On Hypocrisy
Following yesterday’s announcement that we will be in lockdown for at least another three weeks (the minimum furlough period), I woke in the night to the steady drumbeat of our first heavy downpour of rain.
The garden needed it for sure; It looks set for the day.
I’ve been grateful for the last three weeks of sun and for my garden as it has made our house arrest much easier to bear. And yesterday, we walked the dogs, bathed in warm sunshine along the course of the river, through winding paths of wild garlic, seeing barely a soul.
We know just how lucky we are.
How much harder then, for someone in a block of flats, living in cramped and crowded conditions in one of the big cities; hemmed in on all sides with not a tree or blade of grass in sight.
How much more difficult for those people with young children who must, quite literally, be climbing the walls by now. Or those with older teenagers, for that matter. I shudder to think.
‘From split hems to V-necks: this week’s fashion trends.’ says The Guardian. I looked down at my grubby shorts and dinner stained t-shirt and scratched at one of the heavier patches of last night’s curry. Perhaps I should put them in the wash. Or I could leave it and go for the ‘urban camouflage’ look?
Apparently Petal Power corsages are making a comeback. I raised an interested eyebrow and tried to imagine, who might be worrying about this week‘s fashions in the midst of a deadly global flu pandemic. Probably the same people who made that video about NHS workers from migrant backgrounds, telling the British people they’re all racists. (It put me off last night’s clap for the NHS)
Certainly not the folk in the tenement blocks.
And how long is it acceptable to go without changing or washing your clothes at such a time as this?
‘Hitchcock hair’ As worn by Bella and Gigi Hadid, and Rita Ora on the Miu Miu catwalk. Spritz with suspense,’ continued the article.
That might well have been the perfect description of my own lockdown-mop but it’s so last season, darling. Since I hacked at it with the dog grooming scissors, it’s now more ‘military-punk.’
You wait and see- it’ll be all the fashion next week. And paired with curry stained camo t-shirt and matching shorts, it’ll sweep the catwalks.
I wonder if we will continue to buy throwaway clothes, made in Chinese sweat shops, or if the thrifty principles of make-and-mend will make a comeback.
We certainly need to think about it.
I googled ‘which brands use sweatshops’ and as you might expect, all the major fashion and sports brands came up on the list. For all their claims of ethical sourcing, they never really explain whose brand of ethics they claim to apply.
We’re all pretty good at pointing at others: “Look at them, all of them in that park! They’re not two metres apart. Why am I staying in, cutting my own hair when they’re out having a bloody picnic?”
It’s a familiar cry.
Perhaps we need to look at our own contributions to the ills of society; our own words and behaviour; what we purchase and where it comes from.
It’s not all up to the state you know.
Maybe we should take that blimmin’ great beam out of our own eye, before we start having a pop at others.
It’s a mote point!