New beginnings.

So it's probably not a great start to our relationship that I'm terrified of my new bag. Don't get me wrong, when I walked into Beales today with Cat, I could have kissed one of the assistants. SALE! And yet, no matter what I paid for that gorgeous Esprit bag, I zipped open one of the inner lined pockets of that lovely creation and saw in bold print:

DO NOT WASH.
DO NOT BLEACH.
DO NOT TUMBLE DRY.
DO NOT IRON.
DO NOT DRY CLEAN.

Oh. So, one of those bags. The ones which you guard like the child you've spent nine months nurturing in your womb, the car you've spent years getting up the guts to get out the loan for, the house which you built with your bare hands. Or at least, you're supposed to, or face the shame of having ruined a thing of beauty. You know the kind.

Is it any wonder I'm intimidated? I mean, cast your minds back to last christmas when I got those boots. I'm not some fashion guru. I don't usually have a square of suede or kid leather on me to sponge away tiny marks that life inflicts on anything worth more than my life insurance (which is zero, by the way). I'm busy. Stuff happens. In all likelihood, I may get rained on, flooded out, squished, overenthusiastically hugged - heck, breathed on - all of which potentially threatens the sanctity of the Bag.

It is lovely though. It matches my Boots. It feels nice. And as Cat so frankly pointed out, all that it requires is that I'm careful with it.

Not wrapping it in cotton wool, or growling whenever someone lays their potentially greasy fingers on it. Nor anxiously inspecting it for marks every evening before bed in some weird ritual. Just... letting it be. But within certain limits. I probably won't sit on it if there isn't a bench in a park, or toss it into a muddy puddle, or shove uneaten breakfast into it, or allow a bottle of anything other than water in it. But that's probably as far as I'll go. :)

So you may go to sleep reassured that I haven't been sucked into anxious obssessive consumerism... yet. Good night all. I'll probably post something slightly more sensible tomorrow morning.