bemused

Key Worker

Tim MaidmentLeave a comment

Today I learned that library staff are now classified as key workers – I suppose its good to have that confirmed rather than just bat the idea around. Certainly the steady stream of book requests and queues at the door reinforce that for us, along with the heart-felt thanks from people of all ages.

It must be time for a cuppa

On a lighter note I had a very brief health worry yesterday with sharp pains coming and going low in the abdomen on my right hand side. One quick Google for symptoms suggested either a liver problem, or appendicitis, among possibilities but both of them mentioned an inability to pass gas.

Pretty much immediately on reading that, I passed gas and fortunately was on my own so didn’t gas anyone. Lady M and myr s can attest to how lucky my staff were. And lo and behold the pain was gone.

If that’s the worst health issue I have, I can live with that…

Musings on a weekend

Tim Maidment1 Comment

It’s been a busy couple of days. Work on Saturday was steady, with few problems bar some ongoing issues with the building that prompted me to leave irritated emails for Property Services to find when they got back after the weekend. We were short on staff, but kept our spirits up, managed to get a Pride display sorted, and generally had a good day.

Layered mask over rubber wolfsface mask

Sunday saw me travelling down to Portsmouth to attend a masquerade event with Lady S. As I was meeting her from her work to head straight there, this meant that I walked the sunny streets of Cosham and Drayton suited and booted with a walking cane and wolfshead brooch on my lapel.

Compared to the people half-falling in arguments out of pubs, newsagents, and off-licences I was therefore a little overdressed and conspicuous. It led to some bemused frowns of concentration on some faces. If they could have seen inside my bag, with its masks, paddles, and assorted elements, those frowns would no doubt have been even more confused.

The event itself, on its second anniversary of running, was a lovely celebration of humour, friendships and general debauchery as you might expect, and we were both glad we’d pushed through nerves and tiredness to attend. It was a late night, all in all, but I knew I could catnap on the way home.

The one thing I hadn’t planned in was the torrential rain that hit while I was on the train home. It’s my own dumb fault for not reading weather warnings. All I can say is that walking from the station in a suit was a refreshing experience..!

And so back to work – a short but eventful day, and a body that I’m not sure if it’s aching from being in the rain, or from exertions!

Plot Twist!

Tim Maidment1 Comment

Oh, so as I was catching up on Facebook, not long before getting ready to get on a plane to come home from Florida, my eye was caught by a post by someone in one of the cosplay groups about how they were ready to start dating again after heartbreak a year or so before.

This particular group is one that I met up with at MCM in October: SquadUK, and I’d gone to their visit to the Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park – so I knew and had met most of the people in the conversation thread – a luxury you don’t often get online when you’re trying to visualise a virtual discussion.

Although the poster, Lady S, is open on her bio and in conversations, if it comes up, about being poly, it was quickly obvious that this was either something that had flown straight past people, or that had been discounted because she had recently got engaged to her girlfriend. A number of people began to ask what had gone wrong, and she had to explain that no, this wasn’t a break-up. She clearly explained her boundaries: basically that any new partner had be to public, no skulking around, and willing to attend conventions. Any longer debate was turned aside with a “I’m not debating this, if you don’t understand, you won’t.”

Which I had to admire. I also found it refreshing to see someone stand up in a public forum, and wanting to even the odds a bit also weighed in to support her in poly representation. I also said if she wanted to natter about poly things, I was there as an understanding ear.

So as I leaned on the balcony at the hotel, I got a message saying “Well at least I feel less guilty for perving over you.” and we started chatting. As you do. Meanwhile on the Facebook discussion, her fiance was reassuring everyone that she would have the head of anyone who hurt Lady S on a spike.

And between that and her chatting with Lady M, and not sleeping through jetlag, we seem to have ended up with a new partner – which was a rather unexpected way to ring in the new year.

Turns out she’d been carrying a quiet torch for me since the Winter Wonderland and I was, as usual, completely oblivious. So I’m not quite sure out of all the social anxieties and shyness quite who pulled who.

It’s a lovely way to start the new year though. Feels right, lots of smiles in both households right now.