What I am wearing
My hair shaven short, by design, though shaped by cruel circumstance.
One of two pairs of bespoke Anglo-American spectacles, each identical in shape, but different in colour; a black frame for distance, and a horn-rimmed pair for reading.
A home-knitted Falmouth Navy coloured roll neck gansey, in a pattern called ‘Polperro Musician’, over
a maroon Marks and Spencer V-necked sweater and
a yellow ‘Hope Not Hate’ T-shirt I bought from Philosophy Football for the election in 2010.
A pair of ‘boot-cut’ Sainsbury’s jeans, bought in haste in Norwich, after the trousers I was wearing were ripped climbing out of the car. They only had my waist size in boot-cut. I am still comfortable in flares after all these years.
Marks and Spencer briefs and cotton socks. Black.
A pair of Homies slippers. I can’t remember what the pattern is called, but when I went to interview John Shuttleworth in his modest home for the North/South divide programmes, I noticed he was wearing a pair in the same pattern.
A Swiss Railway watch.
A silver wedding ring.
When I went out to see my step-daughter’s school play this evening, I replaced the slippers with
an old pair of Timberland boots. Over my sweaters I wore
a Dickies Hi-Vis padded jacket, twenty five quid from the builders merchants in Presteigne.
I thenk yew.
Thanks very much Roger. YOu’ve made an old man very happy…
Ian!
Get in touch, with this voice from the Lancaster past,using the email address. On a recent London trip I picked up by chance a second-hand copy of Parallel Lines and thought it great. As always, I like your clothes.
best wishes to you.
The Day-Glo jacket is a thing of beauty forever. Who needs camoflage?
Ian, if I phoned you and began by asking “‘ere, what are you wearing?”, what would you think? Just wondering.
And just wondering what we’d all be wearing now if Foot or Kinnock had got into power back then?
Top stuff. Cheers Dan!
Good stuff
I think the rag trade factories (until mid to late 90s) were to in this case Hinckley, what Parker was to Newhaven.
What is worse is that I was told back in the 80s and 90s when places like M&S bought British they regularly insisted that the producer firms made stuff only under contract to them. This exclusiveness effectively prevented diversification of customer so when M&S (and no doubt the rest BHS, etc) pulled their contracts in order to reap the benefits of ‘globalisation’ the firms had no other customers. So most producers collapsed over night.
HJ Hall had the MoD sock contract (I kid you not) but the other year MoD gave that to a made in china producer so I heard on the local news. Hence I doubled my efforts to recommend them.
I don’t wish to sound little englander about all this – but where one can one must put money where mouth is if it is reasonable to do. It’s the only language the capitalists understand or so it seems.
Mind you, back in the 80s Thatch and co told us the communists were out to get us, now the right wing seem to have given all our money and industrial capacity to the communists in China.
Maybe back in those days they were David Sylvian / Japan fans? (Just thought we needed to end on a pop quiz pub trivia reference there…)
Festive greetings
Dan, I will. HJ Hall socks it is from now on. Today, white MnS Shreddies, an RNLI sweatshirt from Seahouses instead of MnS jumper, and a George T-shirt instead of Hope Not Hate T-shirt. Rest, see previous.
But nothing from Old Town?
I can recommend socks from HJ Hall in Leicestershire. I got annoyed with M&S clothing when they pulled out of many of the local rag trade factories some time back which decimated the industry.
I was very pleased when a relative drew my attention to HJ Hall as a continuing local mass market gents sock maker that still made in England at a reasonable price. They are very good quality and commonly available. Keep an eye out for them if you can.