Mad Dogs and Englishmen

Categories: uncategorized

Date: 20 July 2006 09:19:34

[n.b. I posted this yesterday lunchtime... only it appears that I didn't!]

It's hot. Too hot... and to avoid going out in the midday sun, I'm sitting in a stuff office. I'm not sure this is an improvement.

We received an e-mail yesterday from our office manager:
Dear All,
In view of the current hot spell of weather, the use of tailored shorts and open sandals will be acceptable attire for those who are unfortunately desk bound over this period.
Kind regards, H.
The result is that we (the modestly dressed females) are now being subjected to the scary sight of the more senior bosses in shorts and sandals. Unsurprisingly the younger members of the office are sticking to lightweight trousers and shoes.

The change of dress in the UK during the short period we like to call ‘summer' is pretty noticeable. Some people seem to go half naked. Others stick to their usual jeans and jumpers but put on some sunglasses to mark the change in season. I like to think I get it about right wearing smart sleeveless dresses or lightweight long skirts for work. The woman I passed on my way to work this morning obviously thought I was about right too. She stopped me to ask if she was dressed OK as she was on her way to an interview and didn't have anyone to ask now she'd split with her partner. I honestly thought she looked great and tried to be encouraging, wishing her luck in the interview... but I did spend the rest of the walk to work wondering what I would have said if she hadn't looked okay. It wasn't as if she could have changed her clothes in the street.

My walks to work are becoming pretty interesting. Something always seems to happen on my way to work which I then spend the rest of the journey wondering about. Yesterday I felt like I was a whodunit detective or maybe a mystery writer. After dropping my boy off at nursery I encountered a minor delay due to a ‘scene' outside the local Spar shop. Two police cars and an ambulance were parked at the side of the road. The pavement was blocked by three policemen waving sticks around. And a fourth policeman was using his stick to beat a dog. A dog that was attacking another dog. The police got the dogs apart and a man went to help the injured dog. There was a shocked looking woman in the ambulance and another man trying to get a chain on the crazy dog. I decided not to join the small crowd that was gathering to watch. I crossed the road and walked on. But I did spend the next 20 minutes making up a story in my head about a crazy dog that had spent too much time in the midday sun and attacked a woman who refused to give him an icecream and the Spar staff barricaded themselves in the shop and called the police and then ate all the icecream left to teach the dog a lesson and the policemen came and demanded ice cream reinforcements and it all got very silly after that...

I blame the heat.