COLOUR & CLOTHES

One of the challenges of travel is packing. I'm not the sort of person who can travel for months with carry-on luggage. Especially if there's a range of temperatures over the weeks and even months one is away. This time it's going to be 28 degrees in Rhodes but 10 degrees in Issyk-kul. But the other challenge is how many pairs of glasses to take? If the choice is two pairs, then clothes have to match. For the last couple of trips, this has meant sticking to a limited colour range e.g. an aqua theme for Mediterranean journeys, reds and blues in Japan.

As I was staring at my wardrobe trying to decide what to pack for our trip northwards that starts next week, I was thinking about the new clothes I've bought since coming to Perth, coourful tops that reflect the sunny world we now live in. But I was also seeing clothes from days gone by that I still wear. A tropical shirt I bought from the Paddington Markets in Sydney in the late 1980s. A pair of red pants that I bought in 1989. It's hard to imagine that I'm still wearing clothes that are over 35 years old. Hard to imagine for three reasons:

1. Hasn't my taste changed over those years?

2. Wouldn't have the clothes worn out by then?

3. I'm not the same size or shape I was all that time ago.

Luckily, the tropical top was always loose and the pants have an elasticed waist. Favourite clothes in the past haven't always survived my spreading waist and hips. I still hold fond memories of a black tafetta skirt and a shirt covered in coloured glasses. But there are still photos to remind me of the colours if not the textures of those past pleasures.



1989 pants that I still wear

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