Haircut

The sun is shining again this morning.

For many years now, Attila has trimmed my hair. I had grown my bangs out, so he wouldn’t need to try to trim them, which was beyond his skill set. The reason to grow my hair long was to avoid paying for haircuts, which can be very expensive.

Last April I decided to get a salon haircut, and to return to wearing bangs. I was very weary of long hair, which clogs drains, and takes forever to wash and dry. Taking a quick shower, and drying off within an hour so, sounded very appealing.

The salon I chose was a unisex barber shop. I liked the cut, but not the experience. The long line of male customers who arrived before me, the queue jumping of the most egressive in line, having to verbally challenge a queue jumper for my turn to have a haircut, and paying $70 instead of the $30 advertised on their website, put me off.

Having cut the bangs, the time arrived that they needed to be trimmed. I needed to find someone to do that. I cannot do it myself, I lack fine motor control of in one arm and hand, and some tasks are just not worth the tremendous effort to work around this reality. I could of course, spend a great deal of my life energy to actually accomplish this task one handed, but not thanks, I have more interesting things I want to do with my life energy.

After browsing the internet for salons, I found one tucked away at the back of a mall and decided to give it a try. The employees at this establishment were all female, although they will cut men’s hair. The staff that I saw that day were all female. All of the clientele were senior women. I felt a lot like a little old lady, and after my first resistance to this, I decided that being a little old lady is quite a privilege.

I liked the cut. The experience was excellent. The price was exactly as quoted on their website. The stylist who cut my hair had a warm personality, and I enjoyed the visit. So, for now at least, I have a place, and a person, to visit when I need a trim.

Back at home, my sourdough took a turn for the worse. I had left it on the counter for a few days, and it spoiled. Goodness, the smell! Luckily I have some in the refrigerator, I’ll try it again. So far sourdough has not blended well with the rhythm of bread baking around here. I think if our bread baking schedule were less erratic, or more demanding, it would work more easily. Still, I will keep trying.

Last May I decided to give intermittent fasting a try. A simple return to the eating schedule I grew up with, three meals a day, is considered a mild form of intermittent fasting, and that is where I started. I have progressed to a nine hour eating window, from 9:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. I feel relieved not to think about food in the evenings, as evening snacking was not something I did before meeting Attila, who eats until bedtime. And now I not only do not miss the snacks, I find the three meals at 9, 12, and 4:30, leave me feeling very full by then end of the eating window. My eventual goal is to fast from 9:00 a.m. until 5 p.m., I am slowly working my way toward that. I still wait with great anticipation for my breakfast at 9:00 a.m., which is a long wait because I often arise before 5:30 a.m. I may tweak my times again, it is a process.

I am eating less. Do I lose weight. Nope. My body is saving every single calorie, perhaps even grabbing them out of thin air, for a famine. But losing weight would just be a bonus, it isn’t the reason to restrict eating to a nine hour window. There is evidence that this type of intermittent fasting improves health in various ways. My blood sugar levels have dropped since adopting intermittent fasting. However, the new medication I am taking, prescribed by the endocrinologist, may cause high blood sugar. We won’t know if this will affect me until the next blood test is taken.

Thirty years ago I attended a city outdoor folk festival with an elderly neighbour. We had a lovely time. As we were walking home I asked her if she had enjoyed the outing, and she said she had, but was shocked at how many fat people there were. Because I was out and about a lot, I hadn’t really thought about the transformation of the population from normal weight, to overweight. But she noticed it right away. And it was and is true, the population carries around a lot more fat. If you look at photos from the early fifties or earlier, most people on the street were not overweight, and very rarely were people obese. Now people of normal weight stand out in a crowd.

The biggest change in our food supply is that most of it is supplied by large, profit seeking corporations. The biggest change in our activity levels is digital technology. No interest, by most of these corporate giants, has been shown in the health of the human population. Individuals are struggling in so many ways, only big business seems to thrive. They seem to be the lowest common denominator.

Worldly

Weather

Updated on Fri, Jul 12 at 11:27 AM
26°C
FEELS LIKE 34
A few clouds
Wind 6 S km/h
Humidity 69 %
Visibility 27 km
Sunrise 5:35 AM
Wind gust 9 km/h
Pressure 102 kPa
Ceiling 9100 m
Sunset 8:50 PM

Quote

“…
The king was in his counting house,
Counting out his money.
The queen was in the parlour,
Eating bread and honey…”

Nursery Rhyme, Sing A Song of Sixpence