This is, so far, a very strange summer. For me, a little bit, but more so, it seems, for just about everyone I know.
And that's not counting the heat waves in some places, the flooding in others. And watching Wimbledon yesterday, at home, inside, with darkening skies - feeling glad for the rain, actually, so I could justify wearing soft warm clothes and drinking P.G. Tips on a July Sunday afternoon (and so glad that Roger Federer won - I love his style, his humility, although I must say, Andy Murray surprised me with his heartfelt response at the end, and he did give Federer a good run for his money). Either I'm learning to be happy in the face of adversity (and yes, for someone like me, not being able to swim outside in the summer season is akin to tragedy), or else I've been in England too long.
And all the while in the back of my mind, thinking: if I had gone to Italy, I'd just be coming home about now.
It seems that in past years, I'd go blithely away on holiday, and not give it a thought. And this year.. I was going to go so cheaply, too. No frills, and I was even going to save money by not checking any bags. As it is, I wasn't even able to get a refund: the cost of changing the flight was nearly as much as the sum of the flight. But because of this 'baggage restriction' challenge I'd set for myself, I found myself packing in my head for so long, that it's as if I went. I was going to be in Italy for nearly two weeks with just whatever I could carry on board. I was really excited about it, too: planning in my head all the infinite combinations of the various items.. so psyched to be as minimally minimal as I possibly could, and justifying that bikinis and little dresses weigh hardly anything at all. And watching tennis, thinking once again how crisp and clean and neat life is when you stick to basic black and white. It is at once classic, and yet modern. Fresh and new. Like this snippet of Holly Fulton's s/s 2012 show that I snapped last September.
And that's become my mantra these days: keep it simple. Throw away the excess baggage. Live and let live. Let it go.
And that's not counting the heat waves in some places, the flooding in others. And watching Wimbledon yesterday, at home, inside, with darkening skies - feeling glad for the rain, actually, so I could justify wearing soft warm clothes and drinking P.G. Tips on a July Sunday afternoon (and so glad that Roger Federer won - I love his style, his humility, although I must say, Andy Murray surprised me with his heartfelt response at the end, and he did give Federer a good run for his money). Either I'm learning to be happy in the face of adversity (and yes, for someone like me, not being able to swim outside in the summer season is akin to tragedy), or else I've been in England too long.
And all the while in the back of my mind, thinking: if I had gone to Italy, I'd just be coming home about now.
It seems that in past years, I'd go blithely away on holiday, and not give it a thought. And this year.. I was going to go so cheaply, too. No frills, and I was even going to save money by not checking any bags. As it is, I wasn't even able to get a refund: the cost of changing the flight was nearly as much as the sum of the flight. But because of this 'baggage restriction' challenge I'd set for myself, I found myself packing in my head for so long, that it's as if I went. I was going to be in Italy for nearly two weeks with just whatever I could carry on board. I was really excited about it, too: planning in my head all the infinite combinations of the various items.. so psyched to be as minimally minimal as I possibly could, and justifying that bikinis and little dresses weigh hardly anything at all. And watching tennis, thinking once again how crisp and clean and neat life is when you stick to basic black and white. It is at once classic, and yet modern. Fresh and new. Like this snippet of Holly Fulton's s/s 2012 show that I snapped last September.
And that's become my mantra these days: keep it simple. Throw away the excess baggage. Live and let live. Let it go.
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