Spring: A Collision of Fashion, Flora and Foolish Optimism

Thulaganyo Jankey | Wednesday August 6, 2025 11:59

Spring is Mother Nature’s way of saying, ‘Let’s party!’—but with bugs and all sorts of insects. Trees also remember they have leaves and start shedding them like it’s a leafy strip show. Birds also believe they are Charma Gal and start chirping away in their little ornithological choruses. What I love about spring is its ability to evoke the fashion molecules, especially in ladies. Spring fashion for women is like a box of multi-colored Smarties chocolates—bright, sweet, and sometimes unexpectedly weird. Those beautiful flowy dresses that have been lying snugly in the corner of the closet are now en vogue. Sometimes, though, the spring rebellious gust of wind might turn the dress into a full-body parachute and have the poor women fighting for dignity. Men are lazy. I have not heard of spring pants, spring hats, or spring tees for men. Spring fashion is 30% optimism, 30% layering confusion, and 40% trying not to sneeze yourself out of your outfit. Spring fashion here, though, is a testament to our collective denial about the impending furnace of summer. It's the season of optimistic layering, where we try to convince ourselves that a light cardigan is a viable fashion statement, only to resemble a shedding onion by midday. Ultimately, spring fashion is a hilarious, valiant effort to welcome a season that's just a brief, warm-up act for the main event: the scorching heat of summer.

My biggest worry about spring is the wind. I go to the barber shop on a weekly at the roadside barbershop to get a cut and a shave. Before you start thinking I am exaggerating, let me explain that my hair in the middle section of my head is tired of growing, so when the one on the sides grows, my head looks like a failed attempt to grow lettuce. So the weekly visit to the barber is inevitable. Around this time, those rickety structures – which the council bye-law officers have decided they now hate - get possessed by wind demons. So, depending on the strength of the wind, the barbershop might get blown away, and so that would mean a visit to the more expensive ones in Supermalls. In this challenging economy!

Spring is also the ‘Optimistic Pothole Patching’ Season. Suddenly, crews appear, seemingly from nowhere, armed with tar and a renewed sense of purpose. They attack the potholes, patching them with the vigor of someone who truly believes this time, it will last. Signs that say ‘Men At Work’ dot the roads, making you wonder why men have to announce using signs that they are at work. Contrast that with women – you will never see a ‘Women At Work’ sign when women are on a project. It's a fleeting moment of local council hope, often undone by the first heavy spring shower, which washes away the repairs faster than a politician's promise!

(For comments, feedback, and insults email inkspills1969@gmail.com) Thulaganyo Jankey is a Rapporteur and training consultant who runs his own training consultancy that provides training in BQA-accredited courses. His other services include registering consultancies with BQA and developing training courses. Contact him on 74447920 or email ultimaxtraining@gmail.com