'old girls' days at Hertford

[Fjgrogan]

That's all very well for you bright young things, but when I had the legs for hot pants I didn't have the confidence; now I maybe have the confidence, but certainly don't have the legs!! Flower power and flowing maxi dresses might be more in my line, and oddly enough actually more or less in fashion now, but probably not by next summer.

[J.R.]

My mind is starting to 'boggle' again !

[englishangel]

I noticed that the dresses in the little boutique near my office were very similar to what I wore at 18 - 20. And the Indy on Sunday had a feature on what trousers will be 'in' this winter and shorts dungarees was one of them. We bought our daughter some for Christmaa 2 1/2 years ago so she is well ahead of the trend.

[J.R.]

Lilly Savage, eat yer heart out !

[Fjgrogan]

You see there is a lot to be said for storing things in the loft - they will eventually come back into fashion. Unfortunately though I am now twice the weight I was when I left school!

[chaosriddenyears]

Well my face is definitely lurching towards 50 but I am as thin as a bean pole and still have damn good legs and - if I I am challenged to it - would skip willingly round the whole of Housey in Hotpants with any number of Young Things if this would help CH in any way (it would be COMPLETE fun for me I do assure you and I would simply LOVE to go down in history as one of the great CH eccentrics like Doreen)

Er.....hm..When is the next OG's day actually?

[Kim2s70-77]

Not sure about the legs, but I'd join you, Lynn - I have no shame!!! It would give them something to gossip about when they are 50!!

[englishangel]

Kim is being modest about her legs as anyone who is her 'friend' on Facebook will tell you.

[gma]

I loved Old Girls Day, it was proof that there was normal life after CH.

I never, ever went back though in my defence for 8 years I was in the North or the Midlands, but even after moving to London in 1980 I felt no urge to return. I did once have to go to Stevenage in about 1987 and detoured via Hertford, but until last April I never set foot through the gates.

I'm so gald that it wasn't just me,in fact I avoided driving any where near Hertford for any reason for years afterwards!!

As far as Kim and Lynn et al skipping round the square in hotpants, I say, ladies Bring It On! Purple and spit as I recall?

When we are Old Blues, we shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn't go and doesn't suit us.
And we shall spend our pensions on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter.

We will sit down on the pavement when we're tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
And run our sticks along the public railings
And make up for the sobriety of our youth.

We shall go out in our slippers in the rain
And pick the flowers in other people's gardens
and learn to spit.

We will wear terrible shirts and no socks
and eat three pounds of sausages at a go
or only bread and pickles for a week
and hoard pens and pencils and beer mats and things in boxes.

But now we must have clothes that keep us dry
and pay our rent and not swear in the street
and set a good example for our children.
We will have friends to dinner and read the papers.

But maybe we ought to practice a little now?
So people who know us are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly we are old, and start to wear purple.

So, August 2010 in bad red hats and purple somethings?

[MKM]

and hoard pens and pencils and beer mats and things in boxes.

I already do this (except for the beer mats).

[gma]

Bizarrely, I thought J.R wou;d be the person who picked that up!!

Do you have purple leggings yet? My Mum has some and is saving them for when she's "properly old". She was 80 in July!

[anniexf]

Jenny Joseph, who wrote the poem that gma borrowed, could probably claim copyright fees if she knew it was being quoted in full!

[Fjgrogan]

There are those among us who have already been wearing purple for years - it is a family trait among the Grogans! There is somewhere a male version of Jenny Joseph's poem - although I am not sure whether it was written by her or A N Other - which starts something like 'When I am an old man, I shall wear plaid trousers' - or it may have been 'checked' - I saw it years ago as a cross-stitch chart! My memory is not what it was - strange flashes, but no follow-through!

[englishangel]

I am definitely into purple. My Mum even bought me a red hat from my 40th birthday, though I went to a cousin's weddding in 1987 in a red hat (which I still have).

[Angela Woodford]

You're all set for the Oestrogen Reunion, Mary!

We're in luck. Loads of purple arriving in the shops for this autumn. Hooray!