Style Through the Decades

I get the same bus to work every day.

My journey to work is filled with people watching as the bus passes by people on the street and (discreetly of course!) looking around at my fellow bus passengers; trying to guess who they are and what their day holds from the way they are dressed.

There are two people that always catch my eye.  An old lady, must be at least 85 years old, gets on the bus every Wednesday morning.  Where she goes to, I do not know, but I am always fascinated by the way she dresses.

Her highly polished black court shoes with a tiny heel.  A little hat on her head with a beautiful hat pin. A smart coat (blue for Summer, red for Winter) and a black leather gloves.  She always looks immaculately dressed and like she has stepped right out of a 1950s novel.

I can imagine her in her younger years dressed like this:

Whilst I see the occasional elderly lady dressing this way, more often it is the elderly gentleman who have stuck to the more formal styles of the 1940s and 50s.  Everything from a suit with waist coat or a tie, to the jumper, tie and shirt combination.  There is one elderly gentleman who waits at the same bus stop every day; standing there with his bowler hat, beige coloured army style mac and a suit.  He is obviously far too old to be going to work.  Yet this is how he dresses every day.  I love it.

Back in the 1940s and 50s it was common place to look smart when you went out.  The hair was done, the shoes shined, the good coat on, the dress or the suit immaculate.

Years go by, society changes and styles evolve.  I remember asking my mum when I was 7 or 8 (and she was 46 or 47) why she did not wear jeans or trousers and her scandalized face that she would even think of wearing anything but a dress or a skirt.  For her, at that time, it was not the done thing.  

Whilst I am glad that times have now moved on to the point where my now 76 year old mother isn't adverse to wearing a pair of jeans or smart trouser;, I cannot help but mourn for the bygone era where you dressed up when you were leaving the house or going on a journey.

Each year I see less and less of the elderly women and gentleman with the smart clothing, dressed up to the nines; even if they were just going to the post office.

I look ahead towards the future and wonder what younger generations will think of us.  Will we be  the generation of  tracksuit bottoms?  I hope not.  I have made a pledge to myself that I will always dress smartly when I leave the house, whether I am 37 years old or 87.  We cannot let our grandparents' generation down.  Style is timeless.

Marie Curie Great Daffodil Appeal

This blog post is the first of my new monthly feature which highlights a different charity every month.

This month I am talking about the Marie Curie Great Daffodil Appeal.  This appeal has been raising funds and awareness since 1986 and has raised many millions of pounds for much needed funding.  In 2014 alone, the appeal raised £8.26 million pounds which funded 413,000 nursing hours.

Apart from making a personal donation yourself, there are many different ways that you can fund raise for this cause.  

You can volunteer to fund raise for Marie Curie by volunteering your time to selling daffodil pins to the public.  There is a simple questionnaire on the site, found here where you search for your town or city, find out the nearest fundraising site (mine is my local Tescos) and volunteer for the hours that you are available.

If you are looking to fund raise via your friends and family or work colleagues, why not make an event out of it?  

You could have a dress down day at work, with everyone donating £2 each.  Perhaps suggest that everyone wears an item of clothing that is daffodil yellow and have a donation box on the reception desk for clients and visitors to donate too?

Are you great at doing hair or have a talent with makeup?  Why not see how many many hairstyles or makeovers you can do in a day?  Every person seen could donate £5 each and it could be a really fun event.

If you fund raising alone, why not try something out of the ordinary. Why not become a human statue in a public place with the public donating funds every time they move you? If you have a musical talent, why not sing for your donations?

Happy fund raising!!

You Got To Give a Little

If there is one plan (and I use the term loosely because I hate making long term plans that inevitably fall by the wayside) that I want to follow through on this year; it is to do two things.  Be more selfish, and give more.

Doesn't make sense right?  Being selfish and giving are at opposite ends of the scale.  But giving can entail many things and there is nothing wrong with scaling back on some aspects and escalating others.

When I say I want to be more selfish. I am not talking about holding on to the last Rolo or showing no consideration for others.  What I mean is that this year, I need to remember to take care of myself too.  To give a little less of myself in some areas, which will enable me to give more in others.

As I have said in my previous post I am guilty of falling into the habit of being different personalities around different people.  The "I'm fine" person, when I'm really not; the sociable person; when I want to be alone (although I need to bring that out more as it is tied to my anxiety); the shy person in a group of people, while with my friends I am never scared to put my voice forward.  Molding your personality to fit the situation is exhausting and this year I decided, I am just not doing it anymore.

I am also going to take more time out for myself.  Some me time, on my own.  I need space on my own sometimes, even if it is just shutting a door or going to spa on my own for the afternoon.  I need it; and I deserve it.  We all do.

But I also want to give more this year and that does not have to involve giving myself.  Giving can be giving some of your time, writing a blog post to promote a charity or even working charity into your everyday shopping.

So my first goal is to write something for a different charity each month.  I tried to start that last year, but I only managed a few posts.  This year I will do better.  This month I am going to write about the Marie Curie Daffodil appeal and next month I am featuring an amazing woman who is 10 years Cancer free, after having one lung removed after being diagnosed with a rare form of cancer called Mesothelioma.  She now raises funds for research and that will be my February charity post.

Another way I intend to give is by giving money.  Although I donate some money to Women's Aid and Refuge every month, I cannot afford to give much.  So another way that you can give money is through your shopping.

After a little research, there are a number of ways that you can do this.

I am always one for finding a bargain online, any way to save money on a purchase.  I have some across a site called https://www.discountpromocodes.co.uk/ which not only finds you the discount codes for the shops that you want, it also donates 20% of it's profits every month to a different charity.  This month they raised over £200 for the Alzheimer's Society and since they began they have raised over £51,000.00.  That is just incredible. 

So this is my plan this year.  Take care of myself more, and give a little more.  We all need to look after ourselves and we all need to give a little back.  This is going to be my way of doing that.