One of my Christmas gifts was a ‘voucher’ made by Husband. It promised an ‘all expenses paid’ trip to Bluewater, which I feel was not fully thought-through. I saw potential for some fun.

I generally dislike shopping (understatement) and life has been busy, so I kept the voucher on my desk but never used it. However, this week, I eventually decided to take advantage of it, and we set off. Husband was a little shocked by the lack of specificity in the voucher, and I was smiling.

I needed new jeans. Jeans are a staple of my wardrobe, and they tend to reflect my hatred of shopping, because fashion is reflected in jeans. Have you noticed? Many clothes are timeless, but jeans change constantly.

Jeans seem to change every season. They flare, become tight, grow huge again, slim to fit the leg but flare over a boot, return to hug the flesh. The waistband hugs your middle, then drops to below your belly (everyone my age has a belly) then sneaks up again to hide the bulge, then rises to almost reach your chest. The zipper changes to buttons, then everyone realise how stupid this is (we all have moments of rushing to the loo!) and the zipper returns.

As someone with very little interest in clothes, I find this challenging. I want clothes that I can grab in the morning and wear all day, and I want to know what I am getting. My jeans need to be comfortable, washable, and tuck into wellies. They need to cope with mud, and being brushed clean (though the person who recently told me he was using his hairbrush to brush the mud off his trousers was perhaps unaware of the wild hairstyle he had acquired). I really do not need them to change to show how fashionable I am (because I am not!) Nor do I need them to be expensive.

I did, in my forties, flirt briefly with expensive clothes and bags with designer names. It was very unsatisfying. There really is no correlation between jeans that are expensive and how long they last—nor, I think—in how good they look or feel. I now buy my jeans at Next. They always have a range of sizes and colours and they are not overly expensive yet they usually last for a few years. (Some of the cheaper jeans tend to tear after a while, plus I dislike buying clothes that might have been made by slaves, and Next seem to have a reputable slavery policy.)

I can tell you that this year, it is possible to buy jeans with a waistband that holds in your tummy but isn’t up round your armpits, in a variety of shades (but not, thankfully, white—that was a bad fashion). They range in tightness but it is possible to find some that are neither completely flesh-hugging nor flapping in the wind. But they are short. Last time I bought jeans, they reached my shoes. This year, all jeans seem to show a little sock (I always buy ‘regular’ length, as ‘long’ need rolling up or I trip over). This will take some getting used to, as I am not especially keen on seeing ankles, and I dislike having to take the time to match my socks. But we will cope.

I also bought, in case you are interested,  a top, some pyjamas (which I will wear as a tee-shirt) a pair of running shoes and some white trainers that Husband told me are currently fashionable (but I’m not sure if I will bond with them—they are very white).

We had coffee, as promised by the voucher, and returned to the car. We were in Bluewater for about an hour, which is about my limit for shopping. It was rather fun, so I might request a similar voucher next Christmas—though I bet it is more specific on what will be paid for!

Hope you have some comfortable clothes to wear. Thanks for reading.
Take care.
Love, Anne x

PS. We have four ducklings on the pond, and they have now survived, without me interfering for two weeks, which is a record! Brown duck is proving to be a very good mother (most unlike a duck).