Fashion

[Arthur Little]

... maybe I'm turning into an old "fuddy~duddy"!

... why so?

Well ... ... for a start, I'll be 70 in September and can clearly remember a time when men of my vintage dressed as befitted their age and - more especially - in accordance with their environment.

Having been born in Glasgow during the final months of 's involvement in WW2 before moving to rural Perthshire when I was eight years' old, I soon became aware of the marked differences in style between the two places.

Whereas at weekends in the city's Kelvinside Area, it was the norm to see families attired in their Sunday-best, out for a fairly leisurely stroll through the West End's famous Botanic Gardens ... by contrast, village life usually attracted a rather more relaxed - even sedentary - pace. Children would invariably be sent to Sunday School, while their parents attended the local Church Service ... a routine which - though not exactly mandatory - was simply accepted as a matter of course. After lunch, the kids were allowed to change into their old togs and granted the freedom to meet their pals, roam around and engage in (for the most part) harmless, healthy open air activities as a way of releasing their natural energies ... thereby affording Father the opportunity to read the Sunday papers in peace and quiet, while Mother would concentrate on preparing the evening meal.

Lest anyone should imagine that poor Mum got a raw deal, remember that very few women went out to work in those far off days. Grannies and Grandads were almost always elderly ... ... or so it seemed to me, anyway - the former often to be seen with (what was called) a "bun" in their [usually] silver hair and the latter frequently found sitting on the "drystane dyke" of their cottage-style house ... watching the *world (as they knew it) go by ... wearing a "bunnet" (flat cap) and with a pipe clenched between what remained of their teeth.

Nowadays, however, it's a different story! People tend to live longer, on the whole look much younger than their years and, with the cost of "baccy" being taxed to the hilt and thus beyond the price range of many OAPs, pipes have all but vanished into oblivion.

Similarly, numerous clothing fashions have changed ... for instance secondary schoolteachers no longer wear black gowns. Indeed, neither does our [present] Church of Scotland minister. People don't wear ties nearly as often as they used to; instead, the current trend is towards wearing collarless or polo shirts, denim jeans and trainers downtown - even in church - with (horror of horrors!) suit jackets.

So, perhaps one ought to follow the trend. But it ain't altogether easy for "a leopard to change its spots".

[stevewool]

Stay as you are Arthur, fashion comes and goes as they say, its all about being comfortable I say

[Michael Parnham]

You are not alone Arthur, My Nan used to make sure I was wearing a tie and she used to spit on her clean scented hankie and wipe my face to make sure I was clean also my parting in my hair had to be straight, things certainly have changed dramatically!

[stevewool]

my parting in my hair had to be straight, things certainly have changed dramatically!

Changed indeed, Michael, some of us have very very wide parting

[KeithD]

I remember the old days...

[stevewool]

everyday is good if its going your way

[mickcant]

I am very close to your age Arthur just a few months older

I can remember being made to go to Sunday school even though I tried to bunk off
I think we were brought up to respect people then.
Mick.

[Michael Parnham]

I'm sure you're right there Mick, we were brought up to cook and clean also, and when we left school we had to get a job and pay board, I used to pay two thirds of what I earned!