What with all this running I’ve been doing, I’ve not been cycling in to work recently. My knees won’t sustain two different forms of excetrcise for more than a week or so, hence I’m a full time commuter again. Things I have noticed:
- Braces (the type that hold your trousers up, not the teeth type). Mainly on girls, a bit emo perhaps but combined with tiny waistcoats as promoted by Kate Moss I fear we may be seeing a mainstream braces wearing resurgence. Perhaps it’s a subconcious response to the film This is England in which people wear braces.
- Increasing variety and complexity of Converse trainers and their various generic sub types. London is now split in to two roughly equal factions, those who wear Converse-type trainers (really they’re more of a pump/espadril than a trainer I’ve always thought) and those who don’t. You’re either with us or against us (i’m against but only by default as people with big feet look like clowns in Converse all stars). These days they’re often worn without laces, potentially dangerous on the escalators but these fashionable types don’t care for their safety and also don’t run up escalators as their ludicrously tight jeans wouldn’t allow it even if they were in a rush and it wasn’t considered the height of uncoolness to be in a rush or urgent or indeed to care about anything much at all except for small pieces of consumer electronics and Russel Brand. The embelishments on these shoes are increasing, sometimes they’re made of leather.
- As aluded to above, tight jeans continue their dominance, still worn low as if they were baggy though which is the thing I really don’t get, I mean there’s a reason for wearing baggy jeans low i.e. gravity and lack of a belt. When you’re wearing a belt (possibly white, probably fabric) and your jeans are tight enough to cut off circulation there really is no excuse. Seriosuly this tight jeans + converse look works for almost nobody (What do I know? I wear a yellow anorak, I like to think it’s maybe slightly ‘old rave’ but actually it’s proabably 100% Tinkers Rucksack, practical though), at best you look a bit ill, at worst (i.e. your a slightly overweight 30 year old man) you look ridiculous, ‘the aubergines’ I call them in my head.
- Reading fashion/ general etiquette: Harry Potter and Dan Brown seem to have died off leaving the tube reading niche open, whilst a variety of novels and non fiction books have moved in on this territory they’ve largely been crowded out by the Cambrian explosion of free ‘news’papers. There was one dedicated entirely to sport today, I have no idea if it’s any good, I can’t really judge the quality of sports writing because I can never get past the first sentence before my mind wanders off, also I didn’t pick it up. Hung over, all I could do was watch the crowds, no improvement in general manners, some very poor hand rail etiquette was observed this morning, really even the most dodering pensioner needs only a single hand hold (as an experienced traveler I need none, feet a foot and a half appart, 45 to direction of travel, sorted. Except sometimes when I end up stumbling around like a drunk), to sling your arms across the entire rush hour crowded carriage is practically a capital offence, certainly worthy of a steely glare, at least until the perpetrator looks up, at which point look away quick. No eye contact allowed.
- Good taste is the enemy of creativity
- Also of note, I have identified a sub class of fashion victim who seem to have no clue about what the fashion of the day (as dictated by magazines and the kids) actually is, they wear expensive sunglasses all the time, even underground, and T Shirts that look like their from top shop but actually might have cost quite a lot of money.The smell overpoweringly of aftershave (could be worse) and I suspect read Nuts and Esquire magazines on their summer holiday
- Myself? I wore the wrong clothes. Need to go home to get chnged before going out tonight which is a real pain. This T Shirt isn’t the colour I thought it was and I don’t like it. The yellow one which I thought I might like less I think now I actually like more.
And then Dan said:
I feel so much better about wearing the same clothes for the last (roughly) 10 years after reading that. Thanks!
And then Charlie said:I saw someone reading the Berlin Noir novels by Phillip Kerr on the tube the other day. I was so excited to see someone reading one-of-my-favourite-books-ever-that-no-one-else-seems-to-have-heard-of that I came really close to going up to him and telling him how much I like that book. I didn’t, obviously, because then he would have thought I was a crazy. But still, I came that close, I tell you.
And then tom said:Yeah, I think that the quality and diversity of tube reading outside the free newspaper bloc has probably improved though it might just be increased visibility now that the cloud of Dan Browns is thinning out.
And then Charlie said:Anyway, I’m on holliday in a week and might check out that Philip Kerr trilogy as I’ve been fishing around for something to read.
I think they’d be perfect for a holiday, as they are still just detective stories, but they’re set in Berlin before and after the Second World War. I’m a particular sucker for that kind of fiction, though. (e.g. My Name is Red, An Instance of the Fingerpost, The Name of the Rose, the Easy Rawlins series by Walter Mosley).
And then KateG said:I am so de-metropolised now after living “outside” for the last two years that I now actually voice my displeasure to people who annoy me on tubes. I’ll be buying a flat cap and a Barbour jacket next (and not in some kind of fashion context but because the countryside is muddy!)
And then tom said:There’s no excuse for owning a Barbour. Not ever.
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