Karen Moller

Technicolor Dreamin'

Trafford Publishing, 2006.

We took a walk in Regent's Park, that picturesque expanse of grass, tearooms and ponds, all bordered by stately homes. The air, unusually warm for London, hung heavy with the smell of honeysuckle and roses. Men in suits sat eating their lunch, wearing handkerchiefs, tied at each corner, like a hat, to shield them from the heat. All around us people lay on the grass in their bathing suits or in various states of undress, exposing white English skin that was certain to be blistering pink by the end of the afternoon

The author had arrived from Canada in the 1960's, just in time for 'the fun-loving, optimistic and idealistic hippie movement...It was here that I found my niche, and my fashion career began as I worked to dress the streets with Pre-Raphaelite flower children.' Knotted handkerchiefs worn on the head were definitely out.

We sat on a bench near the boat-hire and watched the glimmering trout surface in the dark, marshy water under the entangled leaves of the weeping willow. My attention was caught by a distinguished-looking gentleman in a bowler hat. He arrived in a taxi and unloaded a large trunk, which to my surprise emitted cries for help and loud thumps. At the boat-hire stall nearby, the sharp eyes of the attendant scrutinized the trunk suspiciously. "What yer gonna do with that trunk, sir?" he asked. The gentleman replied off-handedly, "I'm going to dump it into the middle of the lake."

Even to a fun-loving hippie, this seemed to be going a bit far. 'In a panic, I jumped up and rushed toward the boat, yelling, "Hey, Stop! What have you got in the trunk?" Only the broad smile of the gentleman made me suspect there was something amiss. I felt quite ridiculous when it turned out to be an episode for Candid Camera, then a virtually unknown TV series'.