Books and Uniforms

A bay leaf in home-made rice pudding is very nice. Especially a young bay leaf from your own plant.

Was just thinking about favourite books to try and describe myself. I used to read a lot and could have named so many, but now just a few, probably because I normally watch too much TV. I did forget to mention one which I really thought was brilliant and read over and over again: 'Nothing if not Critical' by Robert Hughes. Although I read this many times when I was at art college, about twelve years ago, it now seems like thirty years ago.

Reading something about school uniforms recently made me think about my old school uniform. Starting underneath, we all wore woollen vests and white knickers (known as 'linings'). Over this went a strange garment called a liberty bodice, a kind of waistcoat thing with rubber buttons down the front, and a pair of red (uniform colour) knickers over the white ones. Up to age eleven we wore long beige wool socks in the winter, white short ones in the summer. Over that age we wore white short socks in the summer, and in the winter, thick cotton lisle stockings, held up with suspender belts. These were chocolate brown, deeply unsexy, and wrinkled at the knees and ankles. We always wore black lace-up shoes outside and changed into brown sandals indoors.

Our winter uniforms for daily wear were: white long sleeved flannel shirts with red shiny ties under bright red gym slips. A silver and enamel school badge (cross with a crown of thorns in red enamel) was worn as a tie pin. At weekends or for formal occasions the gym slip was ditched in favour of a red pleated skirt. Outside, in winter, we wore either bright red tailored woollen coats, or if rainy, red hooded gabardine macs. Topped with black felt school hats with the same silver cross in the front of the hatband.

Summer was different in that we wore red tailored dresses with tiny white spots, and red blazers with the school pocket badge embroidered in silver wire, this time with cream panama hats. For special occasions, the pleated skirt reappeared, this time with cream shantung shirts.

It does make today's uniforms seem pretty simple. I forgot to mention all the sports gear and uniforms, but I think these are still required nowadays.