Was late this morning for the homeless people breakfast run voluntary work I'm doing, so got dressed in the dark. (You can see what's coming next, can't you?) Had applied talcum powder [accidentally] liberally inside my pyjama top last night so I'd go to bed smelling nice. Went in to central London on the bus this morning, did the breakfast run (7-9am), then walked over to Russell Square, and nobody anywhere gave me a second look at any time in spite of the fact that it was rush hour. Then, when I got to SOAS, I saw in the mirror I had white eyebrows (as I’d pulled my pyjama top off over my head)! Either people are just so polite in London or anything goes. Or both.
Years ago, a girlfriend Jeanne-Marie (now OBE, no less, I discovered yesterday) gave me a straight black skirt with an open pleat. Being a rare skirt-donner, I assumed the pleat was to be worn at the front, as it’d open when one sat down and crossed one’s legs. I went around for months with that arrangement, then saw on the Tube one day a woman wearing exactly the same kind of skirt, but her pleat was worn at the back! If people had given me funny looks (like they would in China), I’d have realised immediately I was wearing the skirt the wrong way round. But, in London, one can do all sorts of outrageous things and nobody would bat an eyelid (at people’s white eyebrows, say). “Fashion statement” works so well as an excuse for careless/hurried or ignorant dressing!
(London 2012)
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