About this blog

This is a window into the weird world of Anglicanism, as experienced on a Cathedral Close. Has anything much happened since Trollope's Barchester Chronicles? You will still see the 'canon in residence' hurrying across to choral Evensong, robes flapping, as the late bell chimes. But look carefully and you will notice he is checking the football score on his iPhone as he runs. This is also a writer's blog. It charts the agony and ecstasy of the novelist's life. And it's a fighter's blog. It charts the agony and ecstasy of the judo mat. Well, the agony, anyway.

Tuesday 20 March 2012

What to Wear on the First Day of Spring

This is the first day of spring.  (Here in the northern hemisphere, obviously.)  Today is the spring equinox, when day and night are of equal length.  What should one wear to mark this happy day?  Look how lovely it is in Lichfield: 
















Blue, blue sky over the cathedral, and the weeping willow trees in leaf at the end of Stowe Pool.  I went out for a walk specifically to check whether the May blossom is out yet, with a view to casting a clout.  It doesn't seem to be, so just as well I was still in my winter garb of treggings, boots and jumper.  

But I was also wearing sunglasses.  Yes, sunglasses are what to wear on the first day of spring when it's a lovely day.  Especially if you have blue eyes, like me.  I was once accused of being a poseur for wearing my sunglasses on a cloudy day.  I replied, 'If you have blue eyes you have to take care of them!'  I may possibly have made some kind of grand queeny gesture as I said this.  But it's true: people with light-coloured eyes are more likely to develop cataracts. So look after those baby blues, people.  Wear your sunglasses with pride, even in a thunderstorm.

I glanced about me as I walked and noticed that others seem to think that on the first day of spring you should be wearing shorts.  Everywhere I look at the moment: shorts.  Morning, noon, and night: shorts.  Shorts of all kinds are very fashionable at the moment.  Often they are teamed with woolly tights.  Sometimes they are teamed with nice pins.  Many times, however, they are teamed with legs best kept out of sight.  This may be completely lardist of me, I admit.  

I do own a couple of pairs of shorts, but I only wear them under my judo trousers.  Long years of experimenting have proved that a snug pair of shorts are the best way of anchoring your white T-shirt.  Half your time on the mat as a female judo player is wasted in tucking your T-shirt back in.  If you are wearing shorts this figure goes down to around 10%.  That, my friends, is the only use I have for shorts.  




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