Summer Suitcase

With more clothes in our house than wardrobe and drawer space, a system has evolved known as the summer suitcase, involving an oversize piece of luggage (too big to lug on holiday) kept in the cupboard under the stairs and used to store clothes that fall into one of several categories: clothes that don’t currently fit but may again one day; old favourites now un-wearable due to changes in fashion, changes in waistline, or just wear-induced shabbiness, but kept for sentimental reasons; and seasonal wear – woolly jumpers over summer and holiday togs over winter; and because of the latter there are biannual changeover days, like today, when it was judged that winter was over and summer was on its way, and then the process escalated into a complete and ruthless wardrobe review – and a couple of big bags for the Great North Air Ambulance charity shop.