This is the random thought that came into my head on Sunday morning. Perhaps it was the fact that the clocks had gone forward that made me a little potty. But I started talking about ties.
I have quite a large collection of ties. There's a black one for funerals, plain coloured ones for formal events and patterned ones for more laid back gatherings. Then there are the zany ones - Ruper Bear and the Flintstones (separately and not together) and many more which are designed to make everyone think what a good chap I am.
Oh and I mustn't forget the ones that show I belong somewhere, like my Norwich School Old Boys tie or my East Anglian Regimental Tie which I still do occasionally aware.
But by and large I have over 50 ties that I never wear. I might wear a tie for a handful of hours a year, but no more.
Nowadays people just don't wear them. I remember the 1950s and early 1960s when civil servants dashed around London wearing suits, ties and bowler hats and usually carried umbrellas even when the sky was cloudless and completely blue "well you never know when it's going to rain old chap and I'd hate to get the bowler wet." I think the rolled up umbrella was more of a status symbol than anything else.
Fashion's have changed. So called city gents still wear suits but with open neck shirts and the suits themselves are much less formal.
Even at funerals we are often told to wear bright clothes for a celebration of somebody's life.
Wearing a suit is no longer a statement which is a good thing for a scruffbag like me who is much more likely to dress down than dress up.
Decades ago it was different. I remember going to New York and wanting to go to a particular restaurant at the top of a skyscraper. It may have been called Top of the Sixes.
I wore a tie as I knew there was a dress code. We had a table booked. But I didn't have a jacket with me and was told politely that I couldn't come in without one. I changed the booking time and went back to the hotel to put on a jacket. Obviously wearing a jacket made me a better person!
Today I would probably have cancelled the booking, taken my tie off and gone to MacDonalds.
Having said that I do still hold a modicum of dressing for the occasion vibe. But there is no doubt that fashion has changed and we are much more laid back than we once were.