Fantastically accurate descriptions

Ladyleftfieldlover

I have always been a nonconformist regarding clothes. A few years ago we went to Munich for the Christmas markets. OH said I was easy to spot in the crowds as my white with bright red flowers patterned coat stood out from all the dull coloured anoraks!

From where did you get such a coat, Ladyleftfieldlover? I'd love to have one of those but I can only find - at most - coats with two block colours only.

Howard and Hilda were from Ever Decreasing Circles. Richard Briers played the lead character which reminded all our friends of my husband! Hubby is still a bit like that but we are nothing like Howard and Hilda

Mr N is a naughty man and has nicknames for many of our friends.
I have a friend who looks like Esther Rantzen. Mr N calls her T&G. Teeth and gums.
A house proud friend is Hyacinth.
A know it all interfering acquaintance is Thrush apparently because he is an irritating **. I told you Mr N is naughty.

I agree with Jennifer Eccles.

to me, all young girls (!) look alike,

never heard the expression "cauliflower" hair..

I've never heard of older ladies being described as cauliflowers but it is a great description. Thinking about it I find I know quite a few. Permed bouffant, grey haired ladies of a certain age. I love it.

Yes, Blinko, I remember Howard & Hilda! (We still see couples like that, out and about - dressed in identical jumpers or coats.) If ever DH & I find that we've chosen similar clothes to wear, one of us will change, to avoid the "Howard and Hilda" look.

Reminds me of when DH and I first went to Florida. Sitting in a Mall drinking coffee we remarked on all the older ladies in bright clothes. Back home it was all permed grey hair and beige. Vowed I would always wear bright clothes as I got older and I have.

I first heard the terms ‘cauliflower perm’ and ‘trick or treat hair’ in a play written by Victoria Wood and starring her and Julie Walters - it was about two sisters Pat and someone, one was plain and ordinary - Victoria Wood and the other a famous TV personality who was ashamed of her working class sister. Like a lot of Victoria Wood’s work - spot on observation.

Back in the 70s I had a friend who was a hairdresser in a small village in Devon. Obviously they were most busy during the holiday season, starting and finishing with old folks coach trips.

She used to call these times ‘frizzy fortnight’ because most of these old ladies had been for a tight, curly perm before their holiday, and then found that the sea air made their hair frizzy.

When my mum died I found a letter her father had written to her when she married my dad. It was beautiful, wishing her luck in her new life and describing how he felt with a now empty nest, he wrote " the house echoes with the sound of your absence."

I too find all young girls look so alike with the fashion for long silky straight hair, false lashes and big eyebrows, but mostly they do look very pretty! My friend closely observed what 'people of a certain age' wore, and she avoids beige, stone, and anything with velcro! Some descriptions are so beautifully accurate; not quite on this post's theme, but I enjoy reading Monica Dickens, and her description of a sour landlady who smoked heavily, with her upper lip drawn into 'an elaborate smockwork of disapproval' made me laugh. I have known many elderly ladies with that physical feature!

‘Cauliflower hair ‘ made me smile.
Better not mention it to Mother in law. ?

Dear old MIL was so keen on permed hair it she almost considered it a crime to have hair which was straight. She never understood that the younger generation wouldn't be seen dead with a perm.

Neilspurgeon0

My wife worked fir some years as a school lunchtime supervisor (dinner lady) and the headmaster once informed me that she did a marvellous job in the playground:

“Surrounded by a crinoline of small children”

Priceless description of a wonderfully motherly woman.

Wonderful description!

My colleague described her father as ‘ Typical Glasgow East End, takes right good care o’ himself and talks oot the side o’ his mooth’.

I knew exactly what she meant.

People seem to be frightened to be individuals.
I cannot understand why one has to wear dark clothes in winter.

I forgot Ronald Dahl’s priceless description of the female Twit (IIRC):

‘She had pale brown teeth and puckered up lips like a dog’s bottom.’

“He had the look of one who had drunk the cup of life and found a dead beetle at the bottom.”

PG Wodehouse.

I'm sure he also wrote about someone having a face like a bucket of smashed crabs.

Some lovely descriptions here, I'm going to pinch some!

I too struggle to distinguish between all these short, thin, straight brown haired young women with thick make up and astonished eyebrows. They all look the same, utterly boring en masse. Thank heavens my DDs are very different, tall blondes with their own sense of style, or I'd never recognise them in a crowd!

I'm resisting the bob and currently have longish naturally blonde hair & wear what I like whether or not it's "suitable". I'm lucky that I don't work so can get away with gardening jeans most if the time ?

Love this....todays girls are certainly all eyebrows, botox and white teeth to me.
Mm and to be fair Me and he have to try and avoid the Howard and Hilda look very often as it tends to go that way frequently ?

I have taken advantage of the first lockdown to grow my colour out and actually I look better now. But NEVER will I become a cauliflower head. I have not heard the phrase before but it is so accurately descriptive that I will never forget it.

JennuferEccles I to think that about young girls. The long straight highlighted locks and the torn jeans and cropped tops. Followed 3 only yesterday and from the back they looked identical. I thought so much for all the emphasis on being allowed to be an individual that is constantly touted in the media.

Flossieturner

Fevertree, my daughter and I play bookends when we go shopping. They are couples of any age who dress the same. If we are going out and DH has a similar colour to me, I change my clothes.

And - I don't remember the series, Blinko but will Google

My brother-in-law described an elderly aunt's puckered lips as looking as if she'd sucked on a wasp.

Mum and Dad dressed alike: the same coat, the same woolly hand-knit hat.
They used to look after our two little black poodles when we went on holiday, so then they had the same dog as well ?

Years ago I saw an older lady on a train wearing a stunning pink coat. I was too shy at the time to compliment her, and have often wished I had. I would now!
It's stuck with me as a lesson though: why wear a dull colour when you can wear a pretty one? I need a wardrobe overhaul at the moment.

Sing19, your grandfather’s description of his feelings after your mum left home is absolutely lovely, how touching, no wonder she kept the letter.

I have told my hairdresser to throw me out if I ever ask him for a wee, tight perm.