One for those Tall girls....

I was in a dance school when I was younger and in the videos I'm the kid in the back, who's a least a whole head height taller than everybody else. There's one number in particular when we're all five/six and dressed up in blue and red toy soldier outfits, tap-dancing to Following The Leader from Peter Pan. I'm at least a foot taller than every other little girl in the class.

Needless to say, I've always been the tall girl. Ive always been 'the tall friend' and that's okay. Sometimes it's very easy to feel like you're in the way when you're as tall as I am, because it feels like you're so large that you're Alice when she's ten feet tall. Honestly though, It's never really bothered me that much, but I can completely understand how some taller people do feel uncomfortable with it. Being tall forces you to be slightly more extrovert than you might want to be; there's no shying away when you're towering over everyone you meet and constantly being met with "Wow, you're all aren't you!" - like, thanks. That is brand new information. "You should be a dancer, you're so tall!" "You're like...model tall." And the old favourite that gets dragged out at every family event "Wow, you don't get any shorter do you! How tall are you now?"

Here I'm wearing flats and my three girls are wearing heels.

There are a million upsides to being tall, don't get me wrong. I can reach for things that others can't, I can put on more weight than shorter people can without it looking overtly obvious, I don't have to wear heels if I don't want to. Old ladies can ask me to reach their bran flakes from the top shelf and I can and it makes me feel good. You can always see at concerts, or movies... No one is ever going to borrow your shoes and forget to give them back, because they'll look like clown shoes on anyone else but you. You can get on that Indiana Jones loop-de-loop rollercoaster at Disney Land before any of your friends can... 

 

My first year of University...

 

Of course, there are also a million downsides; I know a few tall girls who have really bad posture because during their school lives they slouched to be more similar to their friends in height, sometimes people don't understand why you're willingly paying the extra £10 for extra leg room on a long haul flight (these are the same people who understand why you like aisle seats at the movies), there is so much more surface area to think about when it comes to shaving/waxing your legs - same goes with fake tanning. But my main bug-bear as we transition (slowly after all, I live in the UK) from Winter into Summer is buying (and wearing) clothes. 

 

Graduation Ball 2014 with two of my favourite girls.

 

Today, I went into three fairly big highstreet stores only to be told that they do not stock any jeans longer than a 34 leg, and when they do order their 34's in, they only order one or two pairs in because there simply isn't the demand. I felt like shouting, I'm here! I'm demanding! Ideally, I'd love a 38 leg, but a 36 could do the job nicely too. If my jeans are slightly too short in the winter, it's fine, because I'll just wear thick socks and tuck my jeans in. In the summer, I'm not really feeling thick socks and boots - I want my jeans to be long enough and I want to wear dollies, or plims, or Toms, or (heaven forbid) sandals.
Not just jeans either - Maxi dresses are not Maxi dresses. The Maxi Dresses that are designed are built for women between 5'5 and 5'9. When you're as tall as I am, those extra few inches count. Jumpsuits - same deal. I've got the longest torso of anyone I have ever known, so a jumpsuit/playsuit that fits you will definitely not fit me. Skirts, shorts, playsuits all become inappropriately short. I have not chosen super-short hoochie shorts to wear, I just have more leg than the average chick. This is not my fault.

Graduation Ball 2014

New Look used to stock a Tall range in their larger stores, but now they don't even do that; you have to order online, which I'm sure is great for some people but I don't have the time, money or patience for that. I want to go into a store on a Saturday, pick up a pair of jeans, try them on and then buy them. Whilst many girls don't have to try things on, I do because I'm tall and constantly between sizes (again not my fault) so any kind of buying online service is immediately redundant. 90% of the time, the first pair of jeans I pick up instore wont fit and I don't want the hassle of having to order ill-fitting jeans online and then go through the hassle of sending them back. I shouldn't have to. I should be able to shop for clothes with ease just like anybody else.

River Island simply just don't make jeans for tall people. 

 

Student Awards 2013

 

Topshop has a Tall range and I'm sure Levi's do long jeans too, and of course there's Long Tall Sally, but then we're venturing into a totally different budget zone. I don't have hundreds of pounds on jeans. I want to spend £20 on a pair of great fitting, long jeans but can I? Hell no.
Men, on the other hand, are expected to be tall so they can buy their jeans from wherever the hell they want to. CK Men's Jeans are awesome, ASOS are great for Men's jeans as are Levi's and I'm sure Primark and New Look's men's ranges are great too. 

 

Vegas in April 2013

I wish this was being sponsored and I could come up with a resolution for this problem I'm having, but it isn't and I don't have a solution. So, welp. I will continue searching for tall-clothes for tall-people. And I will continually ask myself "Is this dress too short for me?" when on other people it might fall below the knee. I know this is obviously such a first world problem, but needs must and all. 

 

Summer Ball 2012 - First Year at University

 

Family Is Underrated.

“Where are you going?” Sebastian asked, suspicious.
“Just going to ask my Mum something...” I said back, lying through my teeth.
“You’re going to tell her I was picking my nose, aren’t you!”
“No.”  I smiled, like butter wouldn’t melt.

“Sebbie! Stop picking your nose!” My Mum shouted back into the lounge to Sebastian who had been picking his nose.

The above is an excerpt of just one of the many stories that always come out when I hang out with my Mother’s side of the family. We can’t have been more than six at the time, but Sebastian without fail always brings up this story, ratting on me for being a tell tale. It’s one of the tamer stories and there are plenty that are wonderfully embarrassing and telling of the child I used to be. One that Sebastian’s Mother (my Aunt) always brings up, is a story of me running through her back door only to trip over her door mat and then reprimand her for leaving her door mat there.  I was a clumsy kid, what can I say.

Anyway, the point of writing this wasn’t to embarrass myself with stories of my childhood, but to remind myself of how important family is. I’ve never been particularly close to my family, not in the way some girls were when I was at University. I know they’d be there if I needed them and I called them often enough. My Mum is a worrier and my Dad’s far more black and white and laid back about everything. Still, things have been a bit shit at the moment (as times sometimes are) and it makes me think about how long it was since I saw either of them.

I live in Winchester, which is probably a good 3 hour train journey to Kent where my Mum is, so I haven’t seen her since Christmas. My Dad’s in London, so he’s a little more accessible; Easter Sunday was the last time I saw him.

Sebastian, my cousin (older than me by 6 months) also lives in Winchester now as he came to University here the year after me. Having Sebastian in town is quite nice, considering up until the age of about 9 he was almost like a the brother I never had.  We went on holiday with his family and my Dad every year, he came to my birthday parties and we always spent Christmas together. Whilst I don’t see him very often now, when we do catch up for a drink it’s nice. His parents came down from Surrey yesterday to visit and I went out for dinner with them all.

Seb’s Mum and mine are identical twins, so hanging out with Sebastian’s Mum makes me feel closer to mine. I know that sounds really lame, but I miss my family sometimes, so what?
Anyway, we drove out into the country and ate dinner at a cute little riverside pub then they dropped me home. Although not a massive excursion from the mess that is my life currently, it was nice to be occupied and have my brain focus on other things aside from work, my MA, my need to move house, my lack of money and the recent end of my relationship.

It’s my birthday at the end of the month, and I’m determined to see my family and enjoy it. It would be very easy just to work and wallow in nothingness and then blame everyone but myself for a crap birthday but it’s no one’s responsibility but my own to get on with things and make things good. After all, why shouldn’t I?