COLIN HOGG

COLIN’S OFF TO CALIFORNIA AND IT’S STIRRED UP SOME WARM RECOLLECTIONS

I’m packing for two weeks away with my wife in California. She got there first and she tells me it gets cold at night in Los Angeles.

“You don’t own a sweater, do you?” she asked.

“Not apart from that nice one you gave me a couple of years ago,” I told her.

“Bring it,” she said.

Now I’m wondering where it is. But it’s good to get some guidance. I’m not a great packer, perhaps because

I have too many clothes to choose from. Also, my clothes don’t recognise seasons, so I tend to be a bit cold in winter and too hot in summer. I will pack that jumper, if I can find it.

I’m not really a jumper-wearing sort of guy. When I was young, my mother was a knitter who regularly produced jerseys – as they were called then – for my younger brother and me. They were rough-hewn and sometimes alarmingly colourful things. They were the sort of clothing a mother might put a kid in so she could see him from far away. Very far away.

It might have been those early jumper experiences that put me off them ever so slightly and I could probably get therapy for it.

I inherited a few of Dad’s old jumpers after he died and sometimes, when I’m missing him, I’ll put one on, but generally I remain uneasy when encased in wool, no matter how chilly it might turn at night in California.

Otherwise, I’m not feeling remotely uneasy about heading off for an overdue holiday with the other half. We used to do a lot of that sort of thing when we were first together, but then life filled up with all the other stuff until mostly the only time we were alone together, we were also asleep.

But then, after much talk and several cancelled plans, we’re off to the far side of the Pacific.

When I told my mother about our plans, she was pleased. She’s long been concerned at how few holidays the two of us have together and that it’s long overdue, and so on and so forth. I think I’ll send her a postcard every second day.

I’ve been doing a little research on things we might do on our holiday together. Finding things that a couple can actually enjoy doing together is a key part of these sorts of adventures, I’m told. So I’m assembling a short list. Quite a short list, actually.

My darling likes rising early so as not to miss a moment of breathing in exotic air while enjoying a good number of tourist-based holiday activities, whereas I like to take a more laid-back – some might say lazy – approach.

We’re planning to take a road trip into the deserts of Southern California. She fancies a long walk, I fancy a long look. We might settle for a horse ride. And we can shop, of course. Not till we drop, but we could take a look at some jumpers.