It’s late July and after 3 1/2 months of being locked down, we reopened our shop on the 15th June.
A very busy first week followed by what can only be described as ticking over to date.
Last Friday, the wearing of face masks became obligatory when visiting a shop, although as we only allow a maximum of four people in our space, and try to maintain the obligatory metre, we are okay, if ( as long as you are well, and feel safe ) you don’t want to wear one.
Measuring you…..we will wear a mask if you prefer, but we have reverted to how we would measure a lady…..that is from behind, asking her to place the tape over her point of bust etc so as to maintain dignity etc.
It works the same for men, and if one of us should sneeze…..well you can work that one out.
Also there is much confusion when measuring a client…..we are often asked “what have you got down for my waist size?”….
Well vanity is a good thing if it keeps us focussed on maintaining a size that is healthy, but great confusion lays in understanding measure and figuration and the balance between a nett and gross measure.
For example a customer is and measures 40” around his chest, so requires a 40”chest sweater…..reasonable thinking for any budding Einstein, however on the the traditional system of knitwear sizing , a 40” inch chest sweater would if you laid it flat, measure 20” across the chest, then add the 20” for the back = 40”
Great we got there and you can all have 5 house points!
Try the same sweater on the 40” chest client and ladies and gentlemen, here you have a sweater that fits like a surgical stocking with no room whatsoever for comfort!
Yes I know about the super slim fitted styles ,that the ‘in shape’ young wear, but back in the real world the same 40” sweater we just measured will fit a 38” chest in a slim skimming way and would fit a 36” chest with comfort…2” spare either side.
To confuse the situation more, some manufacturers now account for comfort and label a sweater that measures 20” across the chest on the flat measure as a 36” or a 38”…….so if you now have your back to us when we measure you amidst the the cornucopia of guidelines and rules….some of the questions we are often asked are answered here.
The most common question is about the waist size and most men knock two inches off their waistline and ‘add it’……….somewhere else?….convinced that because they are wearing 34” waist jeans, that they must be, whilst the sad fact is most jeans manufacturers are a size down on true waist size,
This is particularly harder to grasp, as jeans are made on a gross measure or gross pattern and then washed industrial style to fit…hence a 32 waist will be made up at about 36 1/2” and then washed, to shrink to fit a 32” (measuring 34” approx)
Anyway I’m boring myself now, so you probably haven’t even read this far!,…as just for a minute there I heard the theme music from Mastermind, with the late Magnus Magnesson announcing…” Jeremy Beaumont…a shopkeeper from Harrogate, and your specialist subject, The myriad of of measures and boring people “
I have resumed eating out and the restaurants visited have provided a safe and enjoyable experience, yet I’m amazed at how the petroleum stations seem to be business as usual, self serve pumps that 100’s of people have touched, keyed card pins into and some without plastic gloves or blue paper towels in sight….note to self…take my own gloves.
When out of the shop, as a quiet shy person, I look at the world and people as I do over my coffee cup….taking in what I see.
I see a lot of the young with their zest for life and fun and I see the afraid, wary of the situation.
Somewhere in the middle all this, the economy needs a boost and at the same time we need to keep safe.
I stopped reading newspapers and listening to the news some years ago…. I like it more in ‘Jeremy world’. However I did catch a snippet that the economy on the high street was almost back to where it was….I beg to differ.
I spent two days in London this week, getting tables in restaurants easily like I was a celebrity or royal visitor.
They even closed Harrods for my once a year Royal walk round…well at least it seemed so..
So I will remember this Summer for how ever long God spares me, I enjoyed the rest that lockdown provided and had a taste of what retirement, may feel like, but for now as I can just feel the nights starting to draw in, I’m hopeful that we avoid a second hit of the C word and once more I look forward to the journey ahead, perhaps I’m not as much in a rush , after all ‘life is a journey, not a destination ‘.