Layers, Hypocrisy and Clothes.

 Tuesday, January 13th.

Why does Friday the 13th get such a bad reputation, while Tuesday the 13th passes by unnoticed? Things will inevitably go wrong today as well, but no one exclaims, "Typical! Tuesday the 13th!"

Anyway, Donald 'Orator' Trump continues to talk about 'taking' Greenland, essentially claiming that the U.S. can do whatever it wants as long as it’s in the country's 'best interests.'

That logic is like a thief in court defending themselves by saying, “Well, I needed the money, so it was in my best interest to steal it.” Most European nations, in unison, argue that this is against international law—and rightly so. Yet there’s an element of hypocrisy: doesn’t the U.K. still claim Gibraltar, the Falkland Islands, and even Northern Ireland? How did other European countries acquire their wealth and fill their museums?

Much of it was achieved with the same mindset the 'Orange one' now displays, though our former colonial leaders could at least deliver a coherent speech. 'Agent Orange,' by contrast, often sounds like a scrambled voice message from someone randomly reading words off a toilet wall.

Hypocrisy keeps the world turning.

It’s raining outside. Had I known this was coming, I wouldn’t have spent last week’s early mornings scraping snow off the pavement. We freeze, we drown. The weather is thoroughly wintry. This is the season of layers—long underpants and thermal vests. They’re not as comfortable as shorts and a T-shirt, but there’s a certain satisfaction in braving the winter wrapped up warm.

I’m not much of a clothes shopper. When I open my wardrobe, a lot of my clothes seem new to me—until I realise I’ve owned them for years. There are shirts and T-shirts I haven’t worn in ages, yet I still keep them. Nowadays, there’s an epidemic of people ordering clothes online, wearing them once or twice, and then, at best, reselling or simply discarding them. These barely-worn garments often end up, ironically, in landfills in the very countries where they were made.

We have to consume less if humanity is to survive on this planet. Is there a diet for clothing addicts—a kind of consumerist rehab to help people kick the habit? The high from buying new clothes rarely lasts longer than it takes for the payment to clear. Why do we crave more and more clothing? It’s a mystery. Perhaps it’s how we express ourselves, how we want others to see us. Today, I’m wearing a sweater and old jogging trousers (oh dear).