High St Albania?

[Officer Dibble]

Have you noticed how shabbily dressed folks are nowadays. Over the last few weeks it?s really started to impinge on my consciousness how badly dressed people on the High St are. It?s got so bad that I feel I?m walking down the street of Anytown, Albania! I know I?m not alone in this perception, as a few commentators in broadsheet supplements have recently mentioned it as well. Of course it?s the girls who provide the starkest contrast between now and, say, 15 - 20 years ago. It was always the case that they loved dressing up as stylishly and sexily as their funds and taste would allow. They took pleasure in dollying themselves up and fielding the admiring glances of chaps on the High St. Not anymore. Step out onto the High St this afternoon and the predominant scene will be of dishevelled, scraggy, androgynous forms wearing dirty jeans, tracky bottoms, dirty anoraks, and occasionally pushing a shabby pram. They?ll also display all the feminine grace and charm that their low rent appearance would suggest.

But the chaps have nothing to crow about either, they?ve let themselves go compared with previous generations - who took pride in their clobber and appearance. Like Teddy Boys, Mods, Yuppies, etc. I recently saw an article on a news program where someone had discovered pristine movie footage of life at the turn of the (last) century. I was amazed at how smartly people (ordinary people) were dressed as the strolled up and down the prom at Blackpool. I had assumed that, apart from the toffs, most folks were rag-a-muffins wearing sackcloth.

So, the question is, given that we are the 4th wealthiest nation on the planet, why are we now shuffling about like apathetic, uncouth, scrubbers? What?s gone wrong?


Officer Dibble

[nachovx]

I don't know what's gone wrong, but it is pretty depressing. In the past year I've visited a few Euro destinations and you really notice the difference to this country. The only places I went that had the downmarket look of the UK were Slovakia and some of the outlying areas of Prague. But at least in these places you get the impression they are at least striving for something better, where as here we are just drifting ever downwards. It's the Walmart, Exrea Value Fat Bastard burgers and Pound Shop culture - they can all afford trolley fulls of Sunny Delight and crisps, but avoid the soap aisle like the plague, why wash your tracky when the dirt will hold it together for another 3 months and it expands with it's elastic waistband for a shoplifting pouch on the visit to Kwik Save.

[Cerberus]

Apathy & fear!
Political correctness is to blame. Discipline & self respect are no longer socially acceptable. P.C. is considered the only acceptable form of self expression. That's why we no longer see the famous British eccentricities. You conform or suffer the indignant outrage of the vaccuous majority.
I recently held a door open for a saggy baggy Chav pushing a Burberry buggy followed by a very attractive young woman, smartly dressed & groomed to perfection.
I made comment to my female companion about how refreshing it was to see a young woman dressed so nicely.
The young woman overheard me & launched into a tirade of verbal & physical abuse, pushing & screaming about perverts & her rights not to be seen as a sex object etc etc........
She can open her own fucking door next time! Give up my seat for her? Let her go first in the queue? NO WAY!
If she wants to dress & look like a lady then maybe she ought to behave like one first.
Maybe it's a blessing in disguise that they all appear to want to dress & behave like down & out scum.

[Lizard]

I blame a couple of opportunist business men, one of whom I know very well and we have a right good laugh over it to this day! In the eighties he was in the States, and noticed the 'street' look was turning more and more to sportswear, even though some of the people wearing it were not fit enough to fart, so on returning to the UK, he set up a large chain of shops selling said items to everyone and his wife, the result! He made a fortune, and is now retired (still youngish) and watches as most of the rest of the population are clad in a cheap sea of overpriced and poorly produced nylon and lycra 'sportswear' gear.
Today whilst in out with Ms Lizard, I watched a family of four dressed head to toe in 'football' wear, filthy trainers, traccy bottoms, and some fucking nasty team tops, all overwieght, all scruffy, and all a bit of a fucking mess.
I adjusted my cummerbund, and spats, and asked them which team they played for, It took a while for it to sink in that I might possibly be taking the piss, in which time I lit a cigar, got in the motor and fucked off.

They dont like it up-em!

[mart]

You mean you light your own cigars? How common.
I expect you empty the ashtrays in your motor too instead of getting a new one.

Mart

[Lizard]

"I expect you empty the ashtrays in your motor too instead of getting a new one."

Steady on Mart.
You,ll expect me to warm my own toilet seat next. Anyway I was in your old neck of the woods last weekend, fecking beautiful as well, both North, South and Mid, I feel a move coming on....

[Deuce Bigolo]

Your lucky I'm not in your neighbourhood Officer

When I go for my daily walk,6.00am to 8.00am I'm dressed to the Minus Mines

Sand Shoes that have eaten their own odour eaters with the toe sections cut out

Black shorts(just with the ass intact) with a myriad of randon paint splashes

Grey SleeveLess Nike T-Shirt complete with a variety of food stains front & back

Then at 8.01am I go shopping....sweat pissing of my body leaving small puddles where ever I stop(they love me in the fruit & veg section)

I dress for comfort not to please some other poncy fucker who thinks
they can judge a person by their attire.

Plenty of people walking around who look like a million dollars who are the lowest of the low which is why you never mix business with friendship

cheers
B....OZ

[mart]

A hasty reading meant I missed the "old" so my first reaction was, My God, that Lizard is a fast mover to have been on all 3 islands in one weekend.
Little known fact....the 3 islands of NZ used to be called North, Middle (now South) and South (now Stewart Island).

Mart

[Officer Dibble]

Sir, I fail to see what a discussion on sartorial style in the British High St has got to do with how you are pleased to conduct yourself in the Australian outback.


Officer Dibble

[Officer Dibble]

"I don't know what's gone wrong, but it is pretty depressing. In the past year I've visited a few Euro destinations and you really notice the difference to this country."

Yes, I have a few expat pals on the continent and they often tell me that it's a different world out there. They always mention how it hits you like a ton of bricks the difference between the stylish, sophisticated, continental girls and their loud, lairy, and scruffy, British counterparts. One of my pals says that even the pram pushing single mums out there (the few that there are) wouldn't dream of stepping out without a nice dress, a tidy barnet and a bit of lippy.

Then there's the depressing British cheapo shop culture you allude to. Did you hear about all those divis getting into a huge punch up over some wanky cheap sofas outside a new Ikea store? Knobheads. The people nowadays seem to have no taste and no shame. They happily eat a turd sandwich, so longs as its 50 pence cheaper than a proper bacon sarney. It's the handout culture that?s done it. Since the 60's certain social groups have been encouraged not to be ashamed about accepting handouts from the state - self respect is now an alien concept to them. So they're certainly not embarrassed about frequenting the pound shops at the shit end of town. Indeed it's now a way of life to them (often at Joe ?Sucker? Taxpayer's expense).

Hey, I used to frequent a Safeway supermarket down the road, as I always found their grub to be of reasonable quality. Then it gets taken over by Tesos. Oh, it's all very bright and efficient and all that, but the grub is noticeably crapper (and cheaper I guess). As soon as I walked in I could tell the clientele were different - much more chavy than the lower middleclass types who used to frequent the place in its Safeway incarnation, and depressingly, the place seemed busier. Well, I gave it a go and tried a couple of curries from their 'deli' (two for a fiver). Predictably, they turned out to be a right load of piss-taking shit, and I vowed not to return. I now shop at Sainsbury?s and Waitrose - more expensive yes, but also much more satisfying, and I have no qualms about paying for quality merchandise. I have standards.


Officer Dibble