Back In The Saddle

For the longest time I couldn't post because I was busy selling all our possessions, preparing to leave America and return to the U.K. Then I couldn't post because I arrived, was jet-lagged, homeless and unsure which way to look when crossing the road. Then came the period of denial that I had moved at all.
In the midst of all this I lived out of a suitcase of warm clothes during an English early summer heat-wave, bought a wardrobe after a decade enjoying built-in closets, and wondered if I would ever wear my cowboy boots again.
After the extreme heat of Texas I am now obsessed with keeping out of draughts and learning how to walk everywhere in shoes again.

On arriving in Hamville four months ago, two things made the biggest sartorial impression on me: black leggings and burhkas. These seemed to be everywhere I looked and appeared equally ridiculous. The shock has worn off now, I just avert my eyes.
A year ago in America there was a revival of purple (very Michele Obama) and now it's here. Purses seem to be getting smaller at last but the clanky embellishments that used to weigh them down seem to have been soldered on to boots.
Now it's my first English winter in ten years and when I'm not being doused with freezing windy water what I can see seems drab and drear. I saw a woman the other day wearing an orange sari underneath a violet woolen coat and almost followed her just to catch some of the warmth she cast about. Like Slaminsky* said recently, glam might be the only thing to get me through to Spring or the next election.


*I would link but the post disappeared!