In Which I Unexpectedly Buy A New Coat

It was good to get home on Wednesday. It must be said that a  five day trip away, when on four of those days you drive solidly for six hours, isn't fun. Especially when the reason for the trip is not a particularly happy one.

To look at the positives though, well we saw both our boys. We stayed with the younger one in Kirkcaldy both coming and going, and the elder one came up to Sheffield to see us and that was nice. I mean no disrespect to either my daughter-in-law or my grandson when I say it was lovely to see him without his family in tow. I'm sure readers with married children will appreciate what I mean.

I also bought a new coat. I didn't really plan to, but I've been thinking for several years that I ought to get myself a black coat. This just shows how sadly anxious I can be to conform to societal expectation, because the only reason I ever contemplated buying a black coat was that when you go to a funeral in Orkney everyone is wearing one. Well everyone except me obviously. And I felt I stuck out like a sore thumb. When we first came here we didn't go to funerals at all because we didn't know anyone, but as the years have gone on we have attended a fair few and  I have become more and more self conscious about my cream coat. It's beautiful and warm and quite posh, but there was no doubt about it - it was the wrong colour. So when we were at one stage during our trip marooned in Meadowhall  I began a rather desultory search for a black coat - and they're rarer than you might think! In the end Son No 1 spotted a rather nice one in the Jacques Vert shop. Since it fitted and was undoubtedly black I couldn't really think of a good reason not to get it, and the fact that it was in the sale and almost half its original price just sealed the deal really.

 

Of course it's still in the boot of the car, several days later. Because although the joiner managed to pull the bedroom apart while we were away no problem, progress on putting it back together has been somewhat slower. So the coat could either join a pile of clothes on a bed, or stay in the car. It's probably better in the car really.