Being 42

Thursday 4th January 2024, 9.55am (day 4,515)

This is one of those shots where I have deliberately not even tried with the aesthetics and gone purely for personal meaning. Anyone who knows me properly knows that for many years now, to know me has to been to know my coat. The earliest photo of me wearing it that I can find comes from February 2010 – so 18 months before this blog even started — and that means I have been wearing it for at least 14½ winters. And it is honestly true that I paid £10 for it from a charity shop in Hebden Bridge, probably in late 2009. Now that’s good value. That’s a quarter of my life it has served, for a tenner. As for appearances on here — here’s one, for example. I think that this shot in Domodedovo airport, Moscow (at 4:50am on 11/12/2011) is its earliest appearance on the blog, albeit unclearly.

However, it is now completely knackered, particularly the inner lining (see for yourself, on this shot). I am retiring it with full honours. You will probably never see it again…. And its replacement? Another long, navy blue coat … But hey. Why change style this late in life? The new one is woolier though.