Sybil Fawlty…..feeling old

[ohtobethin]

Had a glass of wine last night and watched some Fawlty Towers for the first time in years.

I was probably in my teens / early 20s when I last saw it so I won’t have noticed, but I couldn’t help but notice how young, slim and elegant Sybil (Prunella Scales) looked.

I find it hard to judge ages, partly due to the styling looking so old fashioned, but Prunella was born in 1932, starting playing Sybil in 1975, making her around 43 at the beginning.

I’m 43 just now and to be honest I don’t think I’ve ever looked that slim and elegant in my life, but certainly not now.

I’ve recently lost weight from a size 14/16 and very flabby, to a size 12 and I feel great. But Sybil must have been tiny. But that just seems to have been standard back then. Which is upsetting because I do think it is harder to stay thin these days due to foods being filled with so much sugar, UPF and other crap. Obviously it’s down to willpower as well, but I do feel it’s harder now than it was in the past.

She wears tight little dress suits and high heels and looks so smart, which I just don’t think I could do. Partly I feel that wearing heels and being a bit overweight is very uncomfortable. I wore heels to work years ago when I was thin, but now it’s just too much weight balanced on such a slim point.

Anyway, not sure what my point is really…nothing, really. I just thought she looked great. I was feeling good about myself having reached a size 12, realising that actually at 43 I could look like that, but never will, is a bit of a gut punch, but I’ll get over it.

Interesting what everyone is saying about food. I hated most of the food I was fed growing up. I remember scraggy old lamb chops with no meat on them. Cheap frozen beef burgers that I wouldn’t feed an animal now. So much gristle on meat. Veg was: potatoes, carrots, frozen peas. The occasional bit of cabbage or sprout. Nothing had any spice in it, ever.
I didn’t have pizza, pasta or good wine until well into my 20s. I was skinny until then because I was bloody miserable!

Also, both my grandmas maintained that they were a size 16. Looking back, I think they may have been at the time but would be closer to a modern 12. I’m definitely bigger than they were.

Following the discovery that MiL had osteoarthritis and evidence of several healed previously unknown fractures my SiLs (50s) had Dexa scans. Both healthy and active in a general sense, but the older sister had done kettlebells and other weights for at least a decade before, and she had much better results than her younger sister.

DM was in her 50s when she first broke a bone after slipping on ice. I'm hoping I can still be bouncing off my muscles in 10 years when I'm at that age...
Ironicaly I haven't dared tell her about my weightlifting as I get enough flack for running.

I had a "size 10" 1970s dress handed down to me. Quite dense cotton, no give. I could only zip it past my ribs in my pre-children size 6-8 days.

I charity shopped it a few years ago after accepting that I'd never be able to get it past my ribs again, let alone building up more back and shoulder muscles.

That's wasn't really a thing in the mid 70's. 😂I was 15 in 1975, I think maybe one of my grans wore a girdle, the other definitely not. By the early 1980's, when I was a young working woman, we might have finished off our shoulder pads and slit skirts with stockings with a skimpy garter belt... for special occasions. 😉

Apparently most women post menopause are on the foothills of osteoporosis, which I believe is osteopenia. I’m can’t confirm the truth of it, though.

I love a 70s shirt. One of my favourites is size 18. I am a 30ff bust ( so about 37 inches all round). I wear Size-10 -12 top. The shirt is probably large 12, possibly edging to 14. But the sleeves are too short for me and the shirt is a little too short overall.