Crinolinerobot's vintage (and covid-free) week

A Work In Progress

It's been forever since I did a general roundup post. So, what's going on Chez Robot?

I'll get the 'rona out of the way first – we've both had a stinking cold but it is not covid. Work issued all employees with boxes of lateral flow tests, and we've both taken them on more than one day and are still negative. That's good, because the virus is currently burning through the population and while Mr Robot doesn't go out much, I have to be in the office three days a week and last week one of my editors tested positive. We know a few people with it now. Most appear to have caught it off of their kids. Bath has the worst rate in the country at present, and the local news reckons the dodgy testing lab that had been sending out false negatives is one of the factors, as kids had been going back to school with the virus and putting it into general circulation.

I've been going to the gym fairly regularly for about seven weeks. All the things I'd read said it would take six to eight weeks to start seeing a result, and given my age and weight I figured it would be the full eight, though I started because my shoulder pain was coming back, and that went more or less immediately. Now there's a slight change in the shape of my shoulders – there's muscle in there somewhere! – and my leggings feel looser in the thighs, and the scales say I'm three pounds down, so it's working. I'm not actually focussing on losing weight right now though. Pre-Christmas I'm just trying to build some muscle and get in the habit of going regularly.

I'd been on the verge of getting rid of loads of my vintage clothing, but the thought of it made me really unhappy. Why? Because I like my clothes. Just getting them out of the wardrobe when I do my mothproofing makes me happy. What I don't like is not being able to wear them. Every time I feel I can't be bothered to go to the gym, I think of all those lovely things and it boosts my willpower. This is my Year Of Self Care, but sometimes self-care isn't bubble baths and cosy socks, it's walking to the gym in the rain because it will stop my shoulders borking again, it'll boost my mood, and it's another small step on the road back to rejoining #teamcrimplene. 

The room's transformed – it looks so good now. It used to be a complete mess.

Our shelves are in! Wood's really pricy right now, and instead of premium timber we opted for scaffolding boards. The shelves replace some rickety six-foot chipboard bookcases we got at Argos about 25 years ago. We'd hoped them being floor to ceiling and going under the window would enable us to get rid of another bookcase in the dining room, and in fact we've been able to clear two others, so now the science fiction books are back with all the rest. It wasn't cheap (lacking DIY skills ourselves, we paid a carpenter) but it's honestly worth every penny. Since lockdown 2020 that room has gone from the 'spare room', an embarrassing dumping ground, to a proper study. It's lovely now, and the shelves are part of that.

Thadingyut was yesterday - it's a Burmese festival that we've marked ever since being back in my granddad's hometown, Maymyo/Pyin Oo Lwin for it one year. It was a more sombre affair this year; since a military coup at the start of the year things have been bad in Burma/Myanmar. Celebrating at a time when so many people are in prison and so many have been killed wouldn't be right. So, we lit the candles and had a quiet meal. 

And that's about it, really – this isn't a time of big happenings, more a time of little activities that hopefully improve things in the long run. I'm planning to watch some vintage horror movies in the run-up to Halloween, so perhaps I'll share those with you. In the meantime, stay safe and 'rona-free!

(By the way, I've been commenting on blogs but I think a few peoples' blogs eat them, so if you haven't seen me pop up lately, I might be in your spam trap. LURKING.)

Pretty red hydrangeas from the latest flower delivery. Beautifully autumnal.