Dear LPG readers,  

I recently read an old article which reminded me of something that happened to me a while ago now.  Have you ever got halfway down the road when, on the way to do something really important, you suddenly have one of those ‘I wonder moments’.   

You have one of those ‘did I leave the iron on’ or ‘did I lock the front door properly’ moments. 

Well here’s a story that I have to admit is true.     

When I was young enough to be one of those people who dedicated every week day from 9 to 5 to doing an honest day’s work, there was the particular day when I was to do a presentation at the office.  There was nothing unusual about that but I would always take the time to make sure  that I looked just right. 

I can remember the night before when my wife, with iron in hand, was making sure that the crease in my trousers was just so as she watch telly and ‘dashed away’.  Those were the days when wives were more ready to take charge of the ’smoothing iron’.   She did get the iron out to make sure I looked good but there were a couple of other items that needed attention and she carried on with the task.  We got chatting and as she picked up each item that needed attention, it became the subject of our conversation.   

For us,  every bit of clothing has history and as she ironed we talked about the skirt that she wore on the day that it rained and she got it really wet (it has always been harder to get the pleats right ever since).  There was the tie that she has never really liked but that I think so highly of, the two pairs of trousers that prove that quality is not standard when you buy more than one of the same thing at the same time (one had a hole just under the back pocket) and the dress that she wore to the most recent wedding we attended.   

I prepared as meticulously as ever for my day, secure in the knowledge that I had lots of time to spare, until I didn’t, and when I realised that time was getting on, I put a spurt on too.  I left with just about enough time to get to the station for my train, but on the way there was that ‘ I wonder moment'.   

I was aware that I did not check which of those pairs of trousers I had put on and, as I walked down the road on this particularly sunny summer morning, I wondered just what the people behind me could see.  I didn’t even have a jacket or coat to hide my forgetfulness.   

It was a case of the train or the trousers, and I chose the train.  It was a small hole, but it was a hole which had relegated that pair to the house but they felt exactly the same and it occurred to me that the hole would be facing the wall while I was talking, as long as I remembered to keep facing my audience.  

Luckily, I arrived at my destination, and popped straight into the gents and I had made the right choice.  But ever since then and until my last working day, I kept a complete change of clothes in my office desk drawer just in case. 

You might say what has that to do with us retirees?   The memory of my story re-emerged after I read a bit of advice that perhaps we all need to take into account as we get a bit older.   

I hope that it amuses but the message that brought it back to mind is a bit more serious and I urge readers to take another look at the LPG article that I have left a link below to…  

JS, Crofton Park 

 

JS offers the link to a similar but more serious issue …

 

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