A uniform

A uniform is a wonderful thing because it removes all need of "thought about clothes".
You just put them on and take them off - job done.
What could be more easy and more stress free.

I first wore a uniform for school at about age 10.
That took me through to age 18.
Those were happy clothes years.

Then university - swinging sixties - London.
Well - it was OK - because anything was OK - the weirder the better.
My mother thought it odd that I wore a long skirt all day and a mini for evening party wear and both with white lipstick.

Then work - as a hospital doctor was wonderful - a uniform again - the long white coat.
Anything could be worn underneath and often was.
 I remember one occasion when I was woken by a crash call (cardiac arrest) and leapt out the door pulling my white coat on over my nightie.
It was late the  next evening before I had time to gather my thought  - finding  -as I collapsed into bed - that I still had the nightie on under the white coat.

Then life as a mother.
This is where the stress began.
Looking after children is horrifically stressful, but is made much worse by the lack of a uniform.
It would be much better if mothers were issued with something like nurses now wear - pyjama suits.
There could even be different colours for 1st year, 2nd year or 3rd.

But the really troublesome place is  - Work
(in most jobs not in a hospital)
Oh the stress of -
a. Having to get up in time to get there.
b. Having to "think of clothes".

And then - of course -
the really really suicidal time is  - Work + Children.
How does anyone do that for any length of time and stay sane?

The best thing about retirement for me is that -
I am back in a uniform.
I have several, fairly identical, trousers and tops and they just get rotated each day without any thought required at all
Oh the bliss of it.
No-one expects oldies to be fashionable or smart.
Oldies can be comfortable and eccentric.

I can remember, when I was young, hearing an "old" person going into agonies about what to wear for an approaching wedding.
I thought this quite extra-ordinary. -
Why would such an "old " person be bothered by such things?
Well  - I am now much older than that person was.
I have reached that age of freedom
I will wear my  uniform - perhaps purple.