The Spinster's Exploits

After our week of thick-jumper-and-waterproof-footwear-enhanced-nudity and a weekend at his place my Poly free spirit and I are having a weekend to ourselves. Obviously – as per my ramblings here – he does still have my passing thoughts, but a weekend to myself is a source of many small pleasures.

Friday began with tai chi qi gong in a church with sunshine streaming through the stained glass. Stretching my body and feeling its flexibility is a delight, and there is a transcendental feeling that is sometimes glimpsed for me when the moves reach out and up if I am at one with myself despite my usually racing brain.

There was also some desultory tidying and moving things off the floor as the cleaners were expected! I made sure that my bondage kit straps were definitely safely tucked up under the mattress, but they can make what they will of the soft ties and stockings enhancing the foot of my wrought metal bed.

And although I don’t like housework, I do love a tidy, clean house, so was delighted with the results. No apparent breakages and although some of my stuff was – as usual – rearranged, at least there was symmetry! So – a good result as I surveyed my domain and decided to take my clothes off!

I spent the rest of the day until dusk naked in the conservatory. I listened to podcasts of radio 4 stuff, did puzzles, played online Scrabble and read. I have half a dozen or so Scrabble opponents – unknown, except for the friend who introduced me to the site and my delightful PFS. I love Scrabble, so this newish experience of online Scrabble is a real pleasure. In terms of the people I play, my introductory friend, is a good match for me, and my PFS is becoming so!* I win the majority of games among the rest.

I still love hanji/picture logic/nonogram puzzles and have magazines of giant sized ones. I have however, been seduced – as so often! – by pads of mixed puzzles. I make myself do them in order, so I have to wait for the pleasure of my favourites and get an irritated enjoyment from the inevitable word searches. I am unbelievably slow with both word searches and sudoku but very dogged!

And my reading pleasures are varied. As well as recent delves into stuff I’ve read before and new novels I’ve uploaded to my tablet, there is the joy of library books and borrowed books.

An unplanned read was Harry’s “Spare”. Not sure how it came up, but a friend in her fifties said she had an unread copy and I said I was an anti-royal republican, who was curious about the book and believed him to have genuine grievances against the media and his own family. Having read the book my views are the same, just with more back-up plus more info about the royal (ex-royal?) appendage than I particularly wanted – Seems a good idea to avoid frostbite! It was an easy read, if not the most riveting, and while I think he and Meghan can be toe-curlingly naff, I believe they really have been treated appallingly.

My current and joyful read while naked in the conservatory is “Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl” – an amazing find from the library of a shape shifting young gay man into  a lesbian and differing versions of his male body. It has magical hints and is interspersed with myth, folk and fairy tales and a reflection on 90s queer culture,politics and attitudes in America – fascinating and provocative.

*We have a running joke/battle over competitiveness. I am definitely competitive, but I will swear that I am far less so than him! We both like winning, but I believe he does so more than me. While not seriously good at Scrabble, I am above average and enjoy winning. I am more challenged at Rummikub, and I suspect now he has played it a few times since I introduced him to it, he may have the edge, but I think I do at Scrabble! He however, competes against his sister and friends at Wurdle – Welsh and English and some quizzes and I believe there’s a WhatsApp for their results…

My moment of amusement came when we did a pub quiz together on holiday and it became obvious that the holder of the pen was not just the one with the final decision but the one who needed to get to the right answer before his team mate (me!) and has the right to dismiss said team mate if he thinks he’s right! I conceded that it was The Who and not Elton John’s version of “Pinball Wizard” but it mattered not – he’d ignored me anyway and wrote his answer with no consultation.

This week I quizzed with two female friends who know the serious quizzers and the sneaky youngsters with their smartphones will beat us, but still loved having a go. But we consult and get a majority decision each time. The wielding of the pen is a chore not a symbol of power. I was very amused by the difference, although I know how competitive one of them is who is currently ahead of me with online Scrabble wins! Competitive? Moi?!

And of course all of the above is from my perspective only.I believe most of us are unreliable narrators even when striving for honesty and truth. I will soon find out what my lovely PFS thinks!