Day & Night

After my sad and serious previous post, I think it is about time to do another fashion one, to get some light-heartedness back.

On the subject of my brother in law's death, let me just tell you that Mary rang on Thursday night to let me know the flowers arrived, and we spoke for more than an hour. She is a remarkably resilient woman, and I admire her for never going into whining mode, in spite of her having more than one reason for it. She is still able to see the positive things in her life; she enjoys her garden and her cats and the closeness of some of her family, and she is also looking forward to my visit at the end of April.

And now for something completely different!

(Don't you just love that sentence? I can't remember now whether it was CJ or GB who used it on their blog the other day, but it made me want to find use for it as well, and here it is!)

That I like clothes and to dress up or down according to the occasion, mood and other influences is no secret to any of my regular readers; you can read my recent babble about this subject here.

Now I am going to give you an example of what a typical day in the life of the Librarian looks like, in terms of clothes:

Last Saturday, I went to work at a trade fair, not as part of an exhibiting team, but to visit my customers at their booths, talk to them and have a look at how they presented the hardware they bought from me (maybe you can imagine one or two of them getting a stern look from me across the rim of my specs if I think "my" hardware is not placed in a way to draw enough attention).

Since that day was still bitterly cold at -12 C (that's about 10 F) and I went there by train, I had to be ready to face both the cold on the way to and from the station and the usually relatively warm fair halls. 

The best option in such cases is, of course, a suit that allows you to take the jacket on and off as you need. And there was no question of wearing anything else than a proper business outfit (incidentally, this one is by comma, the same brand where I got the grey dress from; I am not usually in search of particular brand names, but there are some I find their clothes fitting me better than others, and being more according to my taste and within my budget). I got this suit back in 2004 or 5, but clothes like these never really go in and out of fashion, and I suppose unless my weight alters dramatically (which I doubt), I will still be wearing it for many years to come. It is also nice in that it can be worn on colder days, like here with the soft warm woolly jumper, warm tights and boots, or with a lightweight blouse, sheer tights and pumps.

It was a good day at the fair, and I spoke to almost everyone I had meant to (I went back on Tuesday to talk to the rest who I had not met on Saturday), but it took me quite a long time to get home because of the inexplicable habit of our local public transport of NOT considering the trade fair times (which are well known!) and keeping people for a long time at the station near the fair and then cramming what feels like millions of us into the usual short trains that are OK for normal traffic but completely inadequate during fair times.

So, back home, I did not have much time to dwell on what I wanted to wear to the party I was invited to (a "proper" party with both a live band and a DJ, with cocktails, food, a really big dance floor and lots of people), but as I usually don't take long to decide, my mind was made up quickly between these two outfits:

Don't worry - I did not leave the house wearing those shoes at what, by then, had gone as low as -16 Celsius (about 3F); I wore warm boots and socks and changed into the more dance-friendly shoes once I was there.

The party was fun and I spent most of the time on the dance floor, but it was over unusually early, with many guests leaving already at around midnight. At a quarter to one, I was already back home after a day that had been, all things considered, very much to my liking.

Now, have your guess: which one did I choose? Pink or blue?

PS: This is, I have only just noticed, my post no. 250!