It's Saturday. Phil is home from Spain. Our daughter's partner is at home for the weekend so I don't need to rush off and be useful to the household with the new baby. And so, Saturday settles into its old routine: get up, go for a run, come home and shower, have a latish breakfast, walk to the supermarket and return on the bus with enough food to feed a small army just in case our daughter and family accept the standing invitation and descend on us for Sunday tea.
And then I read the papers and find snippets of stuff that tickle my fancy.
Bradley Wiggins, 36, is contemplating what to do with the rest of his life. He's won the Tour de France. He's won gold medals. He was made a knight, for goodness sake! And now he says he's retiring from the sport but he's not sure what to do. It must be hard, not wanting to be remembered as "that cyclist with side burns", not wanting to spend his time going on TV shows like A Question of Sport, but unsure what he really wants to do.
Ironically, or perhaps quite seriously, Sir Brad says he can't go and work stacking shelves in a supermarket, something he refers to as a "normal job". Maybe he could do what so many models, actors and, yes, even sportspeople, seem to do these days: design clothes. He has already designed bikes for Halfords so he has a head start. But we have to agree with him that 36 is a tiny bit too young to start talking about retiring and doing nothing for ever more.
I am used to reading recipes in the weekend papers with ingredients that I don't have any chance whatsoever of finding in the local co-op, and not much better chance of finding them in the supermarkets around here. Today in a recipe for "Indian spiced sweetcorn fritters with ginger yoghurt" most of the ingredients listed turned out to be easily obtainable. I was quite impressed and then I came across "one teaspoon of nigella seeds"!! What on earth are "nigella seeds". Has celebrity chef Nigella Lawson been producing a range of products (something that TV cooks do, just as models design clothes) or are they seeds that would grow into little Nigellas if you planted them. I am imagining little Nigellas about the size of Thumbelina!
A little further on in my Saturday paper reading I came across a thing about thigh-high boots designed by Kanye West. Another celebrity "creative". (Apart from Paul McCartney's daughter, I have not read anything about any of these famous people having any training in fashion, art and design, how to make clothing, or anything else fashion related!)
Thigh-high boots always make me think of pantomimes, specifically women playing the male lead and slapping their thighs.
What amused me in particular about the article was the advice on how to wear them. "The over-the-knee boot has become an important category within our boot range," said a footwear and bags buying manager, "due to the different heel heights and the appeal for many occasions, from day to night." So, not just pantomime wear then!
The article went on: "They can be worn in different weather conditions (Wow!! Who knew that?) with dresses or skirts, over skinny jeans, sweater dresses and more." Now, that's reassuring!
It doesn't stop there: "They work well with midi dresses, elongate the leg and are equally stylish in more of a daytime look with luxe knitwear layered with a longer length coat. Or, indeed, worn with no coat at all."
Golly! I am so well informed. It's a pity I have no over-the-knee boots!
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Nigella sativa = black cummin. BTW, do you have a knead.....kneed....need for over-the-knee boots?
ReplyDeletePlease extract an "M" from earlier comment, as it's cumin. OTOH, it's also called black caraway, so tautologically, one could be carried away whilst coming back. Groan!
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