Skirts and bags

You'd think school uniforms would be beyond fashion, but this is not so. When I was at school, girls would hitch their dresses up and tuck them into their belts thus creating an official mini-skirt. I, sturdy-thighed and quite shy, always had the default length, just below the knees, and thus one of the longest skirts in school.

Not so these days. Waiting at the central bus stop this evening, every last schoolgirl I saw, from all the secondary schools in the City by the Sea, had a hemline grazing her ankles. Yet another reason, I feel, that I could deal so much better with school now than I did back then.

I also envy the girls their capacious schoolbags. I miss mine. It was a canvas backpack, covered in badges and buttons. How I jangled! I often had strangers stop me in the street to look at it (I don't miss that bit). I'd forgotten all about it until I found the badges in a gift bag in my wardrobe in one of my tidying frenzies not long ago.

My current bag is a big, square, leather tote that can easily accommodate all my daily needs: purse, key purse, water bottle, lunch box, piece of fruit, lip balm, temperamental music player and spare batteries, sunglasses in unnecessarily boxy case, travel pack of tissues, small diary, and a pen. I look at women carrying tiny, underarm clutch purses and wonder how they manage.