The parade

I’m a restless creature. I crave constant mental stimulation.

Boredom is not my friend. I’ve spent most of my life frantically avoiding it.

Before mobile phones, I was a voracious speed reader.

I’ve always struggled to savour the words and wolf down the storyline instead, racing through a book in a few hours.

These days I have to force myself to start one, mostly in settings lacking wi-fi.

My time is usually spent scrolling through Facebook and LinkedIn, reading newspaper and website articles, writing blog posts, doing my day job, doing my drinks side hustle, researching holidays, shopping online, socialising, cooking dinner and walking the dogs, usually all in the same day.

Long-time blog followers might remember when I was unemployed and posting three times a day to pass the hours.

I don’t watch TV often. I never got around to connecting it in my new place. I rarely miss it. The thought of it feels too slow and linear. But I do enjoy it when I force myself to sit on the couch and will inhale a TV series in one go.

I sit on the couch for an average of 30 minutes a week, tops, if I’m lucky. Sometimes it’s zero minutes a week.

I struggle to understand why some people don’t have time to catch up or get back to me when they’re juggling busy lives. Surely they could shoehorn more in?

The thought of doing less fills me with panic. I have one speed: full throttle.

Unless I’m in or on the water.

Water calms my body and mind.

In the absence of its soothing power, I anxiously seek out new mental challenges.

The latest one isn’t very high brow, but it has provided a focus: I send my mum pics of my work outfits before I leave home each morning.

The task requires me to put thought and effort into dressing. I need to plan and pose and recalibrate and cast off unsuitable items into a growing pile on my bed.

Mix and matching the outfits reminds me of my favourite childhood toy, Fashion Plates (pictured main). Do you remember it? I loved arranging the plates and rubbing the new combinations onto paper.

And, since I don’t have a blog topic for today, I’m going to share my real-life Fashion Plate outfits with you.

I usually add captions with the labels that I’m wearing, but I’ve forgotten some of them and a dog is lying on my lap as I write this. I don’t want to disturb him, so I will improvise.

The clothing items are a mix of old and new and usually not expensive. I LOVE a bargain and most pieces were purchased on sale.

I thought that cutting my head off in pics would save on photo shopping time, but I’ve also discovered I need to look at the ceiling when I take the photos to avoid neck lines.

OK, here goes …

Zara blazer, Witchery pants, Uniqlo shirt, knitted vest from Myer, Adidas sneakers.

Plane outfit for Fiji: Denim jacket from Flo & Frankie, white shirt from a place in Avalon, Elm tracksuit pants, Sandler sneakers, Uniqlo bag, dog from Chatswood pet shop.