“I’m not so sure that I have the right figure for leggings,” I said to Chris as he handed me a two-pack of leggings from Sainsbury’s.
“You have a lovely figure,” he answered unwavering. (I know, he’s well-trained!)
“But leggings? I don’t think I have anything appropriate to wear with them,” I said, popping them into the trolley.
Actually, all I wanted was a nice soft and stretchy pair of sports trousers that wouldn’t make me feel trussed up, as I did in thick jeans with nasty waistbands and studs; bearing in mind that I’ve not long returned from Australia where I was accustomed to wearing summer tops and shorts. The kind of trousers I had in mind were not to be found in Sainsbury’s or any other store that I had been in that day (maybe everyone else had the same idea) and I was coming around to the notion that leggings would be comfortable and sensible.
After my shower the next morning I spent half an hour or so deciding upon which outfit to wear. The snow had disappeared and the temperature was on the up, maybe eight degrees, so the new half-price dress-length jumper with the roll neck, which I had bought to go with the leggings, would have been far too hot. A similar length summer dress from Australia looked plain daft with the navy blue leggings. A pink jumper of normal length – just over the hips – looked weird. A jerkin over the top looked even more weird! I had a laugh though.
I wished I had bought the next size down – the sixteen to eighteen size had no hold and plenty of growing room which sagged and creased at the joints. At length, I pulled the saggy leggings off my ample legs and replaced them with my old boot-leg cut sports trousers, which suddenly looked a lot better than they had before.
Upon reaching the top of the staircase I found Chris was waiting in anticipation. He eyed me up and down, checking for anything peculiar.
“What was so funny?” he asked.
“Oh, could you hear me?” I laughed.
“Well,” my husband began, “I wondered what on earth could be so hilarious while you were getting dressed.”
“I was trying on my new leggings and… (laughing again) when I caught sight of myself in the mirror I thought I looked like Mr Pickwick!”
And if you don’t have a mental picture of Charles Dickens’ famous character Mr Pickwick, here are some images I collected from the Internet…