Speaking of money, I have pretty frugal spending habits in general, inherited from my Scottish forebears.
Both of my father’s parents were Scottish, and though he grew up comfortably off, he was generally at least mildly disapproving of my mother’s generous ways with cash. Her parents were of English extraction, and although they were firmly middle class, their lifestyle when she was growing up was severely curtailed by limited finances.
As a result, I don’t like to spend too much money on clothes and shoes. Yes, my dressing room is stuffed full, but that’s because I never throw anything away, and most of it was bought on sale.
My one luxury is a NZ clothing brand, who also do jewellery. In fact, come to think of it, I don’t have any clothes from that marque*, just the jewellery. However I got an email from them the other day, announcing specially branded rainwear that looked nice and not too pricey. Why not have a couple of nice things in my wardrobe that shows I can look stylish just like the young people? I thought.
So, I found myself in the store the other day, trying out posh gumboots and raincoats, when I noticed that every other shopper in there was a middle aged lady. And believe me, it was busy. Could it be that I wasn’t in the forefront of youthful fashion after all? (But young people always dress so weird.)
I liken this to the name you give your child, that you think is cool, and novel, and different, only to discover five years later when your little Fabian or Gwen starts school that there are three other kids in the class with the same name. Mortifying.
*a posh name for brand