I haven’t a clue what that actually means, but if the last customer of Saturday has finished in time and I get to the car, I tune into the shipping forecast on radio 4 at just before 6pm.
It’s …. Its, well it’s strangely comforting as I’m sure it is for sea fearing folk as well as serving as a warning to guide their journeys.
To me it signifies the end of the working week, hopefully a satisfying good week with laughter and a content feeling as I anticipate the weekend and ‘Jeremy’ time starting any time soon….Dogger, Cromarty 4 …improving!
It’s just lovely and very BBC old England and I smile as I relax back into the driving seat and listen to ‘the start of the weekend’… not that I disregard the working Saturday, I’ve worked most of them this last 44 years, but it does feel that the ‘weekend’ starts with the shipping forecast and the ‘Friday’ night feeling I had when at school comes flooding back.
I rarely listen to the radio these days, except ‘drive time’ whilst driving home, late on a Thursday after I’ve dined with my sons… Jo Wiley spins some good tunes, but Lisa Tarbuck on the Saturday early evening show on radio 2, makes me want to smash the radio!
That said, the anticipation of opening the fridge in an hour and popping the cork makes me smile further, being greeted warmly by my loved one and sausages.
Let the weekend begin!… I can relax after a working day… I just need to master relaxing on a day off or on holiday!
In short I can’t sit still and if anything in site is out of place, I’m like a cat on a hot tin roof until all is tidy.
Today is a proper day off, short of pairing some socks….. even got out to lunch to my favourite Turkish restaurant in sunny Doncaster…’Lalezar’….. but then I started to write this blog ….. I’d been still for 1 1/2 hours, apart from the constant lifting of my hand to my mouth to maintain my figure and satisfy my desire for the best lamacun and Adana kebabs outside of Istanbul or Constantinople 🎼🎼…..sure the song wasn’t about Lamacun though.
August is usually a quiet month, between seasons, but this has without doubt been the best on record, due to all the weddings that were cancelled in lock down and re scheduled into 2021, causing a pent up demand for suits , mainly ready to wear as time scales have been pressured .
It’s almost been knocking on the door of Christmas, and we all know that ‘blink’ and the festive season will be upon us …. I’m just praying that we all keep safe and manage to avoid another lock down .
It’s been a while since we published a blog, though I have written some… which kind of got shelved and might appear one day .
The nights are slowly drawing in and there is a light chill in the air , often followed by a ‘proper’ English Summers day….and I can’t help feeling the need to cosy up with some ‘comfort tv’….. the shipping forecast is one thing but watching the whole series of The Good Life right from series one episode one is , very comforting, nostalgic and very British!… it’s still very funny.
It came out in the 70’s when I was a boy…. Like many red blooded men….ahem ‘boys’ then , Felicity Kendal who played Barbara had caught my eye and was a ‘9’ on the cuteness scale , however rewatching the series 45 or so years later, it’s actually Penelope Keith whom I think …..is high on the cuteness scale, maybe I have always been a sucker for beautiful clothes but on her tall slim figure ….. well I was too fixated with Barbera , first time around to have noticed …… Whilst I think about it, watching an Abba concert on YouTube the other day, the dark haired lady climbs the scale over my boyhood affection for the blonde one?….anyway it demonstrates and reminds me that ‘classic’ does have a knack of transcending time and can stay the course.
Last night was the first night I slept all the way through in a long long time , I’m reminded of it because as I picked up my tablet to continue writing this blog, I noted it’s 3.26 am…. It had been a long and busy day at the shop with a large wedding party to sort , which kept me late… late enough to miss seeing Katherine Jenkins and with a backstage pass too, to meet her….I hope she wasn’t too disappointed!… ( tongue firmly in cheek)
I’ve been busy planning ‘cuts’ for Autumn/Winter as well as buying from ranges such as Schneiders and Incotex. It’s the creating of suits and jackets I really enjoy, and I chose from 500 plus cloths from our makers in Portugal to make up suits and jackets. These we refer to as cuts or cut ups, as we start with a length of cloth, and then ‘style them up’ with linings and buttons etc, choosing what sort of garment we will make, suit, jacket, jacket and matching vest, trousers, topcoat etc.
It’s my favourite part of the job and what I did when I worked for a clothing manufacturer…. It’s a much different and more creative process than looking at a rail of ready made samples and ordering ‘that one’…., I get to choose everything from the style , fit shape ( or pattern as we call it) to buttons, lining , under collars … everything….and all from 4” by 4” swatches!
Wonderful , when I get it right…. I still sometimes mis judge a large pattern repeat of 6 plus inches …. difficult when the swatch you’re choosing from is barely 4 inches square, but I’ve learned to ‘read’ the pattern repeats better and make fewer gaffs than I used to…. that said we can all make mistakes now and again and after 44 years in the trade , I’m still learning and don’t claim to know everything… when I stop learning or think I know everything , is when it will be boring!
So yes I’m excited, and pleased that my enthusiasm is still there as I contemplate renting a storage unit to house and filter into the shop the four hundred and seventy seven garments I have in work.
My middle son Charles is now working full time at Rhodes-Wood and he is averaging 10 to 12 thousand steps a day, back and forth to Chris, our alteration tailor of 24 years , the post office, and the like…. I’m pleased that we’ve been too busy to send him to the hardware shop for a long stand, glass hammer and tartan paint ( 44 years on I remember my visits!)…. he is learning from the start …… series one, episode one, and we all are enjoying his humour, charming ways and his help and company. Welcome Charles..
We look forward to seeing you soon and until then , I hope you keep enjoying a ‘Good Life’
“Well thank you very much”
Jerry