So it looks as if we will be in lockdown for a few weeks yet. Normal life seems so far away and I have found that I have settled into a quiet schedule of chores and reading etc. I am making myself get up early and go out for a walk. Now I loathe exercise in any shape or form, always have done, always will BUT it is a necessity to do something when you are stuck indoors. Day to day I am usually on the move doing things and errands etc so though I am not exactly Feeling the Burn I am, at least, mobile. Hence the early morning walk. I managed 50 minutes today which I am pleased with. I took my Nordic walking poles with me which helped and plugged in my ipod and earphones and it was not too bad. I intend to keep this up. Well, I am going to try…
I need to do this as I am finding I am spending an awful lot of time hunched over my jigsaw puzzle board. I was looking at special folding jigsaw tables as they really would be better for my dodgy back, but blimey over £200 in some cases. Forget it.
I have been doing jigsaw puzzles for ages and have taken this hobby up again in the last couple of years and am loving it. I have even joined a Facebook jigsaw group where we post pics of our latest and admire each other’s skill. I tend to stick to 500 piece but am now advancing to 1000 though I do not think I will go any further.
I finished this one yesterday. Copenhagen, Denmark and this is a harbour scene which has been reproduced many times in the puzzle kingdom, but this is a painting and I found it lovely to do. I also found it relatively easy which surprised me as it looked difficult.
I recently finished this one of Bath which was fun though the yellow houses got me a bit muddled.
I adore the old fashioned 1960 type jigsaws of which there are a lot around. Gibson jigsaws do many of these but another manufacturer, Ravensburger, do a series of Happy Days at Work. So we have pictures of happy jolly farmers doing the milking, beaming smiling factory workers and happy teachers.
I do wonder how many of these were happy at the time but I love doing them. Some of the early ones are hard to track down. I am trying to get hold of The Secretary which is priceless – glam lady sitting there with shorthand notebook at the ready. Which is what I did when I started….
This one is difficult to get hold of so if anybody knows where I can obtain this puzzle do let me know. It looks wonderful. Tea tray at the ready for the Boss….
Getting hold of puzzles is getting difficult now as more and more lockdowners turn to them to pass the time. There are loads on ebay which is where I get a lot but the bidding wars now taking place are making them very expensive. I always stock pile and when I see one on ebay I want I nab it quick. I have about 50 left to do which I am hoping will see me through and I am passing them on when I have finished. I don’t keep many of them, I do not have the room and once I have done them I really don’t want to do them again. Having said that there are a couple I am fond of and they will stay with me.
One aspect of jigsaw puzzling which ALWAYS happens is that you come across a section to concentrate on, say a patch of sky or a piece of a flower bed. You get it all done save for one piece which is eluding your eye. This happens every single time I do a puzzle. Check every single piece. It ain’t there. The trick here is to adopt an air of careless indifference, stand up and say Oh well it doesn’t matter, I am going to make a cup of tea.
Come back five minutes later and you will see it immediately.
And then if you are wearing a fluffy jumper you will find that pieces stick to it and drop on the kitchen floor when you go to make this cup of tea. You then panic when you finish the puzzle and find a piece is missing. Before looking under the sofa, I usually check the kitchen….
It can all get a bit fraught.
Any other puzzlers out there?
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