Halfway Over the Hill

 I hate fashion. And I'm not wearing an expensive 'anti-fashion' designer T-shirt with that slogan ( it exists) as I write. Following fashion fervently for that fashionably correct appearance is a chimera - the more you strive for it, the more it eludes you. Chimeric is an apposite word in more ways than one, these fanatical strivings make you as monstrous as the Chimera beast of Greek legend: a terrifying, mis-matched, three-piece creature composed of lion, snake and goat. The gargoyle of fashion spouts out many execrable products but a fashion junkie will devour them all and adorn herself with a complete absence of stylistic sense. The rapacious fashion industry dragon will even breathe its enterprising fire onto trash, which is transfigured and sold at huge prices. But why are so many hungry to buy, surely they know fashion is fake news. It seemed to me there was a time when you bought into a company name and quality and now instead of that we have a person&#

N.B. This post was written written on 28th, December 2021 so, obviously, all references are to last year. ‐-------- 28/12/2021 I survived summer, thank you very much, and am now ready to reanimate the comatose blog. So this is a catch-up post. I wasn't short of things to write about, it was what to choose and how to overcome the deadweight of oppressive heat and get my finger to tap on the phone.  The atmosphere of this summer was molten and as dense as gelatine. It smothered my breath and glued me to my chair even in the tomb dark of a house shuttered 24 hours against the relentless sun. Throughout the months of July and August I sizzled and sparked like a red hot coal. Now it's quite the opposite, little darts of chill pin down my bones, forcing me into a stalacmite huddle and similarly the windows are shuttered but against the adamant cold rather than the adamant heat. And my airways struggle against rasping ice shards  but at least the freezing fog veiling the