I took Nineteen Shirts with me

We have just returned from twelve days in Hungary, Slovenia and Austria. Budapest, would you believe it, is only slightly further from Zurich than Calais, although when you take into account the Munich by-pass / building site, you can add on the equivalent of another 200 kms.

Are you one of those people who find packing straightforward? You take a few things, throw them into a case at the last minute and off you go. Or do you bring the suitcases up from the cellar one week before departure date, and start agonising and assembling the assorted belongings during the following days?

I compile lists. I love lists. Lists of things to be packed at the last minute; lists of things to do just before we leave; lists of things to do, preferably several days before we leave….and so on. Then of course, I compare these lists with a master list that I made up about 15 years ago, when we used to go camping. I am even working on a List of Lists.

Then there is the obsessive watching of the weather forecasts of the target holiday region. What sort of clothes should we take? How many umbrellas will we need? Will we need dry clothes or wet clothes? How many pairs of shorts should I take? (Why are they “pairs” of shorts?)

This June has been a particular problem as most weather forecasters have managed to be consistently incorrect. I don’t mean being incorrect one week out, but incorrect 12 hours out. Perhaps they have been unlucky. Perhaps the weather has been too volatile, with English cricket weather taking over the whole of Europe - a kind of metrological imperialism. Perhaps they are all taking their information from the same incorrect source, or even (and this has my son-in-law, Kevin’s, vote), they are all just plain incompetent.

Their incompetence has led to one day’s cycling being cancelled at the last minute and an earlier than planned return from the mountains, when our intended walk in the sunshine, would have been entirely in the clouds and rain.

Whatever the reason, the end result is the same. It is not possible to work out, with any precision, how many of anything you are going to need. For men, socks and handkerchiefs are not too hard; one for each day. Underpants, still not too hard, as most men can get away with slightly less than one per day. No sweepstake is being run here. (Does anyone own up to needing only one pair?) One pair of trousers is enough, although three will always be taken in case the statement / question, “You are not going to wear those the whole time, are you?” is raised.

Shirts are always a problem. After much agonizing, for this central European voyage, I settled on two sports shirts, six tee shirts, four round neck shirts, two casual long sleeved shirts, two smart ones (although I have no idea why, as I never wear them on holiday) and two smart short sleeved shirts, plus the one I wear the day we travelled. I think that this all adds up to nineteen shirts for twelve days.

Do you think that this was a bit over the top? (Anyway, it is all the weather forecasters’ fault, as Kevin might say).