Photo by Darius Soodmand on Unsplash

But when she at last put on gray shawl over the gray dress and went out into the street, Sophie did not feel excited. She felt overwhelmed. There were too many people rushing past, laughing and shouting, far too much noise and jostling. Sophie felt as if the past months of sitting and sewing had turned her into an old woman or a semi-invalid. She gathered her shawl around her and crept along close to the houses, trying to avoid being trodden on by people’s best shoes or being jabbed by elbows in trailing silk sleeves.

#Me, at Costco yesterday morning.

(From Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones)