Get your kit on

Shopping trip today. Kit for outdoor activities seems to involve lots of straps, zips, cords, clips, and garish colours. Also makes me feel gigantic as according to Decathlon I am XL sized ...

The list, successfully accomplished with expert consultancy from S: Rucksack. Windproof jacket. Lightweight hooded fleece. "Technical" T-shirts: 2 short-sleeve, 1 long-sleeve. Socks. Hat. Lightweight trousers. The observant will notice that my rucksack matches my shoes!

I think the rucksack is the most alarming part: it's a well-known feature of our marriage contract that when we go walking S carries everything, while I skip along with just a camera. Decathlon have ballast that you can put in the rucksack while you're trying it on, so S stuffed it with 6 kg and yanked on various adjustable straps. Hmmm. Well, there's always the solution of losing some weight off my actual XL body.