Hello HenryM.
Thanks for the trip down memory lane! ( I thought for a moment there we were no longer going to be ‘looking backwards’!)
The aging process appears to foster a degree of maturity and perspective that makes use of what we learned when ‘growing-up'. I recall when I was a child that I never had anything 'new', in the sense that it came out of a shop and had not been worn before. Fortunately, I was the fourth or the male children in our family, so I got plenty of hand-me-downs and this tradition lasted well into my adult years. From then, my trips to the shops were very uneventful because I could never decide on what I really wanted (or needed). Also I found that during my working years I needed relatively formal suits, which I could not afford as new. However, a colleague of mine helped to run an Oxfam shop and pointed out that they had such a glut of second-hand suits that they were throwing many of them away. The price they were charging for the decent ones was equivalent to the cost of getting a suit cleaned. I gave him my measurements, and he provided me with a regular supply of really smart suits. Quite often in my work, I was obliged to get into situations where my clothing got ruined, so having a ready supply of 'new-suits' was very useful. I always viewed suits as equivalent to overalls, so the odd hole where someone had carelessly dropped a cigarette did not faze me at all.
Because we live in an affluent area, some of the suits that were obtained through the charitable shops would have been prohibitively expensive for the likes of me to buy (not that I would have even entertained the idea of self-purchase). As for shirts; many of my friends seemed to gain and lose weight on a regular basis, and each time they did so, they discarded their shirts my way (for recycling). The only items of clothing I bought for myself were 'clip-on' ties. The reason for this was that, in my profession, I was dealing with some dangerous, personality-disordered individuals, who could perceive an ordinary necktie as a device for potential strangulation. If and when they grabbed hold of the ’clip-on' tie, it would easily be detached from my neck, and this would be my cue to rapidly depart.
Underwear and socks were interesting items of apparel, in that they seemed to be the go-to choice for people to give as birthday and Christmas presents. Hence, I always had a plentiful supply. Indeed, I still have some of these unopened presents from years ago, so I do not expect to be purchasing any of these in the near future. Hopefully, the left-over’s will be deposited in the charity shops when I’m no longer around.
It has also been fortunate, that since the age of 14years my body measurements have not altered to any great degree, so everybody who knows me, would know precisely what sizes would fit throughout my life.
One last thing to mention is that when my clothes are no longer wearable, I usually recycle them into something else that is useful. By the time I’ve finished with fabric, it is so worn out that it hardly warrants further use, except for soaking up oil-spills.
Best wishes
Bill