There was rain in the night. I heard it on the skylight windows. By the time I snoozed my alarm the rain had mostly moved on elsewhere but I was feeling lazy and rolled over and went back to sleep for a while.
After breakfast I got myself together and walked my running route. It had turned into a surprisingly mild day. How nice to go out in a fleecy hoody instead of a heavy winter coat.
Thinking of what we now call “hoodies” and seeing a fashion advert for what the fashionista called a “windbreaker”, I was reminded of the time on my pre-teen years when my favourite item of clothing was my “windcheater”. I always think of a “windbreaker” as a construction you set up on the beach when you have a picnic, a set of poles supporting a canvas affair intended to keep the wind off Grandma and the blown sand out of your sandwiches. A “windcheater” on the other hand is a lightweight jacket, made of light canvas fabric, not especially waterproof but good for keeping the wind out on blowy days - hence the name. Mine, I seem to remember, was a particularly pleasing shade of bright blue. I might have preferred a red one but the general consensus was thad a redhead should not wear red. Which is odd, as nowadays I frequently wear red.
Which brings me to Jess Cartner-Morley writing on fashion this morning, trying to convince us that if you have a garment, probably bought on impulse because it was reduced by 50%, which seems to go with nothing else in your wardrobe then you should bravely and clashingly wear it with everything as a kind of fashion statement:
“So the sweet spot in fashion is where rules and rebellion meet. Your outfit is telling a story, and a story needs both a comprehensible plotline and a dose of dramatic tension. Great dressers know this instinctively. The pop of red lipstick against a simple dark dress, the vintage jeans worn with a smart blazer and heels. A little artistic licence is what elevates a look from being perfectly nice to being red hot. Like the Boss said, you can’t start a fire without a spark.”
I was impressed that she quoted Bruce Springsteen!
Phil and I recently watched a series called “Untamed” set in Yosemite national park in the USA. The opening scene shows people climbing a huge great rock-face, before showing us a young woman hurtling from the top of said mountain, unleashing a whole lot of investigation. That’s another story. Just seeing people climbing that sheer rock-face was enough to make me feel rather dizzy. And yet lots of people do it. Here’s a link to an article about someone who decided to take up what he calls “bouldering”, on indoor climbing walls but still a rather daunting activity in my opinion.
In a similar vein, here is a link to an article about someone who took up swimming in cold Nordic waters. Now I like to swim. I don’t mind a reasonably cold swimming pool but I must say that the swimming pool is an important factor. I like swimming in the sea but I feel a little out of control when it comes to finding my way back to the spot where I left my towel and other belongings. Harbours are a different matter altogether - a serious no no. Somewhere along the way I missed out on the adventurer gene, the same gene or lack of it, that made me reluctant to do handstands, to climb ropes in the gym at school, or to “run in” in skipping games, where you have to judge the moment to run into position to jump the swinging rope rather than get yorself tangled up in it. Basically, I am a bit of a coward!
So it goes.
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
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