1999 Out off your clothes, Voice Over

 

So anyway, I do find it extremely important that you feel good in your clothes. That´s why I only wear them once. Unless it´s been a really nice day that I want to remember, in which case I´ll keep them on, but after two days, at the latest, I´ll put on something fresh. You have to be more careful, I think, the older you get. From about eighteen on, I´d say, it´s important to take care of your clothes properly. I´m thirty-three now, and I actually spend more and more time on it, it`s really increasing, and it simply does me good. I did go through a phase where I slacked off a bit, but since then I´ve realised how important it is, and that I can enjoy my spare time much better because I feel good, and that´s important and that´s why I don´t mind that it takes some time.

Sometimes that´s also a problem, the time I mean, especially with a lover, because it does take up time and it´s unpleasant when I have to tell him that I can´t see him tonight because I have to do my laundry. A lot of people don´t understand it and I realize that it matters to me in a different way than it matters to other people. But to me it´s important and at a certain point you have to chose your priorities.And the boyfriends I´ve had, they always wanted to spend far too much time with me, which was often a problem, and I often found it far too much. You soon lose interest then, I think.

With one guy I almost got the impression that he was jealous of my laundry, which of course is completely absurd, and he got at me about it so much that it really annoyed me, although it started out beinig so nice with him. Another boyfriend I had was only interested in me because somehow he thought that I was a good housewife and he even went as far as to say that this was the only reason for men to be interested in me. I´m still not sure if it was meant to be a compliment or not, and the stupid thing about it is that it´s not even true, I mean, my apartment for example looks like a mess. I mean, at a certain point you chose your priorities and you know what´s good for you and what´s important, and tidying up is just always at the bottom of my list.

My mother says that what with the way my apartment looks, I´ll never find a husband, and I have to say, my apartment does look a bit makeshift. I found most of the furniture on the street and there´s no bed, just a futon lying on the floor. Which is again what drives my father crazy, he says that my place looks worse than during the war– he tends to exaggeration, and he always wants to give me money so I can buy a bed. I spend a lot of money on other things though. I´ve got a lot of technical gear, I´ve got a TV set, a video recorder, a computer, a colour printer, a scanner. That´s what I spend my money on. Also my apartment is expensive. I´ve got a huge terrace on the roof, but I don´t allow myself a car, and I really use the terrace. Even in the winter, you can dress up nice and warm and lie down with a book behind the windbreak. I really enjoy doing that, it´s fun and you can escape from the apartment for a while.

My dream, of course, is a rich husband and kids and someone to take care of the kids, a nanny, so I can still have enough time to myself. My specialty, so to speak, is weekend relationships, it stays more exciting then, and you keep enough distance, you keep your head clear and you don´t get too attached somehow. I also have quite a clear image of how such a man should be – anyway, for example the legs should be longer than the body, and the palms of his hands should be nice and smooth, maybe someone who wears gloves while he works, so I also like hand workers, as long as they wear gloves. My friend says that for her it has to be someone who is at least six foot tall and he has to have blond curly hair which is actually rather practical, because there aren´t so many potential lovers left then, and it´s more a problem when you´re not quite sure what he´s supposed to look like, because then there are so many around to consider. My last boyfriend was really good-looking but he was a heavy smoker and I could only stand him near me when he was naked and had just had a shower. And then it was actually quite nice. Luckily he didn´t use a clothes dryer! I don´t get along at all with those people. That´s also, so to say, a rule of mine, that I don´t want to have a man who tumble-dries his laundry. In a dryer all kind of stuff mixes in with the fibres, and you can feel it right away. You just can´t feel comfortable in clothes like that.

I really can´t understand how people can tumble-dry things! If it´s just a matter of convenience –snap, laundry in the dryer, finished – then, I just can´t understand it. And I sometimes try to explain to these people what the reason could be for a certain discomfort of theirs, but hardly any of them can be talked to rationally. They just think that they don´t feel well and that´s all, they have to accept it, and they don´t even bother to look for a reason. But you really can do something about it. Treat your clothes with care, put on clothes which have been in the fresh air, and then the world looks different.

But recently I had another experience –I´d been hiking and, although I´d been sweaty, I slept with my clothes on, because I wanted the nice feeling to last as long as possible, but then I only had stupid dreams. But at times like that your skin just smells so good – like adventure, sun, wind, so great somehow. That was a situation when I felt so good, I never wanted to get out of my clothes again.