I have always had a large collection of shoes and some of them are ridiculously beautiful and truly excruciating to wear. They are my taxi-sit out shoes and can now only be worn for a social occasion where I arrive without having to drive, where the entrance is no more than a couple of metres away and once inside I am guaranteed a seat. I have shoes that have cut me on more than one outing that are now resigned to spinster modelling – looking good and staying firmly on the shelf! (One day I will deal with giving the hardly worn torturous things away!)
My most suffering tale belongs to a light coloured suit.
It was the first suit I had ever bought, I was 23 and had recently dieted down to a wonderful size 10 after losing over 3 stone (42lbs). I couldn’t wait to wear it, sadly I only wore it twice!
The first time I wore it for a cousin’s wedding and the second time for a University interview. It survived the first outing and was dry cleaned back to immaculate coco-butter colour it was. Then came the disastrous journey to Kent. I had to take a bus, two trains – in and out of London and then a taxi – I started out before 5a.m and the bus never showed up. I had to walk home and call a taxi (pre-mobile phone) I had to wait for the next train on a now very busy morning commuter platform. It was mid-August and very hot!
By the time I made it to London, I had missed my connection. I was aware of perspiration glowing through to the outside. I was late for the interview and extremely nervous and flustered. I had dark smudges on the suit from the train and was very flushed.
The return journey was no better and I ended up on a bus replacement service that meant I had to walk on the grass verge down a dual carriageway! I ruined my shoes and got grass stains on my trousers.
I paid to have the suit dry cleaned, fortunately all the stains came out. (AND I got a place at the University.)
Later that Summer I packed the suit up and moved house. It moved to three different towns with me without ever being worn again. On the third move I had to store lots, as it was a small mezzanine flat. twice. I had a bag of clothes I had emptied and a bag of rubbish bags/ Bubble wrap both in the loft. When I came to move again eight months later all my things were going into storage. I accidentally paid to store the black bin liners and the sack of clothes is still out there somewhere in the Southeast!
awritersfountain 