Spring is in the air. This is always a good sign. The darkness and coldness of February can get depressing especially with the nightmare of Valentine's Day thrown in to make the month especially tragic.

It is lovely to think of the days getting brighter and longer even if it is still very windy. There is also the special occasion of Mother's Day to look forward to when roles are reversed and Toddler buys something for me. But normally this means my mum buys something for me on behalf of Toddler but he doesn't let me have it because he thinks its for him.

But I should be grateful. It doesn't get dark straight after Blue Peter and the crocuses are peeping their heads out of the ground. There is an even greater reason to be happy - the new season's clothes have arrived in the shops.

Now I know that I am not the world's greatest fashion buff. Indeed, sometimes walking round in the buff would be preferable to the many anguished moments deciding what to wear!

But there is something wonderful about seeing the new season's clothes come into the shops looking all sparkly and new. Also it means that there will be a massive bargain sale to get rid of all of last season's clothes and surely the opportunity to pick up some new items can't be passed up.

Delightful as it sounds, though, shopping for clothes can sometimes be quite depressing. Sure, the colours are bright with gorgeous pinks bursting out all over the place but walking into some fashion emporiums is like walking onto another planet.

First of all the fashion these days seems to be for scraps of material. I know minimalism in interior design is in vogue but these garments look like hankies. Surely they are not for wearing?

And if you haven't got a hanky tied round your upper bits then you need a headscarf to wrap round your hips and pretend to be a skirt. As well as from the modesty angle (do you really want to have so much flesh on display?) there is the question of warmth. The British summer can get nippy.

But even on the bleakest snowiest days up here in the North East girls have been venturing out in their favourite foot attire - sandals. Or maybe I am not used to this because I am from Bradford and if you wear sandals then your feet are likely to be nibbled by rats or you'll catch empty crisp packets between your toes.

It's all very frightening. Instead of wearing such skimpy attire in public I think I'd prefer to do something marginally less scary - such as go to Leeds.

I must admit though, it has been ages since I bought any new outfits. For years after the birth of Toddler I wore the same baggy jumper because going shopping was such a big thing and required hours of meticulous planning. But now, of course, I have.

I went to the shops the other day and found a wonderful bargain. It will be lovely on those long hot summer days and suits me down to the ground. Literally. It's an ankle length woolly jumper. And at 50 per cent off, less is certainly more.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.