Funny thing happened today in a conversation. Sometimes I am sure those guys at the WordPress have premonitions about what we talk about, or perhaps we have a sort of telepathic contact to their software department. It would not surprise me, I have been hovering around here, for better or worse, for at least eight years if not more. Let us begin at the begnning.
Mr. Swiss and I got ready for the normal Monday morning excursion to the supermarket. We did not dress in our Sunday best, just normal – but what is today normal? As we have now progressed to the golden oldie groupies, I no longer need high heels and stockings, socks and nice comfortable casual flat Sketchers shoes does it for us both – see photo on the left, they are mine. Mr. Swiss has something similar. They are comfortable, and ideal for all weathers, although these are the lighter version. I also have a pair which cover the ankles, for the cold winter weather and snow, although these serve their purposed well. Walking from the car to the supermarket does not mean that we have to cross icy surfaces, everything is nicely heated.
It was then I remembered the days when we were in the working army. In the office you wore shoes with a heel, perhaps a skirt and top, or trousers, but nice trousers made of material and not blue jeans. Mr. Swiss would go to the office in trousers and a jacket and shirt, sometimes even a suit. He did not actually wear a tie every day, only when the occasion called for it. Perhaps there was a meeting or a visitor, but I know he had a tie in his desk in case it would be necessary. The shoes, yes, they were made of leather.
When I asked him for a pair for a photo for this blog, he found them somewhere in the back of the cupboard and even polished them up with a cloth. So are the men, must be in their genes, you do not show your leather shoes if they are not shining. But in our working days our leather shoes did shine, at least Mr. Swiss leather shoes, I was not so good at cleaning shoes and polishing them. He always cleaned his own shoes and I remember the Sundays when he would prepare them for the daily work day. It was a memory from the pre-golden-oldie days. Today you rarely see anyone walking in shoes like this, at least not in our market town. Perhaps if you work in a bank, and insuranc or in a business town such as Zürich, it would still belong to the uniform.
The shoes would shine for work. We had shoe polish tins at home in various colours to match the leather of the shoes. We had a special cloth to shine them up after the polish had been applied.
We are now comfortable in our daily casual clothes and I do not know why we took part in the dress ceremony at the time. I notice on the TV that even politicians now appear without a tie, except for the Brits. I remember my days in London. No matter how shabby the suit was, you wore it to work in the city, even if the material was becoming shiny in places through wear. And all the business men had their black leather shoes, usually with laces, although they were also not always in perfect condition. But Mr. Swiss, he always had nice clean shiny leather shoes. At least he did, but today we put on our comfortable Sketchers and no-one bothers.
Today I paid more attention to the others in the supermarket – we used to be in a neat costume or nicely tailored trousers with our shiny leather shoes. Today we are all wearing the uniform of the masses, casual shoes, jeans and a jacket. A tie? What is that, although I believe Mr. Swiss still has a few in the wardrobe, just in case. He has been retired for almost 20 years and has never wore a tie since, or leather shoes. Yes the shine has disappeared from the daily routine.
Chronicles of an Anglo Swiss 
I had to get Garry new blue jeans because he has expanded a wee bit and the old, beloved jeans are too tight. Yesterday, he finally ran them through the laundry … and now they are all lined up, ready to be ironed. He irons his jeans. He polishes his shoes. As for me, I never got good at the polishing, but Garry was a Marine and he knows how to POLISH. AND his father was a tailor, so he can iron. So, if I begged a little he would also do my stuff. I’m actually a perfectly fine ironer. I just don’t LIKE it.
You are right. My son doesn’t care if it looks like he wore his clothing to bed last night. He’ll wear it anyway and we be puzzled if I ask him about it. I think it was about 25 year ago that everyone stopped ironing stuff. If it isn’t ‘permanent press,’ wear it wrinkled. These days, almost everything I wear is a knit and stretchy — so it really doesn’t need ironing … but in a pinch, there’s Garry and his Wonder Iron 🙂
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Ironing does not bother me.I made my own clothes for about 20 years, and you have to iron when you machine a seam, so I got used to it. Mr. Swiss and I split the ironing, although I am quicker on the job, especially if it is duvet covers. I never bothered to polish shoes, but it seems to be a Swiss thing, so I let him get on with it. I like things to be ironed, although Mr. Swiss is always telling me that I should not bother to iron his pyjamas or t-shirts. My youngest son always ironed his own shirts and stuff when he was living at home. I did not always have the time. We actually learned in the sewing classes, that stuff survives longer when ironed. My mum went to the other extreme and seemed to think that you had to iron everything, otherwise you were making a big mistake. And so she ironed socks and underwear as well.
No. 2 son is probably the only one that might wear a tie and leather shoes when going to work. He works for the Swiss government and they often send him to conferences in strange countries that I have never heard of, so he has to have the gear to go with it.
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Those shiny shoes are very impressive!
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Mr. Swiss always polished his own shoes – he was quite good at it.
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