Dame Starry

Sorry - yes, I did edit my previous post when I realised, but you pipped me to it!

YDSL x.

Frank63

Yet another band wagon to climb aboard

" I never forget a face, but in your case I'll make an exception" Groucho Marx

samkydd

Perhaps the way forward would be to go back! Large supermarkets to break up into small shops again on the High Street so that a) you wouldn't necessarily need to take the car and b) you could go there for smaller amounts of shopping at a time and take a basket. Then this would reduce not only plastic carrier bag usaage but also the dependency on driving to a large shop.

The average Tesco car park these days contains more cars than in the whole of my town when I was growing up!

Fortunately where I live now we have an old fashioned 1950s type High Street where there is the butchers, Woolworths, greengrocer, chemist and even an old haberdashery. Most of my neighbours enjoy walking up the High Street and meeting people they know and chatting, and although the smaller shops cannot compete with the large supermarket discounted prices the experience is much more sociable and enjoyable. I just hope it survives!

"...the chairman of Littlewoods stores made a Keynote speech!"

christoph404

I agree that smaller independent shops are friendlier and more sociable, they even trust you to come back with money to pay for goods when you have forgotten your wallet as I found out on a recent trip back to my home town in Scotland!! Alas, I think the small independent shops are dying out fast, they just can't compete and just to put the boot in Tescos have even invented their own version of the corner shop, its called Tesco Metro and its a smaller version of their large supermarkets on smaller sights in city centres so you don't need a car to go to Tescos anymore in many places.Its not just grocery outlets that suffer either, electrical and clothes shops are dying out as large chain shops take over. There was an interesting documentary on TV recently about Saville Row and how the tailors there have banded together to fight for survival against rising rents and the power of the big chain shops who are threatening their existence, its just a matter of time and another British institution like that will be gone.

Moor Larkin

And the little lady could trudge up to the grocers every day, rain or shine, and then, when she gets home, start the baking; that's after she's buffed the front step and put the wet clothes through the mangle. Then of course she would need to put the new baby out in the yard to get some fresh air, and smack the toddler again for playing with the coal scuttle. Listening to the wireless, she could hum gaily along to the latest song by Johnny Red and the Ramshackles, learn new house-keeping skills from the nice lady who tells her how to sew better.

In the afternoon, she could bring in the washing off the line and see if the big old flat-iron is hot enough yet. She hopes she lugged enough potatoes home that morning to make that nice stew for hubby, that he likes so much. Ooh, thinking of him, she checks his overalls are dry for tomorrow. Jimmy Clitheroe is on the radio now, so that should keep Tommy settled while she makes herself a cup of tea.

Bill will be home soon from work. Dinner is bubbling nicely on the stove and will be nice and ready for him, when he gets in after a hard days work.

Tomorrow she looks forward to taking her nice reusable shopping bag, back to the grocers. She was given it for a wedding present. It's a great bag, should last quite a few more years. Probably see her out! She laughs and then rubs her aching back.

Steve Crook

That's a lovely picture you paint
Now, where can I find a maid to do all the work

Steve

samkydd

"Cor luvvaduck my washing drying on the lines across the back alley of these squalid back to back Victorian substandard working class housing, 'as been ripped orf and dragged away by yet another car chase again and no mistake! My old man will 'ave me guts for garters if 'e ain't got no clean long johns fer tamotta!"

"...the chairman of Littlewoods stores made a Keynote speech!"

lordtednfs

Logging off makes you go blind.

___________________
Hooked off the line

batman

... what?

samkydd

It was a great series and I have no doubt they'll survive. There are ordinary tailor shops like Burtons, and off-the-peg faddish designer label suit outlets, but each Savile Row suit is unique and the person it has been made for feels pretty special when wearing it!

If my Lottery numbers come up I'll not want a flash car, I'll just take a taxi to Savile Row and get a dozen or so made thank you very much!

"...the chairman of Littlewoods stores made a Keynote speech!"

christoph404

I guess Savile Row is the top end of the market in tailor made suits or possibly one of the few markets in hand made suits these days. Wasn't there a time in the sixties and before when everyone had a tailor made suit from the local tailor, long before the invention of off the peg etc, and a tailor made suit was a reasonable price. I bought a second hand Savile Row suit from a junk shop in Brighton for £25, it was made in the 60s, beautiful pin stripe and fits me perfectly which is a surprise as I am 6'3! It receives lots of compliments when I wear it! Bargain!

samkydd

I'm tall as well and I've looked on e-bay for second hand Saville Row but unfortunately nothing in my size. When I worked in India there was a bespoke tailor shop in the hotel and I was able to get a couple of suits and jackets made to measure, and also several shirts very reasonably priced and delivered in paper covers rather than plastic bags.

"...the chairman of Littlewoods stores made a Keynote speech!"

premierview

There is a tax on plastic bags in Ireland, when you get your groceries you pay 20 cent per bag.
Most shops apply it, It still has not stopped the use of plastic bags.

batman

Are carrier bags made from the same stuff as bin bags .... if so, why are we forced to use bin bags, especially in the age of the wheelie bin. Surely if carrier bags are a danger, so are bin bags ... and garden sacks as well. Please don't tell me that bin bags don't cause a danger to wildlife etc because I see them all over the countryside, on the beach, in hedges, in fields, in ponds and in rivers. If we ban carrier bags, bin bags et al must go too!

dremble wedge

There's a Hong Kong tailor who visits the UK every 6 months or so, stays in a hotel (usually London, Manchester, Nottingham etc) and measures you up for a suit.

Then it's posted to you 6 weeks later.

He advertises in Private Eye, a friend of mine had one knocked up for £300-400 and excellent quality it was too...