I hate packing

Muddy wellies.

I hate packing

I really dislike packing. I find it very frustrating as I always put a lot of thought into it, spending far more time than necessary choosing clothes that all go with each other and give me a variety of choices of outfit. Then something weird happens to my bag in transit. I reach my destination, open it up and find a jumble of mis-matched clothes and I’ve always forgotten something vital. How does this happen?

It is easy packing for the children, though I still loathe it, I just pack enough trousers and tops to last the time we’re away with a few extras for accidents. Being boys all their tops match their bottoms, you can’t really get it wrong. But I can. So I was not at all looking forward to packing for going to a festival, which is silly really as it’s the one place where anything goes. But I’ve been dressed inappropriately at festivals before and it’s miserable. It doesn’t matter how pretty your outfit is if you’re cold and wet. So packing properly was vital, it could be the difference between having a great or an awful time. So what should I wear? Jeans are usually a safe bet but wet jeans are horrible and flared ones get caked in mud. Shorts are good as legs are easier to dry than clothes, but the weather wasn’t meant to be that warm. At least I didn’t have to think about shoes, it had to be wellies.

And then I got it. I bought a denim dress from the Salvation Army shop which I’ve worn a lot, so when we had the swishing night and there was another denim dress, I snaffled it up quick. These dresses are great as you can put layers under and over them but are cool too if it’s hot. I wore them over leggings, cropped for the day (from Lidl) and long for the evening, and, of course, wellies.

As we were getting ready to leave, later than planned, armed with waterproofs and snacks, I was still thinking that I hadn’t enough warm clothes with me. I hate being cold. Then I remembered a lovely Boden coat that Ingrid passed on to me which is not only waterproof, but warm and patterned with purple flowers, so pretty too. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought of it before.

So off I went to my first festival with the kids, rocking the charity shop/pass me down look and we all had a brilliant time, despite the rain. I’ll tell you all about that in my next post, and yes, I can make it relevant to charity shops.