Mountain Equipment Co-op

If I ever decide I want a boyfriend, I know where to go.

Mountain Equipment Co-op is positively crawling with dudes. I was their accidentally, accompanying my charges and their mother while they spent a small fortune on camping accessories for a 2 day hike. I had plenty of time to wander round, contemplating the vast assortment of freeze dried space food (including a Neopolitan ice cream sandwich!) available for people to take camping.

There were guys everywhere, they were generally not unattractive, and in an appropriate age range for me to be noticing. Sadly I can't avoid the obvious fact that if I actually knew any one of these men they would inevitably ask me to go hiking with them. Or camping. Or kayaking, Or any number of outdoor, healthy, dirty, wet and cold activities that result in you becoming dirty, wet and cold. Oh yeah, and healthy. But whatever. It's not like I smoke. How much do I really need to be outside? I can be healthy while safely indoors. Even if I did leave my yoga mat in England.

Anyway, I perused the jackets as it turns out the $9 I spent on a second hand Zara jacket at the Salvation Army did not in fact buy we a waterproof bargain. It bought me one very wet arm (one arm has to stay outside the umbrella so I can hold the dog's lead). The jackets cost more than I make in a week so I am going to return to the Salvation Army and find something with a very big hood, so even if it looks hideous, I'll be in disguise.

I'm sure I don't need to explain that people here wear Northface and Gortex in the streets in the city every day, that there is no such a thing as a Banana Republic trench, a Gap duffle or G-Star Raw anything. My friend, the Fellow European, owns a vintage designer coat (Dior, Prada, some big house but I can't recall which one) that actually bewilders her colleagues because it's not a parka. This all sounds like I give a monkeys about labels, and for a woman who lives in Forever 21, I honestly can't afford to care. It's the absence of labels I care about, in a city this size. The absence of any acknowledgment of the outside world that does not involve mountain climbing unnerves me.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy being surrounded my mountains. I just preferred it when I could see the Hollywood sign nestled amongst them.