Staying around home in Covid times means a lot more tidying and clearing than would normally be the case. Cupboards need to be investigated, stored boxes opened and bulging laundry bags unzipped to reveal their secrets. As part of one such investigation I espy some brightly coloured patchwork in the bottom of a bag of old clothes.
Wow. Immediate recognition. I did not know that I had kept this piece of clothing. It’s about 60 years old (and still to my mind very stylish). Finding a storage bacg of material oddments back n the 50s, my godmother - who was not a greatly practical person at all - decided to get into patchwork. She made some great cushion covers and then progressed to other things. These were the post war days when gals wanted to be glamorous but there wasn’t a lot of money around for shop bought clothes so many people made their own.
My godmother made her two teenage daughters circular skirts with brightly coloured pieces of curtain material. I remember seeing the girls wearing their new skirts with a plain black scoop neck top and some bright jewellery. They were 3 and 6 years older than me and seemed unbelievably sophisticated. I’m sure the girls would say now that they cringed at home made clothing and particularly a skirt made of bits of old curtains. But I thought that the skirts were wonderful and remembered wondering when I would be able to wear such an outfit. I didn’t have to wait long. My godmother read my thoughts well and made me my very own skirt.
I tugged at the colourful patchwork in the bag and there it was still all in one piece. How I loved that skirt! I got my own black top and jazzy necklace and I too became wonderfully sophisticated. I know that it stayed a key part of my wardrobe for many years and I could never quite bring myself to throw it out.
What memories it brought back! Closer inspection brought disbelief. Was that the waist? Was it possible that this garment once fitted me?
The waist measures 23 inches. We did go in for small waists in those days and the modern girl has a different shape. I remember offering it to a slender niece when she was in her teens - and she admitted that it was way too small for her.
I don’t remember ever seeing a photograph of me in this wonderful skirt - but there must be one somewhere. The tinyness of its size led me to look down at myself and what do I see? No waist at all and indeed, could it be true - I may have developed a LST - a lockdown spare tyre. OMG where did that come from? It is indeed very tyre like and has given me a totally new shape or should I say a remarkable shapelessness. I can still see my feet, thank goodness.
The Brel fry up. With discounted foie gras because restaurants are closed we managed a plateful of sautéed FG with Brel apples and a potato rosti - a rare bit of indulgence. Naughty but v nice.
I thought that I had been very careful - not eating too much (wrong), not drinking too much (wrong) and getting a reasonable amount of exercise in the garden (wrong). I little bit of truthful analysis made me remember the rather too-often treats: special home-made breads, extra creamy cheeses, crispy fried potatoes, strawberries WITH cream, raspberries WITH cream, iceCREAM and the list goes on even though treats have not been every day and portions have been modest size.
Then there are the GnTs, the French 75s the Manhattens and the Negronis and all the wonderful wines from the cellar. Oh dear.
But I did all that weeding and even some digging in the garden. Even during the hottest time there was watering to be done and endless trips from flower bed to barn to greenhouse to find the fork you’d left behind. And now more digging over and weeding and planting. How can it have happened?
Clearly having spent the first months of COVID developing a LST I must spend what will probably be the next 6 months getting rid of it.
The exercise bicycle with a view
I have developed my own 10 point plan for finding a waist - not the tiny waist of my teens but one suitable for an older person with a heredity for putting on weight in maturity! The worry is that the new shape is just my body getting older and change will be very hard But here goes....
Eat less
Treats are not for every day
Cocktails are for special occasions
Wine means low on quantity high on quality
50 sit ups are not enough - 100 are better
10 minutes static bike is not enough - half an hour is better
Gardening means really heavy work and building up a sweat
Keep moving - except when a cat is on your lap
Eat less
Smile and laugh as much as you can