Mending required

Hi,

Ah, Friday at last. Wow, this post is going to date in a day’s time isn’t it!😉

It’s seems is that funny period between winter and spring – wring or sprinter? 🤔Also, why have portmanteaus become a thing again? Hint: not recommending spwing, unless you want to sound like Elmer Fudd and you’re hunting wabbits 😉

[ CTRL ALT DEL…. set ADHD-service.exe to low priority 🤓]

The period of time where it’s not quite warm enough to reach for your spring wardrobe and switch up to brighter colours and thinner fabrics. However, having had a few months of warm dressing – and as much as I love the comfort of hygge: rich fabrics, autumn colours, warm tights, etc; like pudding, you can have you fill and want for something else.

Oh, can we take a moment to think of pudding. Mmmm…..

Make do & mend

With a bit of luck towards deflating – I’m not sure I actually weigh less – three skirts that had been nearlies had moved into the too big category. The other fitted just right, so that’s a floaty boho number for when the winter winds pack up.

So, armed with a let’s-just-have-a-go attitude, a sewing kit, and elastic, I set about amending two skirts. One I’ve managed to thread a wide band of elastic into the band of the skirt and sew that shut. The old trick of a safety pin – or former ID badge clip, in my case – helped me work the material all the way around. I’m not 100% sure yet on the fit, but it’s certainly better than the skirt dropping around my (fake) hips, or having to pin it back, which left an annoying fold at the back of the skirt.

The other skirt – a hand-me-down from the Ever Lovely Mrs J – had a much thinner band and despite trying to sew some elastic in, it was clear that the previous trick wasn’t going to work here. When in doubt, improvise and hope…. so said skirt is now with a ‘no tie’ stretchy shoelace bringing a better fit. Hopefully I won’t look like a badly fastened bag of spuds come the spring 😉

Getting out: Plans, Chams, and Hopes

It seems an age since I’ve been out & about, and Val mentioned that the last time we met up – apart from Chams – was some time pre-pandemic. However! The stars may align for a trip out in March, so I’m looking forward to that.

With the idea of getting out, I wondered about getting some flat boots. Provided I pick a classic cut they should be okay for a number of years. Mind you, it’s not like I’m exactly a follower of fashion; I tend to have a style I like and look for things that fit into that vibe.

So I’ve invested in some leather boots from the sale. I’ve yet to wear them to Chams although I did try them last thing before leaving. Sometimes it’s better and easier to make a quick change at the end of the night, and see how something looks when you’ve all the gubbins on (padding, make-up, etc). I think I’m getting used to them, so they’ll be a keeper.

Oh, and I fell upon a cute skirt on Vinted last week and took a punt on the 16 fitting. It arrived just in time for Thursday night, and I was very pleased with the fit. Dare I say, I felt quite pretty in it. I’ll take that as a win.

I was late setting off to Chams. A mix of a long-ish week (despite my upcoming Friday off 💖), getting ready – so shower, packing late, etc; and tending to the hounds.

The good news is that the delayed departure meant the rushhour traffic had abated and it was a fairly quick run around Nottingham to Chams HQ.

As to the evening itself, it was great to see Pat visiting after her run of bad luck on health & family matters, bless her. Likewise we had some returning new folk which is always good to see. When does someone new become a regular? When does someone who’s regular become occasional? Ah, the oddness of language! 😉

Rosalind handed out a quiz and this one was rather tricky… boardering on the dastardly! 😁While it looked like a regular quiz, it certanly wasn’t. Instead, it was very carefully worded and was more of a comprehension test than actual general knowledge. Yes, of course I did terribly! 😆But it’s all just for fun, and I think it’s a good thing to be reminded that skim reading stuff is not taking things in. Perhaps a wee nudge towards Lessons Learned.

Research

A bit of a PS this one and in general, not something I’d usually do. A researcher from a local university got in touch with the group, asking if we could share their study request with the group. We get a fair bit of this and there’s a special section of the Chams’ forum dedicated to it.

The request is around the researching the presence of transphobia within the criminal justice system. If you’re trans, non-binary, and/or gender non-confirming, let me know if you want a copy of the survery link.

Why does this matter? Well – and I’ll try not to pull the soapbox out from under the desk 😉- if the legal system has a bias against a community, how can justice be fair and equal? It’s not like we’ve not been hear before with police forces et al being accused of institutional racism. The Ever Lovely Mrs J shared a summary of the pattern around assaults to women and how few result in actual prosection. Also the incredibly low number of false accusation and how they are weeded out by due process. Enough with the gaslighting and victim blaming already.

Damn: I’ve got the soapbox out 😉

So, yeah, the legal system needs investigating, educating, and having a working group of trans people to act as a sounding board would help too. I also think it’s time we stopped with the hate-lite code term ‘critical’. If you undermine/stealth hate people of colour, you’re a racist; if you gaslight and stealth hate women, you’re a misogynist; against Jewish people? You an anti-semite… You get the idea. Although with any or all of those views, you may also be a shoe-in for a job in a tech firm or all-you-can-froth-BS-bro-cast-news-bleat! Doubly so if you can’t bend your right arm at the elbow 🙄

From the comments in last week’s post, I mentioned that the Good Law Project stated that they were not going to continue with legal action against the hormone blocker situation, as the system felt stacked against them. I’ve read similar things from trans* legal professionals in other areas, and I do not work in law; so I wonder how much of an open secret this is.

So if you are trans* – as in anywhere under the transgender umbrella term – let me know and I’ll email you the link. Your email is already caught as you comment and if you prefer a different address, please use the contact form.

Thanks for reading 🙏
L x