This week is half term, and it started well when, on Friday we all took Dad out to celebrate his 80th birthday. Kelly, Ollie, Wayne, Laura, Martin and I took him and mum for a meal at the Rose in Bloom, a pub none of us had been in for years. We had scoured the 'net for menu's of local eating houses, and decided this one looked a likely menu for someone with no nashers (LOL) and were lucky enough to strike gold. It was a delish meal although service was a little slow, hampered only by the fact that after a hard week at work all of us were falling asleep at the table.
It wasn't Dad's birthday until Sunday but Laura and Wayne were flying off to Turkey for the week so it was the only day we could all get together. I was left to take his presents over the next day, Kelly, Ollie and Martin and I had bought him a garden bench and cushion between us. I think he is quite pleased with it, but it is packed in a box and he is going to have to put it together himself.
Half term is meant to be a time to rest and recharge your batteries. Unfortunately it also co-insides with the time for buying a winter wardrobe. Years of buying cheap clothes has left me with literally nothing that fits, isn't full of holes, or covered in glue/paint from teaching small ones, so the miserable job of going out to replace everything started on Sunday. I had already half heartedly been to all my usual haunts and had not found much (one top and two pairs of trousers was not getting me through the week) so Kelly recommended I try Sainsbury. Our nearest branch selling clothes is over 25 miles away but undaunted off I set. 3 hours later, having spent much time looking in Sainsbury, BHS, and a few smaller outlets, I returned with one skirt and top. Not good.
Yesterday I travelled to Medway, another 60 mile round trip. I left home at half nine and got back in the door at half six. In that time I had walked several times up and down the high street, the pentagon shopping center and the docks outlet centre. I came home with not much more than three tops and 2 skirts.
I returned home in a rant. What was it with clothes designers? We had gone through the late 60's and then the 80's wearing stirrup pants, and leggings. On both occasions, after the fad had died a death, designers and fashionisters all said they are the worst and most unflattering garments ever and what could possess women to wear them? Well I can answer that one. If there simply isn't anything else to buy what choice is there? I KNOW leggings and a baggie unshapely top is not a good look o n a very short, overweight middle aged woman. Heck its not even a good look on a tall skinny youngster, but no-where, and believe me I have looked, I even ventured into M&S, a place I hate, but no-where was selling anything but!!!
Give Primark their due, I had found a few items I actually liked and thought might suit me, trouble was either all the fat people must have got there before me or Primark were only expecting extremly starved skinny people to shop in their store. I have never seen so many size 8's and 10's in a store. Every style had at least 10 size 8's available. If you were really lucky there were some size 14's (sorry tough if you are a 12 as there were none of those in the whole of a very large shop) and if you were luckier still there might be 1 of a style in a 16, 18 or 20 (never all three sizes).
So today, still with not enough clothes to make up more than three full outfits, I tried again in Canterbury, but this time I was going to concentrate on buying patterns and fabric to make some stuff for myself. Trouble was my poor legs, having been on a constant clothes shopping marathon for three days were having none of it. Not that the fabric shop had much in the way of fabric, it being full of halloween costume making stuff or christmas fabric, so after 2 hours and managing to buy 2 pairs of jeans that were not jeggins I had to give up and come home.
So please fashion designers could you just take a second to think next time you believe leggings to be a fantastic fashion idea. And clothes manufactures could you please leave a small part of your factory workers making normal clothes for normal people and shop keepers, could you please hide some of the large size clothes out the back for us fatties not so fast on their feet to buy? 'Cos I am pretty sure I am not going to be the only vertically challenged, overweight, over 50 year old walking round naked this winter!!
No comments:
Post a Comment