Pocket Problem

Summer means wearing fewer layers, which always presents me with a dilemma: when I'm going out I need to carry my sunglasses (in a hard case), my phone, and usually a bandanna. But if I'm not going to work, I often don't need to carry my messenger bag, and without a jacket I need to put those items somewhere.

The answer that presented itself over a decade ago is cargo shorts, but I never liked the styles with the big, bellowy pockets and all the flaps and pleats and whatnot. Eventually I landed on a discontinued Polo style with button-through back pockets and plain, flapped side pockets with no pleats. They were the most minimal cargo shorts I could find, and still are. I scoured eBay and eventually ended up with half a dozen pairs.

But now cargo shorts are considered out of style. Of course, people still wear them, but it seems they aren't being seen quite as much. I've never been one to worry about what's in or out of style, but I'm still conscious of this when I wear my cargo shorts. I've tried getting by with regular flat-front shorts, and the slimmer iPhone 5S in a slimmer leather sleeve case definitely helps, but I still need to carry the eyeglass case; if I put it in a front pocket while wearing regular shorts, it's bulky and awkward and I have to remove it if I want to sit down.

I've also tried just carrying the glasses in my shirt pocket without the case. This gets mixed results depending on the shirt I'm wearing and how roomy the pockets are, and if the pocket can't be buttoned there's a risk that the glasses will fall out. I suppose I could try another pair of Transitions lenses, which I understand get darker now than when I had them in the late '90s, but I still prefer two separate pairs of glasses, if only to have some differentiation between regular and sun. I've also tried to find clip-ons that will fit my frames, but so far it's been a fruitless search.

These things don't keep me awake at night, but I still find myself thinking about them more than I probably should. For now, I'm stuck with my cargos.