I always thought I'd be a grown up when I grew up

I am not a cylinder. Now can clothes designers please start allowing for this? Also, please could "Petite" ranges start allowing for short backs as well as short arms, and then realise that - on a short torso - boobs will be comparatively closer to the waist than on a long one?

I *did* get a suit, but only because it was half price (hence £63) at Principles, and so I don't mind that it isn't ideal. It's not as if I wear one every day, after all.

This has clarified why I hate being a size 14 as well. When I'm a 12, I'm a sensible shape. I fit into clothes, I'm in proportion (mostly) and don't find that things fit one part of me and not another. When I put on weight, clothes sag, and gape, and pull, and aren't the same shape as me any more. All but one of the pairs of trousers I tried on were too tight on the waist and loose over the hips (or vice versa), and all looked like "old fat person's clothes" - cut to drape, and skim across the lumps, and hide cellulite. They were one step away from elasticated waists sold at the back of the Sunday colour supplements.

At least I found 3 nice jersey tops (Per Una & Planet - when did I become middle aged?) and some nice knee boots with a sensible 2" heel (in Clarks, ferchrissakes - there's no hope).

And, for some reason, I'm now so cold that my nipples hurt, and I'm having to warm them up with a nice cup of tea. Nothing like sharing the pain :D

For some reason, I'm shattered today. My eyes will hardly stay open, my head's full of cotton wool and if I laid down I'd be asleep within 5 minutes. That's after a pint of Starbucks and a blueberry muffin, too.

A brief canter thrugh the past couple of days:

Monday I discovered that Cheshire Oaks takes about the same time to get to as does the city centre, that munchkinott is just as good (bad?) at puns in RL as she is online (and has Good Hair, which I covet, for mine is being hypersensitive atm) and that neither of the toy shops stock much (if any) Technical Lego. Poo. I forgot to go back for the pack of Bottom Trumps cards, too...

Yesterday I went out to see a client :) Not bad, didn't have The Fear (a Good Thing), saw a Cayman on the way (absolutely stunning, like a crouched panther, complete with haunches) and had one of the rare "oh yes - there *are* some good things about Manchester" moments walking to the office froom the G-Mex car park. It's great when a DB9 stops early to let you across the road, and the 575M in front inches forward a bit to give you & your heavy bags more space to cross :) The only problem was remembering to cross and not stand in the middle of the road, gawping. Well, that and fighting the urge to lick them ;)

My car is definitely still up for sale; *reasonable* offers welcome. Urgency has reduced, since Py's Alfa has had a reprieve, but that just means I'm looking out for one with a hard top instead. To put this into perspectinve, the only achievable car I've wanted since I first saw one, that still makes my toes curl and for which I'll tolerate extortionate repair bills, is the TVR Griffith. An Alfa Spider with a hard top is a pretty close second.

Now to pretend to work and try not to snore :)

Oh, what a lovely weekend.

nurse_liz came to visit and we both calmed down after respective stresses of work and driving through Tintwistle, with the help of a bottle of Merlot and Domino's pizzas. nurse_liz even stopped sneezing sometime during the night, which was a Good Thing.

nannyo met us at the station, and we wandered round a foody market before finding Affleck's Palace for lunch, before being joined by tooth_fairy and mrmmarc (who made himself popular by being able to quote Shakespeare accurately), and then cryx.

We swore mrmmarc to secrecy regarding What Goes On during girly shopping trips, and took him to Abakhan Fabrics, where he was scared by the large polystyrene piles cushions rings. Bought some yarn because it was called Firefly and, over coffee, discovered it's s total bitch to knit. Nice string trio & singer doing carols in Piccadilly Gardens to take my mind off it, though. I didn't wince at her tuning once.

Home, chicken stoo, and nurse_liz dressed up as me while I dressed up as her. I can't remember the last time I left the house wearing nothing black. Not even my shoes and knickers were black. (Socks don't count*.)

Great time around Canal Street and Fab Cafe (hurrah for Steppenwolf!) and obligatory chips. nurse_liz's beatiful pink hair pulled everywhere we went, too.

Much, much knitting too. nurse_liz is managing to knit something that looks like a large hamster pelt out of tadpoles.

All in all, I appear to have lost my phobia & worry about having friends to stay :) Oooh, and even Pootlecat liked nurse_liz, and didn't *always* run away from nannyo.

Oh, and the Bugatti Veyron. The Marcos might have been prettier (I like muscle cars, after all) but oh, the sound and the engine and the design and Oh.

More 911 Carrera letchery though. Bah. Anyone with a hat like that doesn't deserve a Porsche.

The race would have been a lot better had it not been so obviously fixed, and the "problems" with the plane so obviously scripted.


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*No, norfolkian and pink_weasel, I do not have a sock fetish.