The Ladies boudoir is just the Bloke’s cabinet

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Since our return with the Peugeot footrest to Brisbane our bedroom has been a hive of activity. Who would have thought that at our age? No, nothing of the sort. It's been a hive of a non-conjugal activity. It was all kept above the table, decent and no inappropriate behaviour. The bedroom is getting ready for summer while winter is being banished to spare upstairs lodgings. There has been a flurry of clothes being packed away with the new lighter, flimsier and whiter replacing the heavy woollen dark, sombre, winter wear.

An essential ritual seems to be that clothes can't just be taken out and packed away without trying them on again. I was at the same time struggling coping with a new computer that had a system called Windows 8. If you think a GPS is a magnet for trauma; you ain't seen nothing yet. The Windows 8 has a Metro and Apps and no more 'start button.' It take a real genius to make something simple complicated. Suffice to say, I nearly lost the will to keep going. Thank you Mr.Windows 8. You have created a real nightmare.

The theatre of dressing up is nowhere stronger than in the female sex. Trying on clothes by most males is a dread diabolically in contrast to the eagerness of females to 'dress up'. I would rather buy an ill fitting shirt untried than go through the motions of going into a cubicle to try it on. I often wonder what it is that I am so reluctant to shop for clothes. I like wearing nice clothes but the shopping for it sends me in a mood of yawns that, for the sake of my loving partner, I repress by pretending having a jaw dislocation.

I remember years ago an experience of a Unisex nature. Najee, Fashion-House for the discerning male, had a sale on in Sydney's George Street. I wanted to surprise Helvi with a complete new and different man. Well, not a different man, more a man different in clothes. Something just popped up about a 'tiger changing his spots together with someone hiding in wolves clothing.'

I went inside the store. There was utter chaos. Suits made of pure linen at 60% discount, shirts for less than a button. In one corner there was a whole contingent of men taking a break from office work , all in different kinds of undress. The fitting rooms had long been demolished and of course became out of the question. I soon joined the fray, grabbed a beige linen suit, imagined myself a la Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca for Helvi, and was hopping around on one leg just like the rest of them, trying to insert one leg at the time inside the linen pants.

Geez, I was agile then. Now, I am lucky to be able to hop around on both legs! The amazing thing was that the sales girls were just mingling in between the frenzied mob of male customers, all in underpants or even more exciting, sans underpants. No one blinked an eye lid despite the eyefuls that some of the girls must have inadvertently received. Anyway, that was the Unisex event, still fondly remembered.

In any case, and back to the story, our bedroom has had a rejuvenation at the same time as our winter garderobe has been banished upstairs. While at the Brisbane-River market a few days ago, Helvi picked up a beautiful snazzy bed cover. It has a very inviting warm Indian motif and colour about it. The photo above will give you some idea. I asked Helvi to pose (languidly) on the bed for the shot, but she refused. I offered to pose, but as with trying on clothes, males don't easily pose languidly, do they?

Here then is the Lady Boudoir which is not at all like the Man's Cabinet.

Tags: Brisbane, Fashion, George Street, Najee, Unisex, Windows 8