Clothes I have Loved and Lost: Part Seven

The Baywatch swimsuit

After three children I wasn't feeling very confident at the thought of being on a beach. A shares windfall had given us enough money for a foreign holiday. In 1999 we took our three children and my parents to Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands.
I hadn't been on a beach holiday for years. All the magazines were raving about bikinis but I knew I needed a one piece. Thank heavens for Baywatch. It made one piece swimsuits OK. I found this red one in Marks and Spencer. I loved the cut and the colour. I wore it every time we went swimming after that.
I think this is the last photoI have of me where I am taller than Sam.
I took the suit with me to Hong Kong in 2002 when I was sent to write a travel feature. I wore it in the pool of the hotel we were staying in (the Mandarin Oriental). But when I came back I realised I had left the suit hanging in the bathroom to dry. I emailed the hotel but it wasn't there. I can't imagine anyone in a five star hotel would want a worn-out M&S suit but there you go. I miss it. It is the only swimsuit I have felt remotely attractive in.