Thursday, March 12, 2015

The lure of turquoise

People around here are beginning to notice that I like turquoise. There’s even an 80 year old Quaker at my local Meeting who calls me “the turquoise lady,” and when Lux and Cece see turquoise, they call it “Sue blue.” I like turquoise. It suits me. You got a problem with that? (last sentence to be said in an American accent.)

I realised I was addicted last week, however, when I found myself on the verge of buying two expensive items I didn’t need. Let me explain.

Toast have been sending me their catalogue for over a decade, and I don’t think it’s because they’ve read the Plotting books and know that Sally Howe loves Toast. A catalogue arrives every month these days and I was worrying about the waste of paper and thinking I’d post it back and tell them to stop, because the clothes are usually so muted you wouldn’t be able to find them in a charcoal factory. This means I never even want the clothes, let alone worry about how much they cost. But when I had a quick flick, two items hit me in the eye.

turquoise 2

and

turquoise 1

and I swooned. If they had been any other colour, I would not have looked at them, because:

a/ I wear skirts once a heatwave – really. I like skirts, I just don’t like tights, and I don’t like my legs. Plus I only have one pair of shoes I could wear with a skirt and tights: everything else under the bed is a sandal or a boot.

b/ I already have an ancient but what my mother would call a “perfectly serviceable” towelling bathrobe, and a silk dressing gown my sister Jen gave me ten years ago, and anyway, I have a collection of silk blouses in the cupboard waiting to be made into a silk patchwork robe. So why would I want a new one, however pretty and however turquoise?

I love clothes, but I have this Puritan ethic that makes me feel guilty when I buy new ones, so I don’t do it very often. So when I was invited to a swishing party (definition here) to raise money for charity, my heart soared. And I came home with two velvet tops and a jacket. Admittedly they aren’t turquoise, but they are lovely, and I’m a happy bunny.

p.s. I forgot to mention that when I went into John Lewis for vacuum cleaner bags and came out with a raincoat, the raincoat was turquoise. And I don’t regret it.

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