It began with a mouldy jacket. I reached into my wardrobe to pull out my black leather jacket and it was coated with a fine layer of fluff. I like fluffy jackets, but not the kind that grow from spores, so I wiped it off.
But over the months, the mould kept spreading, over my jackets and across my coats. As winter approached, I retrieved a pair of boots from a dank corner and they looked more like a science project than a fashion accessory. I’d lived in damp homes before, but not “fungi on the boots” damp.
Was Sydney getting more humid? Even in winter? Sydney’s humidity is getting worse, thanks to global warming. Credit: Nick Moir Well yes, it is. Global warming causes higher water temperatures which cause water evaporation which leads to moister air.
It’s making us hotter, it’s making us sweatier, and it is really bad news for my shoes. Back in February, I invested in some DampRid, scattering containers of the stuff all over the apartment. Every couple of weeks, I’d pour fresh crystals into the chambers and return to find them transformed into gross, slimy soup.
I upgraded to hangable, moisture-absorbing sachets, which dripped water into unpleasantly bulging bags. I spent a fortune on the stuff; money I could have spent on an entire new wardrobe (that would have got mouldy within a month or two). I tried to be thrifty and bought discount moisture absorbers in bulk, but (beginner’s mistake!) I forgot to check the dimensions.
I ended up with two boxes of credit.