion. Now that's a lot of money, but I felt it was necessary because my electricity supplier has increased their rates by 11%. This is particularly worrisome as I've heard serious predictions that this winter is going to be another super cold one.
Apparently we're going to have this warm spell, and then temperatures are going to plummet. I hope they don't plummet too far before I go on holiday. I'm going down to Devon at the end of October, which is a bit later than I would usually do, but I felt I needed to fit in with other people's holidays a bit. It's also already booked, so I can't change it.
My landlord is apparently going to plumb some heating in across from his place while I'm holiday, which will hopefully help a bit with heating (it's the electricity for heating that really hits me during the winter) although it's going to mean my rent will go up a fiver. Also I won't have any control over it, so it'll only be on at certain times and of course during summer I won't use it, so although it might only sound like £5 a month for heating, it's probably more like £10 a month during winter. So helpful, but I'm still going to be spending a fair old bit on heating.
I've also had to buy some more clothes. When I switched over the summer cloths I actually chucked a few clothes away. This was partly because they were getting very worn out, but also because I'd lost a lot of weight.
Back then of course I thought I'd loose more over summer, but I haven't so I'm still having to buy outsize clothes, which are more expensive. I'm not sure why they're more expensive - aren't all clothes made in sweatshops in Malaysia? I mean, I know there's more cloth in big clothes, but surely cloth costs next to nothing and there's not that much more labour involved, surely?
Anyway, point is I've had to buy a new coat, a suit, some new belts and I've also bought a new work shirt. As mentioned, I threw some clothes away and I actually threw too many shirts away, so I have to get some shirts or I'll be wearing short sleeve shirts right into winter!
I only got one shirt, more as an experiment than anything else, as I measured my collar size and, to be frank, I couldn't actually believe the size, which was 16 inches. I've a feeling that the shirt I've therefore ordered will fit my neck, but probably not my waist!
Also, I've had a review of my pension and it's gone up as a result. I'm in a bit of a weird position with my pension in that I started it way "ahead of the game" but then I failed to really capitalise on that and increase it in line with my wage. Now, the flip side to that is that there was a miss communication when I set it up and my contribution was nearly double what it should have been, but still, now that I'm on a lot more I should be contributing more so that I'll have a good pension when I retire.
Which, if you think about it, is really just another reflection of how bad I am with organising my finances.
I therefore got a bunch of stuff on e-bay this last weekend, and also identified some other stuff I could put on next weekend. But the truth is I'm running out of old stuff I could e-bay and really need to go through things I've got on my to do piles in order to sell them.
There are a number of causes.
The primary one is my spend-thrift ways (you don't acquire hundreds of unwatched DVDs and unread books without spending a hell of a lot of money), but extra pressure has recently been building due to the rise in the cost of living.
In particular, Petrol now costs an absolute fortune. I easily spend more than £100 a month, which is getting on for half as much again as I spent four years ago and in that time I've not had any pay increases.
But also, this last month I tried to "pre-invest" in electricity and spent a total of £150 to try to build up a bit of a cushion. Now that's a lot of money, but I felt it was necessary because my electricity supplier has increased their rates by 11%. This is particularly worrisome as I've heard serious predictions that this winter is going to be another super cold one.
Apparently we're going to have this warm spell, and then temperatures are going to plummet. I hope they don't plummet too far before I go on holiday. I'm going down to Devon at the end of October, which is a bit later than I would usually do, but I felt I needed to fit in with other people's holidays a bit. It's also already booked, so I can't change it.
My landlord is apparently going to plumb some heating in across from his place while I'm holiday, which will hopefully help a bit with heating (it's the electricity for heating that really hits me during the winter) although it's going to mean my rent will go up a fiver. Also I won't have any control over it, so it'll only be on at certain times and of course during summer I won't use it, so although it might only sound like £5 a month for heating, it's probably more like £10 a month during winter. So helpful, but I'm still going to be spending a fair old bit on heating.
I've also had to buy some more clothes. When I switched over the summer cloths I actually chucked a few clothes away. This was partly because they were getting very worn out, but also because I'd lost a lot of weight.
Back then of course I thought I'd loose more over summer, but I haven't so I'm still having to buy outsize clothes, which are more expensive. I'm not sure why they're more expensive - aren't all clothes made in sweatshops in Malaysia? I mean, I know there's more cloth in big clothes, but surely cloth costs next to nothing and there's not that much more labour involved, surely?
Anyway, point is I've had to buy a new coat, a suit, some new belts and I've also bought a new work shirt. As mentioned, I threw some clothes away and I actually threw too many shirts away, so I have to get some shirts or I'll be wearing short sleeve shirts right into winter!
I only got one shirt, more as an experiment than anything else, as I measured my collar size and, to be frank, I couldn't actually believe the size, which was 16 inches. I've a feeling that the shirt I've therefore ordered will fit my neck, but probably not my waist!
Also, I've had a review of my pension and it's gone up as a result. I'm in a bit of a weird position with my pension in that I started it way "ahead of the game" but then I failed to really capitalise on that and increase it in line with my wage. Now, the flip side to that is that there was a miss communication when I set it up and my contribution was nearly double what it should have been, but still, now that I'm on a lot more I should be contributing more so that I'll have a good pension when I retire.
Which, if you think about it, is really just another reflection of how bad I am with organising my finances.
I therefore got a bunch of stuff on e-bay this last weekend, and also identified some other stuff I could put on next weekend. But the truth is I'm running out of old stuff I could e-bay and really need to go through things I've got on my to do piles in order to sell them.
Monday, 18 July 2011
crappy weekend
What a crappy weekend.
It started out being rubbish on the Friday, when I made the stupid decision to bake a cake. I think I mentioned before last week was holiday from the diet and stuff, so I thought I'd go out on a blow-out. That was fine, except baking a cake was definitely the wrong decision. A far better decision would have been to make some fairy cakes or something like that, as it would have put far, far less of a burden on me to have to eat such a lot of bad stuff.
Actually, technically it started with the shower buggering up. This was inconvenient, but I think it's clear from what I posted last week that I was expecting it to be a relatively simple fix - some pipe was blocked or something.
When I got back my landlord told me that the shower was completely knackered, he'd taken it off the wall and couldn't get a new one until Monday at the earliest. That meant I'd have to use his, which means I've been wandering into his house at 7AM every morning to use his shower.
But Saturday's rubbishness really got going when I went to the recycling centre. Now exactly where and how it happened I don't know, but as I was driving away I realised I had a load of wet pain on me. Whether this was from some area of wet paint they'd painted or because of something someone had spilt or what I don't know, but it's ruined my coat.
It's white emulsion paint by the looks of things and I had a half-hearted attempt to hand wash my coat and it had no impact on it whatsoever. I mean, I'm not fundamentally bothered about the coat - it's very old, the zip is knackered and it's now too big for me, but the point is it was another area where I was trying to hold on and not spend any money. Now I've got to as the summer is providing to have lots of spells of shit weather and I can't really go to work in a coat spattered with white paint.
And that was another shit thing - the weather was rubbish this weekend. Every time I thought I had a bit of slot to go for a walk it was raining or just about to. It's nearly August, it shouldn't be like this, surely.
Saturday evening I watched the Thin Red Line, which was shit. I've seen good reviews, but I thought it was awful - like an attempt at an art house war movie and way too long with it. I'll review it properly, but there's three hours of my life I won't get back.
Because my PVR recording went tits up I was also forced to watch a bunch of stuff on Saturday. Not that I minded the stuff itself, it was more that because stuff often expires after a week on the iPlayer (which is otherwise marvellous) I had to watch it all on Saturday, just in case.
Sunday the rubbishness was initially focused around the photos and posts about the Grand Prix. I'd thought I'd be able to rattle them off in an hour or two, but it took well over four hours and I'm still only about half way through. I guess that four hours actually includes the time I spent on putting some e-bay auctions together, but I'm pretty smooth with that now, so I don't think that took much time.
Of course e-baying is always a bit depressing, so I didn't really enjoy that either. Especially as I realised now I've somehow missed a couple of things I was keen to get on.
I'll continue tomorrow.
It started out being rubbish on the Friday, when I made the stupid decision to bake a cake. I think I mentioned before last week was holiday from the diet and stuff, so I thought I'd go out on a blow-out. That was fine, except baking a cake was definitely the wrong decision. A far better decision would have been to make some fairy cakes or something like that, as it would have put far, far less of a burden on me to have to eat such a lot of bad stuff.
Actually, technically it started with the shower buggering up. This was inconvenient, but I think it's clear from what I posted last week that I was expecting it to be a relatively simple fix - some pipe was blocked or something.
When I got back my landlord told me that the shower was completely knackered, he'd taken it off the wall and couldn't get a new one until Monday at the earliest. That meant I'd have to use his, which means I've been wandering into his house at 7AM every morning to use his shower.
But Saturday's rubbishness really got going when I went to the recycling centre. Now exactly where and how it happened I don't know, but as I was driving away I realised I had a load of wet pain on me. Whether this was from some area of wet paint they'd painted or because of something someone had spilt or what I don't know, but it's ruined my coat.
It's white emulsion paint by the looks of things and I had a half-hearted attempt to hand wash my coat and it had no impact on it whatsoever. I mean, I'm not fundamentally bothered about the coat - it's very old, the zip is knackered and it's now too big for me, but the point is it was another area where I was trying to hold on and not spend any money. Now I've got to as the summer is providing to have lots of spells of shit weather and I can't really go to work in a coat spattered with white paint.
And that was another shit thing - the weather was rubbish this weekend. Every time I thought I had a bit of slot to go for a walk it was raining or just about to. It's nearly August, it shouldn't be like this, surely.
Saturday evening I watched the Thin Red Line, which was shit. I've seen good reviews, but I thought it was awful - like an attempt at an art house war movie and way too long with it. I'll review it properly, but there's three hours of my life I won't get back.
Because my PVR recording went tits up I was also forced to watch a bunch of stuff on Saturday. Not that I minded the stuff itself, it was more that because stuff often expires after a week on the iPlayer (which is otherwise marvellous) I had to watch it all on Saturday, just in case.
Sunday the rubbishness was initially focused around the photos and posts about the Grand Prix. I'd thought I'd be able to rattle them off in an hour or two, but it took well over four hours and I'm still only about half way through. I guess that four hours actually includes the time I spent on putting some e-bay auctions together, but I'm pretty smooth with that now, so I don't think that took much time.
Of course e-baying is always a bit depressing, so I didn't really enjoy that either. Especially as I realised now I've somehow missed a couple of things I was keen to get on.
I'll continue tomorrow.
Friday, 1 July 2011
emperor's new clothes
In light of my trip to the British GP next week, this coming weekend represents the last chance for me to pick up whatever bits and pieces I need. I've pretty much got everything bar a few odds and sods of toiletries and things.
I bought some new clothes, partly so I'd have some stuff that wasn't worn out, like most of my clothes, but also because I figured it was about time I took the plunge and bought some clothes that are a better fit now I'm a bit smaller.
Buying these are the clothes I've been dreading, for a couple of reasons. For one, I'm not actually sure what size I am now, and I wasn't sure whether to go a bit tight with the expectation that they'll then last longer as I continue to slim down.
Another problem is just that - as I slim down I could be in a situation of having spent a lot on clothes than I can only wear for a few months before needing to replace again.
But I decided to take the plunge, with a variety of results.
The shorts, T-shirts and casual shirts all appear to fit great (I now roughly appear to be a 3XL, rather than the 5XL I was at my peak). The boxers I bought are way to tight (this, I think, is more to do with the style of them than an incorrect size selection - I like loose boxers), the trousers are just slightly too tight (Despite stating the same waste measurement as the shorts, holding them up next to each other shows them to be slightly smaller. This is one of the problems of big sizes - you get manufacturing differences in all clothes, but with big sizes you're often buying in the dark from online places.) and the belt I bought is a bit rubbish. It's a good fit,. but it has this weird design that I'm not hugely comfortable with.
It's been an expensive week generally, actually. I had my car into the garage as my lock was making the appalling grinding noise. According to the guy it was due to an actuator and is quite common. He reckoned they can go for ages and never fail, but I thought it safer to get it replaced. The part wasn't too bad, but (from experience) car doors are horrible things to work on, so the labour was pretty heavy.
I also got them to recharge the aircon, following this last weekend's horrendous heat wave. I switched on my air con and found it to be a bit wimpy. It is four years since I got the car, so I guess that's not a bad length of time for it, and we did have some pretty hot summers so I got quite a lot out of it.
My aircon unit at home was also a life (or, at least, sleep) saver, cooling my room down so I could get some shut-eye. The heat wave was exactly the sort of weather that inspired me to get it in the first place. And despite it having cost a fortune it's nights like those where I think of it as the best thing I've ever bought.
So yeah, I've put some fairly big holes in my finances over the last couple of weeks and the next couple are likely to be pretty expensive too.
Hopefully, some e-baying will take the sting out a bit.
I bought some new clothes, partly so I'd have some stuff that wasn't worn out, like most of my clothes, but also because I figured it was about time I took the plunge and bought some clothes that are a better fit now I'm a bit smaller.
Buying these are the clothes I've been dreading, for a couple of reasons. For one, I'm not actually sure what size I am now, and I wasn't sure whether to go a bit tight with the expectation that they'll then last longer as I continue to slim down.
Another problem is just that - as I slim down I could be in a situation of having spent a lot on clothes than I can only wear for a few months before needing to replace again.
But I decided to take the plunge, with a variety of results.
The shorts, T-shirts and casual shirts all appear to fit great (I now roughly appear to be a 3XL, rather than the 5XL I was at my peak). The boxers I bought are way to tight (this, I think, is more to do with the style of them than an incorrect size selection - I like loose boxers), the trousers are just slightly too tight (Despite stating the same waste measurement as the shorts, holding them up next to each other shows them to be slightly smaller. This is one of the problems of big sizes - you get manufacturing differences in all clothes, but with big sizes you're often buying in the dark from online places.) and the belt I bought is a bit rubbish. It's a good fit,. but it has this weird design that I'm not hugely comfortable with.
It's been an expensive week generally, actually. I had my car into the garage as my lock was making the appalling grinding noise. According to the guy it was due to an actuator and is quite common. He reckoned they can go for ages and never fail, but I thought it safer to get it replaced. The part wasn't too bad, but (from experience) car doors are horrible things to work on, so the labour was pretty heavy.
I also got them to recharge the aircon, following this last weekend's horrendous heat wave. I switched on my air con and found it to be a bit wimpy. It is four years since I got the car, so I guess that's not a bad length of time for it, and we did have some pretty hot summers so I got quite a lot out of it.
My aircon unit at home was also a life (or, at least, sleep) saver, cooling my room down so I could get some shut-eye. The heat wave was exactly the sort of weather that inspired me to get it in the first place. And despite it having cost a fortune it's nights like those where I think of it as the best thing I've ever bought.
So yeah, I've put some fairly big holes in my finances over the last couple of weeks and the next couple are likely to be pretty expensive too.
Hopefully, some e-baying will take the sting out a bit.
Friday, 15 April 2011
weekend plans
This weekend I'm doing something a little different, as I'm going to see a friend who lives all the way over in Cambridge as it's her birthday.
I've not seen her in what must be years, so it will be good to see her again. I'm planning to make some fairy cakes to take along just as a sort of little gift and to add a few more calories into the mix! Part of the reason I described last week's weight gain as a disaster is that I'd been planning this Saturday as a "day off" from the diet, so I'm expecting the goodies this weekend will have a similar sort of impact.
It's also the Chinese grand prix this weekend, so I'm going to be thoroughly busy watching that as well.
I seem to recall China is an okay race. Apparently it has the longest straight on the Formula one calendar, so we'll have to see how the DRS fairs.
I'm also rather glad I couldn't be bothered to swap my summer and winter clothes over last weekend, as it's gone decidedly chilly as this weeks gone on. Hopefully it'll perk back up again, though - I'm definitely going to make the switch come Easter, so if it's a cold summer I'll be annoyed.
Saying that, though, last weekend it really was a bit warm for the clothes I had available - a pair of shorts would definitely not have gone amiss.
I've not seen her in what must be years, so it will be good to see her again. I'm planning to make some fairy cakes to take along just as a sort of little gift and to add a few more calories into the mix! Part of the reason I described last week's weight gain as a disaster is that I'd been planning this Saturday as a "day off" from the diet, so I'm expecting the goodies this weekend will have a similar sort of impact.
It's also the Chinese grand prix this weekend, so I'm going to be thoroughly busy watching that as well.
I seem to recall China is an okay race. Apparently it has the longest straight on the Formula one calendar, so we'll have to see how the DRS fairs.
I'm also rather glad I couldn't be bothered to swap my summer and winter clothes over last weekend, as it's gone decidedly chilly as this weeks gone on. Hopefully it'll perk back up again, though - I'm definitely going to make the switch come Easter, so if it's a cold summer I'll be annoyed.
Saying that, though, last weekend it really was a bit warm for the clothes I had available - a pair of shorts would definitely not have gone amiss.
Friday, 8 April 2011
malaysian grand prix
It's the Malaysian F1 GP this weekend.
Being in Malaysia it's another one that's on at weird times, which I tend to find is a bit of a double-edged sword. It does mean that I can basically watch it at my leisure, but it also means there's a very good chance that the results will be spoiled for me. Football seems to be the only sport where they warn you the results are coming up.
I don't actually remember whether the Malaysian GP is usually a good one or not. My general feeling about most of the new circuits is that they tend not to be very good race, but there are a few exceptions.
I don't really have many other plans for the weekend. It's a bedsit cleaning weekend, so that in combination with the GP and the usual walking and scanning stuff is likely to absorb most all of my time. Part of me is hoping that the warm weather persists into the weekend, but another part of me is hoping it doesn't get warmer.
With all the sorting out and re-arranging of stuff I had to do I decided to put all my summer clothes and summer bits (like desk fans and the gubbins for my air conditioner) out in the shed. The idea was to operate a swapsy system where when it comes warm I can put stuff I use in winter out in the shed instead.
This is okay in theory, but with Easter being so late and the sudden-ness of the shift to warm weather, I've ended up with the annoying situation of having my winter clothes in the warm weather. I was debating as to whether I should go through the boxes this weekend instead of waiting to Easter, but I'm not sure I'll have the time or that I can really be arsed.
I guess an important point to note this year will actually be that I'm going to throw away quite a lot of my winter clothes. I've lost sufficient weight that most of them are too big, but many of them are also in pretty bad shape. Buying clothes is not something I do a lot of, not least of all because sizes big enough to fit me (eventually that'll be "the old me", I guess :/) are not cheap.
I'll probably be hanging on to t-shirts the longest, I think. Hugely baggy t-shirts will look daft, but at least they won't fall down like hugely baggy trousers. Thinking about it, I'll actually be able to start using all the old printed t-shirts I used to buy but that never fit me.
But also thinking about it, I've a feeling I may have to buy some shorts - there are obviously shorts in my stash of summer clothes, but I'm guessing they will also be rather loose. This whole weight loss thing could become expensive - I guess it's the flip-side to the reduction in cost of my weekly food bills. But at least when I get down to more normal sizes, regular clothes can be bought pretty cheap, thanks to the sweat shops of the world. God bless unrestrained capitalism.
Being in Malaysia it's another one that's on at weird times, which I tend to find is a bit of a double-edged sword. It does mean that I can basically watch it at my leisure, but it also means there's a very good chance that the results will be spoiled for me. Football seems to be the only sport where they warn you the results are coming up.
I don't actually remember whether the Malaysian GP is usually a good one or not. My general feeling about most of the new circuits is that they tend not to be very good race, but there are a few exceptions.
I don't really have many other plans for the weekend. It's a bedsit cleaning weekend, so that in combination with the GP and the usual walking and scanning stuff is likely to absorb most all of my time. Part of me is hoping that the warm weather persists into the weekend, but another part of me is hoping it doesn't get warmer.
With all the sorting out and re-arranging of stuff I had to do I decided to put all my summer clothes and summer bits (like desk fans and the gubbins for my air conditioner) out in the shed. The idea was to operate a swapsy system where when it comes warm I can put stuff I use in winter out in the shed instead.
This is okay in theory, but with Easter being so late and the sudden-ness of the shift to warm weather, I've ended up with the annoying situation of having my winter clothes in the warm weather. I was debating as to whether I should go through the boxes this weekend instead of waiting to Easter, but I'm not sure I'll have the time or that I can really be arsed.
I guess an important point to note this year will actually be that I'm going to throw away quite a lot of my winter clothes. I've lost sufficient weight that most of them are too big, but many of them are also in pretty bad shape. Buying clothes is not something I do a lot of, not least of all because sizes big enough to fit me (eventually that'll be "the old me", I guess :/) are not cheap.
I'll probably be hanging on to t-shirts the longest, I think. Hugely baggy t-shirts will look daft, but at least they won't fall down like hugely baggy trousers. Thinking about it, I'll actually be able to start using all the old printed t-shirts I used to buy but that never fit me.
But also thinking about it, I've a feeling I may have to buy some shorts - there are obviously shorts in my stash of summer clothes, but I'm guessing they will also be rather loose. This whole weight loss thing could become expensive - I guess it's the flip-side to the reduction in cost of my weekly food bills. But at least when I get down to more normal sizes, regular clothes can be bought pretty cheap, thanks to the sweat shops of the world. God bless unrestrained capitalism.
Monday, 29 November 2010
winter clothes
So if you are a fellow occupant of the UK and assuming you don't live in some sort of hermetically-sealed, climate-controlled bubble, I'm sure you've probably noticed the rather sharp downturn in the temperature of recent times.
Or, to put it more succinctly, Holy Mary mother of Jebus H Chrimble it's been cold.
Even though I believe we are now technically in winter (I always loose track with the seasons) it's not normally until after Christmas that the really cold weather bites. It's like even though I think summer starts in June, it's normally August that's the hottest month - or something like that.
Anyway, the point is that it's been really properly cold over the last week or so. And that means I've been re-introduced to the problems of excess clothing.
Well, not excess clothing, but the problem of having to put on lots and lots of clothing.
See, the real issue is that where I work seems to be really bad at retaining heat. It's okay up to a certain point every year, but then after that it never really seems to warm up. I think the reason for this is a combination of factors.
Firstly, it's a big, open plan office, making it difficult to heat. Second, it has a lot of big windows through which heat can escape. Third, the roof insulation is inadequate, again, allowing heat to escape. Fourth, the central heating provision is inadequate, so there's not enough heat provided. And lastly, the boss tries to save money by setting the timing to the minimum we can get away with.
This means that the office is normally cold during winter, so I have to wrap up in lots of clothes. Specifically I end up wearing the following:A vest;
And this all creates the problem that getting dressed in the morning takes at least an 10 minutes and is a total pain. Especially since I also wear a baseball cap, gloves and a coat when I'm outside.
It all becomes a bit tedious eventually. And what makes this even more annoying is that my flat can get really cold as well, so I end up wearing jumpers and extra clothes there too.
I've always said as a general principal I enjoy winter and colder weather, but I think really, I enjoy winter from the perspective of being toasty and warm inside and looking out the window. And in my current work/living circumstances, I don't spend enough time in that state.
Or, to put it more succinctly, Holy Mary mother of Jebus H Chrimble it's been cold.
Even though I believe we are now technically in winter (I always loose track with the seasons) it's not normally until after Christmas that the really cold weather bites. It's like even though I think summer starts in June, it's normally August that's the hottest month - or something like that.
Anyway, the point is that it's been really properly cold over the last week or so. And that means I've been re-introduced to the problems of excess clothing.
Well, not excess clothing, but the problem of having to put on lots and lots of clothing.
See, the real issue is that where I work seems to be really bad at retaining heat. It's okay up to a certain point every year, but then after that it never really seems to warm up. I think the reason for this is a combination of factors.
Firstly, it's a big, open plan office, making it difficult to heat. Second, it has a lot of big windows through which heat can escape. Third, the roof insulation is inadequate, again, allowing heat to escape. Fourth, the central heating provision is inadequate, so there's not enough heat provided. And lastly, the boss tries to save money by setting the timing to the minimum we can get away with.
This means that the office is normally cold during winter, so I have to wrap up in lots of clothes. Specifically I end up wearing the following:A vest;
- A T-shirt;
- A jumper;
- A second pair of socks; and
- My suit jacket.
And this all creates the problem that getting dressed in the morning takes at least an 10 minutes and is a total pain. Especially since I also wear a baseball cap, gloves and a coat when I'm outside.
It all becomes a bit tedious eventually. And what makes this even more annoying is that my flat can get really cold as well, so I end up wearing jumpers and extra clothes there too.
I've always said as a general principal I enjoy winter and colder weather, but I think really, I enjoy winter from the perspective of being toasty and warm inside and looking out the window. And in my current work/living circumstances, I don't spend enough time in that state.
Friday, 26 November 2010
chrimbo is when?
So this Saturday it is, almost unbelievably, exactly four weeks until Christmas.
I think three or four weeks to go is the point where it becomes okay to actively start thinking about this particular holiday. I mean, it's okay to book holiday and stuff, as I generally need to do this some way in advance, but in terms of actively thinking about it as being 'just around the corner', three or four weeks is the time.
I also think this is the point at which Christmas advertising become legitimate. As everyone I get rather annoyed at the steady encroachment of Chrimbo backwards into the year. I genuinely saw my first Chrimbo related shop stuff about a month back and that is way too early.
I'm not the biggest fan of Christmas. It's okay as a point in the year to see your family and friends and I can see the point of celebrating the mid-winter solstice, although the whole Christian side of things does leave an unpleasant taste on my atheistic taste buds. But the whole excess consumption and forced frivolity and joviality doesn't really do anything for me.
Anyway, point is I was thinking about potential gifts this last week. My family has thankfully fully abandoned any sort of ritual f having to guess gifts. We all specifically ask each other for things and it tends to save a lot of hassle, although there's obviously the loss of the magic of the surprise perfect gift.
What I try to do is provide a wide range of options across a broad range of prices. So there'll be a few books on the list, which will only be around a tenner, then there'll be a few DVDs heading up into the £20 bracket, and maybe a couple of games, which are more around £30-£40.
That way the family can get me a combination that suits their particular budget, but also maintains an element of surprise for me as there's more stuff on there than they could sensibly all buy me.
There'll also be some specific gift requests for my Dad, who likes to buy a bigger, more substantial present. Usually this revolves around some particular gadget - my bread maker, for example. But this year I have to confess something of a difference. This year I want clothes.
See, recently I've really noticed that my body is changing.
I know that's a fairly obvious thing to say, given the extent of the weight loss, but it's only really recently that I've been able to actually see changes in my body. And more specifically and important, my trousers are getting to the point of proper looseness.
In particular, there's a pair of jeans that only stay aloft due to a thoroughly tightened belt. Then there's the work trousers, where I have one pair that's slightly looser and I'm in danger of loosing them on occasion. And with my work belt I regularly find myself tightening it to the fifth hole, which was previously unimaginable. Even my elasticised tracksuit bottoms are more reliant on the drawstring than the actual elastic.
This is all really good, but it means I'm going to have to start buying new clothes. Trouble is I know they're only going to be temporary. In however many months (three or four) I'm surely going to need a whole load of new clothes.
Hence I've actually asked my dad for cash. Hopefully I can get some really cheap clothes that I won't mind replacing. Maybe there'll even be some cash left over that I can use to offset the next wave of clothes buying? Or perhaps my birthday present and next year's Christmas presents are also pre-decided!
I think three or four weeks to go is the point where it becomes okay to actively start thinking about this particular holiday. I mean, it's okay to book holiday and stuff, as I generally need to do this some way in advance, but in terms of actively thinking about it as being 'just around the corner', three or four weeks is the time.
I also think this is the point at which Christmas advertising become legitimate. As everyone I get rather annoyed at the steady encroachment of Chrimbo backwards into the year. I genuinely saw my first Chrimbo related shop stuff about a month back and that is way too early.
I'm not the biggest fan of Christmas. It's okay as a point in the year to see your family and friends and I can see the point of celebrating the mid-winter solstice, although the whole Christian side of things does leave an unpleasant taste on my atheistic taste buds. But the whole excess consumption and forced frivolity and joviality doesn't really do anything for me.
Anyway, point is I was thinking about potential gifts this last week. My family has thankfully fully abandoned any sort of ritual f having to guess gifts. We all specifically ask each other for things and it tends to save a lot of hassle, although there's obviously the loss of the magic of the surprise perfect gift.
What I try to do is provide a wide range of options across a broad range of prices. So there'll be a few books on the list, which will only be around a tenner, then there'll be a few DVDs heading up into the £20 bracket, and maybe a couple of games, which are more around £30-£40.
That way the family can get me a combination that suits their particular budget, but also maintains an element of surprise for me as there's more stuff on there than they could sensibly all buy me.
There'll also be some specific gift requests for my Dad, who likes to buy a bigger, more substantial present. Usually this revolves around some particular gadget - my bread maker, for example. But this year I have to confess something of a difference. This year I want clothes.
See, recently I've really noticed that my body is changing.
I know that's a fairly obvious thing to say, given the extent of the weight loss, but it's only really recently that I've been able to actually see changes in my body. And more specifically and important, my trousers are getting to the point of proper looseness.
In particular, there's a pair of jeans that only stay aloft due to a thoroughly tightened belt. Then there's the work trousers, where I have one pair that's slightly looser and I'm in danger of loosing them on occasion. And with my work belt I regularly find myself tightening it to the fifth hole, which was previously unimaginable. Even my elasticised tracksuit bottoms are more reliant on the drawstring than the actual elastic.
This is all really good, but it means I'm going to have to start buying new clothes. Trouble is I know they're only going to be temporary. In however many months (three or four) I'm surely going to need a whole load of new clothes.
Hence I've actually asked my dad for cash. Hopefully I can get some really cheap clothes that I won't mind replacing. Maybe there'll even be some cash left over that I can use to offset the next wave of clothes buying? Or perhaps my birthday present and next year's Christmas presents are also pre-decided!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)