Clothes

Why do I always have too many clothes? I hardly buy any since all I need is 8 shirts (white because it goes with everything), 8 underpants, two prs. trousers, 2 or 3 pullovers and a few prs. socks. Actually one of each would be fine if they didn't have to be washed. And yet I have a cupboard full of clothes that I never wear! I don't even know where most of them came from.

I realize that other people are different. Most women seem to need lots of clothes because (a) they don't want to be wearing the same as another woman, and (b) they don't want to be wearing something too different from what other women are currently wearing. Strange how many men like to be in a sort of uniform (look at male MPs, differing only by their ties!).

For me, the beauty of having the minimal lot of clothes is not having to choose. Life is complicated enough already without adding avoidable choices. For the same reason I eat the same few dishes when I cater for myself - porridge for breakfast, salad for lunch, pasta for dinner. I hate the way governments keep wanting to offer us more choice - of schools, hospitals, railway companies, pension options...! Why not just aim at good provision for everybody without alternatives?!