Tractor Tuesday Oldie

The reason for this Blip was not actually connected to my John Deere-Lanz tractor which was first registered on 31st March 1965.

It followed from some Facebook correspondence at the end of last week with some of my 1968-72 school acquaintances about the current state of my 1972 "Old Boys" tie which is showing it's age. The tie is a bit of a rarity and referred to as a "Faux" or Fake Old Boy's tie sold by the School tailor in the 1970's before someone spotted it was wrong - stripes too thin and too close together. I have never enquired if we are entitled to free replacements but I suspect the tailor was closed down for slipping in cheap fake French made clothing and there is now a "School Shop" (also online), where one buys school uniform and these old boys ties.

Having a collection of ties is nothing special for any "proper" Englishman and we all have heard about "The Old School Tie" network. However, I have been lucky that in the last 30 years of living and working in Germany, ties and suits are rarely ever seen or used. I doubt I have worn my school tie in all that time and probably less than half a dozen times since 1972. Saturday's wedding was probably the first and last appearance it has made in Germany.

However, what I do still wear at times in summer are my 1968 issued school "Games Shorts" the one's we used for rugby and hockey - football was not considered a sport for us boarding school boys and likely to lead to us picking up bad habits. For athletics and gymnastics, we had white shorts with elasticated waists.

So today I took the photo and will have to post it to the old boy's Facebook page and see if anyone can beat my 50-year-old record - almost to the day as I started there in September 1968.

The odd pose and midriff exposure is deliberate to show the white 1" (2.5cm) cloth webbed waist band that one had to tie in a knot to secure them around the waist and then the end of the cloth waistband is affixed over it with a button. This year the button fell off and I haven't yet found a replacement. I might add I would never wear the shorts outside our property! They were anyway never designed to be seen anywhere else but a sports field.

In the extra photo, a close up where you will see the shorts were marked with my sewn-on name tag and were manufactured by the once British sportswear manufacturer "Umbro" founded in 1924. In 1954 (my birth year) they were made official suppliers to the English football team and were, of course, the deciding factor in England's 1966 World Cup win. In 1974, Umbro lost the contract and I suspect from there on the quality of their and other sportswear manufacturers went downhill. No more 100% cotton but only shiny, slippery, synthetic, plastic, throwaway rags. And England never came close again to winning.

As my old Blip pal Nogbad will confirm, Manchester City Football Club won the 2010/11 FA Cup for the first time in 35 years, only because they changed to Umbro kit that year.

OH - Today's news: I mowed a field. It's hot, hot, hot. I ate a ready made frozen pizza which I suspect had been in the freezer for about a decade. It tasted great. Old things can still be good things.