Saturday Night Fever
Before you think the title refers to my own wild weekend, think again. With the exception of a brief excursion to my nearby BILLA, I spent it all indoors, sneezing and coughing. The lowlight was waking up at 4 a.m. on Sunday morning and blowing my congested nose only to set off a viscious nosebleed and a coughing fit that lasted about half an hour. I was waiting for neighbours to knock on my door, complaining about all the noise, but then eventually went back to sleep only to wake up again at 1o:45!
End of self-pitying killer-virus tangent.
No, the title refers to British dress-sense. The first day of my vacation was a Saturday and my Mum and I decided to take the tube to Covent Garden to stretch our feet after the journey and recover from the shock about our "bonsai" hotel room. Walking to Leicester Square after the first of several visits to my beloved Pret, we were waiting at a traffic light when Mum nudged me. "Those girls must be going to work, don't you think?", implying that the 3 girls in front of us, all clad in micro skirts and killer heels (and not much else) earned their living by selling their bodies. "Oh no", I replied, "that's just your typical going-out outfit here." Mum wasn't convinced, especially as it was rather chilly and those girls were wearing neither tights, nor a cardigan or coat. I explained to her that British (and also Irish) girls had a tendency of simply ignoring outside temperatures and would go out in strappy sandals and flimsy dresses in December, too. It was only when I pointed out two dozen similarly clad groups of girls that she realised they were not all sex workers. In fact, it became a bit of a running joke during our trip, me commenting on scantily-dressed women, "look, here's another prostitute."
Not all women were dressed like sluts at all, but it was really easy to tell the tourists from the natives or Anglo Saxon visitors apart on the Channel Islands as well. Tourists: several layers of clothes, the topmost being a hooded jacket or raincoat, long trousers and trainers. Natives: sleeveless top, shorts or miniskirt, bare legs in flip-flops. Even on the plane that was chilled to arctic temperatures, most islanders or UK visitors were half naked. My theory is that girls are hardened for life from having to wear school uniforms with bare legs in harsh weather.
End of self-pitying killer-virus tangent.
No, the title refers to British dress-sense. The first day of my vacation was a Saturday and my Mum and I decided to take the tube to Covent Garden to stretch our feet after the journey and recover from the shock about our "bonsai" hotel room. Walking to Leicester Square after the first of several visits to my beloved Pret, we were waiting at a traffic light when Mum nudged me. "Those girls must be going to work, don't you think?", implying that the 3 girls in front of us, all clad in micro skirts and killer heels (and not much else) earned their living by selling their bodies. "Oh no", I replied, "that's just your typical going-out outfit here." Mum wasn't convinced, especially as it was rather chilly and those girls were wearing neither tights, nor a cardigan or coat. I explained to her that British (and also Irish) girls had a tendency of simply ignoring outside temperatures and would go out in strappy sandals and flimsy dresses in December, too. It was only when I pointed out two dozen similarly clad groups of girls that she realised they were not all sex workers. In fact, it became a bit of a running joke during our trip, me commenting on scantily-dressed women, "look, here's another prostitute."
Not all women were dressed like sluts at all, but it was really easy to tell the tourists from the natives or Anglo Saxon visitors apart on the Channel Islands as well. Tourists: several layers of clothes, the topmost being a hooded jacket or raincoat, long trousers and trainers. Natives: sleeveless top, shorts or miniskirt, bare legs in flip-flops. Even on the plane that was chilled to arctic temperatures, most islanders or UK visitors were half naked. My theory is that girls are hardened for life from having to wear school uniforms with bare legs in harsh weather.
posted at 8:21 AM
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