Sumer is icumen in

Sure, deck your lower limbs in pants; 
Yours are the limbs, my sweeting. 
You look divine as you advance.
Have you seen yourself retreating?

So said Ogden Nash.

Before we go on, let me explain that the title is not a result of me having developed a severe form of dyslexia.  Sumer is icumen in is an English medieval song, a composition for several voices, probably written at Reading Abbey in the mid-13th century.

We have been blessed with glorious weather the last two or three days with temperatures in the mid-20s yesterday.  And guess what?  All the summer dresses got their first outings of the year.  And I do have to wonder just what Mr Nash (Ogden, not Beau  - although now I come to think of it, Beau Nash would probably have died of apoplexy.) would had said about all the acres of white flab on display in Asda yesterday afternoon.

Now, I lay no claim to be the epitome of sartorial elegance.  Far from it - but I do try to dress more or less appropriately.  By which I mean that I take into consideration my age, shape and destination when deciding what to wear.  For instance, I consider that I am too old for jeans (I know there are people as old as or even older than me who would disagree) and my neck is too turkey-like for collarless shirts.  In the appropriate place I may well don a pair of shorts, but they have to be of a reasonable length - and not football shorts either!

But why is it that the chunkiest young ladies insist on wearing the skimpiest of skirts and tops?  So many seem to have thighs like tree trunks, and yet they are quite happy to display them by wearing skirts that only just cover their knickers.  Far better, in my opinion, to wear a floaty, long skirt and keep people guessing.

A building site or the beach (or the back garden) are the appropriate places for men to go shirtless - not the High Street or the supermarket.

I'm not suggesting that we should go back to the fashion of wearing jacket and tie in the tropics or covering the legs of the piano for the sake of modesty, but I do think a little decorum would not go amiss.  This, for instance, is not the correct dress for shopping:

Mind you, I do like a bit of bacon!