Saturday 13 July 2013

The Tale of a Shirt




Mrs H told me that she was going to have a clear out of her clothes and other accessories to create more space on our shared rail. I was delighted to hear this as it would now be easier for me to retrieve the few clothes that were mine. 
I was looking forward to a quiet afternoon sitting on my own with a book. 
When I heard her good self sing out 
'What shirts are you going to dispose of ?' 
to which I retorted 
'You can sling the black ones if you like, for there's no profit in me wearing them anymore'

When her good-self came over from the UK to check both me and this country out, I took her on a mini tour of Ireland for a few days and just like now the weather was up, meaning sunny and warm. 
After a few days I had changed into wearing a pair of black trousers and a shirt to match. We stopped at a rural garage to fill the fuel tank before tackling the next stage of our journey. I gave the attendant a fifty pound note he strolled off to his shed and was gone a considerable time; such that I sneakily peered through his window to see what was causing the delay and saw him delving into drawers and putting together coins and notes.
When eventually he returned he took my hand turned it upwards and pressed the change into my palm and pushed my fingers over the whole amount and said 
'Have a nice day, Father' I felt a bit embarrassed at his innocence, gave him my thanks and without checking I pushed the change deep into my pocket.

Later on that day we were at the southern end of the Dingle peninsula, having found a B&B with a pub nearby.As we had ceased travelling for the day we thought that we deserved a drink.
Whilst sitting at the counter and waiting to be served I idly counted what money was in my pocket it came to twenty-five pounds more than what it should have been. 
Something very similar happened to us in Co. Clare when we stopped for lunch in a hotel and when I went pay the bill was halved, again I was wearing a black shirt & trousers.

However, since the fall in popularity of the church of Rome due to the despicable clerical abuse of children etc, one hardly ever sees a priest wearing any form of religious garb in the street and I have certainly stopped wearing black shirts.
My un-priestly days are over!

Those wise owls among you will have realised that my easy release of the black shirts did not stop there. For my presence was summoned and about another ten or more different coloured shirts came off the rail and went into the charity shop bag. I did though manage to rescue one that had never been worn.Why it was put into the disposable heap though - I shall never know. I might even wear it tomorrow when we go out for lunch
if I can remember which one it was :))

18 comments:

  1. So Mrs H must have left you more than one shirt on the rail :-)
    People took you for a priest? In Mainz where we studied there was an old woman who always said to my husband: "Good evening, Herr Dechant (=dean)."
    To make place in a wardrobe is a very good thing - I will tackle it too in a few days - but honestly: women clothes seem to multiply quicker than men's.

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  2. Oh yes Mrs H left me several - Thank you :-)
    The habit of buying lots of shirts stemmed from my professional life when I had to appear well groomed and long after taking early retirement the habit lives on.
    I have noticed that Mrs H is a veritable magpie when it comes to clothes too!

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  3. Old shirts never die, they just get turned into patchwork quilts (in our house anyway!).

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  4. Well that's very industrious of you Kath however, mine are still very wearable - so am hoping someone else can make use of them.

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  5. Old shirts become quilts in my house too. My sister, the quilter, loves my son-in-law, who wears through the left elbow of every shirt in short order. She gets stacks of lovely shirts, sans left elbow.

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    1. Your so-in-law must lean on his elbow an awful lot !

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  6. Old shirts become working rags in our house. Please could you explain to Pete that it is a good idea to clear out shirts every so often (and old tee shirts) as he seems to collect them. Especially as I need the room for my clothes ;) xxx

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    1. Fran thank you.
      As to your request certainly not, for you don't seem to realise that Pete probably has a strong attachment to his T-shirts ha' ha' ha'

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  7. 'twas always thus. We have a 'his' and 'hers' wardrobe. Mine is full to bursting and has an overflow into 'his'. His has about a quarter of a rail. Well - you like us girls to look nice when we go out with you, don't you?

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    1. Of course We do ! ! !

      and secretly we give you admiring glances too :)

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  8. Hubby hates when I want to have a clear out as he likes to keep everything and I'm a firm believer in bring something new in take out something old (unless of course that's how hubby feels about me :)).

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    1. Thank you for you comments Suzie.

      I think you have highlighted one of the differences between male and female thinking.
      Such that: the most striking difference between the sexes is that women have a much higher level of activity in the prefrontal cortex, an area that’s sometimes called “the brain’s CEO” because it governs planning, organisation, impulse control, and learning from mistakes.

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  9. We have separate closets, mine looks like several women share it though I live in jeans and shorts. His is a neat arrangement of shirts.

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  10. Sounds like you have different clothes for different moods !

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  11. My other half, Koos, wears black shirts and trousers all the time too, but because they have heaps of pockets in them (to hold all his photo accessories and gear), I don't think anyone has ever mistaken him for a priest :-) It's more likely they'd think he was some kind of militia man, especially with the black beret he also wears, but then the beard (much like yours) gives him the artistic quirkiness. In the heat we're having, I've finally persuaded him to shed the black for something cooler! But I wish he would throw a few things out now and then. That I haven't persuaded him to do. I see Fran says her Pete uses his old Tee shirts as rags. Some of K's should be coming his way too..haha!

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  12. Much appreciate your comments Val.
    A beret (not necessarily black), is an article I have often thought of adding to my wardrobe. Unfortunately they do seem to be hard to come by over here. May be it is because of the para-military connotations or even the frequency of rain. So instead I have a selection of caps instead. During the summer I wear collarless cotton shirts until the cold weather arrives.

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  13. So, you are a Wensleydale cheese lover (your answer to my blog today) - well it is made at the Wensleydale Creamery in Hawes (the photograph where the bunting is stretched across the street). They had a Management Buyout about twenty years ago and have never looked back - they sell all over the world now and are a huge undertaking. If you ever come over here to look at the Creamery - you can go round it and buy all manner of different cheeses - pop in for coffee - we only live a few miles down the road.

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    1. We ought to be sent Free samples for all of this advertising :-)

      I'm sure other readers would show their appreciation too if that were the case !

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