Figure 1.--.

We always seemed to have trouble getting off to school in the morning. No wonder it took us so long to get ready to go out in the mornings! None of us ever wanted to wear the clothes we had but what one of our brothers was wearing! That day I wanted blue sandals and short socks like my little brother and he wanted to wear a school uniform like us "big boys". By the way - short socks were never allowed at my primary school even when we were allowed to wear sandals (brown ! ) in the Summer we still had to wear long socks and keep them pulled up but the girls could wear short socks in the Summer. One outfit I recall in particular bmum used to dress my little broither in was a pair of strap (suspender) shorts.

Morning Routine

In the mornings (except on Sundays when we had a bath) we had a strip wash in the kitchen and then Mum got us into our underwear (with a jumper on top if needs be) to eat our breakfast while she ironed our school clothes or whatever we were to wear. For Mum that worked as she was very strict about toothbrushing and we went down after breakfast to brush before getting properly dressed. She didn't trust us not to get toothpaste over our clothes!

Our Primary School

My older brother and I attended the same primary school. It was a traditional Church of England (COE) school in West London. Mum had gone to great pains to enroll us. Like many COE schools, the discipline was stricter than at many regular state schools and it had a strict uniform. By the way - short socks were never allowed at my primary school even when we were allowed to wear sandals (brown ! ) in the Summer we still had to wear long socks and keep them pulled up but the girls could wear short socks in the Summer.

Walk to School

Until I was about 7 or 8 years old and before my little brother had started school my Mum used to walk us to school and pick us up afterwards as she hadn't gone back to work full-time. I always remember that my little brother was always making a fuss when my Mum was trying to dress him as he always wanted to wear a school uniform the same as we older two were wearing and Mum always had trouble getting him into whatever clothes he was to wear and I was always worried because I thought that we were going to be late for school (that was always big trouble at my school even for the youngest children and if you arrived after nine o'clock without a good reason - backed by a note from Mum - you had to go and visit the headmisstress after assembly).

Problem

No wonder it took us so long to get ready to go out in the mornings! None of us ever wanted to wear the clothes we had but what one of our brothers was wearing! There was always a hasstle between my brother and I as to what clothese we wore--especially which shortys. One special fusses come to mind. One day I wanted blue sandals and short socks like my little brother and he wanted to wear a school uniform like us "big boys". Anyway we normally always made it on time but I used to get frustated that my little brother wouldn't just let Mum dress him so that we could leave. The worst was with something that was fiddly that Mum wanted him to wear and he could wriggle around and fight her off. I didn't understand why she couldn't just pull any old shorts and shirt onto him as he wasn't going to school or anything like we were - but later I realised that she wanted him to look nice as she would be meeting all of the other Mums at the school gates and maybe going on visiting or shopping with him once we were in school.

Clothing Location at Home

Perhaps I should say how Mum organised our clothing so as to make things run smoothly. It will help explain a little about how we functioned from day to day. There were three main locations for our clothes (four if you include the laundary basket!) depending on the clothes.

Strap (Suspender) Shorts

One outfit I recall in particular bmum used to dress my little broither in was a pair of strap (suspender) shorts. I recall these because they were one of these fiddly items that were more complicated for mom to put on my little brother. They had probably been mine and my elder brother's once but I don't recall actually wearing them although I probably had.I am pretty sure that they would have been made by the old women who ran the wool shop I told you about as I lot of the clothes they made were handmade and so unique in that they were not like the mass produced clothes that most wore. Anyway - to the point.The straps on these shorts buttoned on at the front but at the back the straps clipped into eyelets sewn onto the shorts. I used to get frustrated as it seemed to take Mum ages to get my brother into these and what is more if I complained about it or shouted at him for not letting her get on with it she would threaten me with a smack which I thought was really unfair as I thought he should have one not me! The straps were seperate so you could wear the shorts just on their own but they were too big for my little brother to do that. Mum always buttoned the straps onto the front of the shorts first before putting them on to him and would then turn him round and bring the straps over his head to clip them on at the back. They had a sort of adjustable plastic slide at the back which kept them in a crossed position and sometimes this would come off as he struggled with her and then the straps might get twisted and I'd be hopping about with frustration and looking at the clock on our mantlepiece. Anyway finally Mum got them untwisted and hooked on at the back and then adjusted the slide so they looked straight and my Mum would praise him and say how good he'd been and how smart he looked which I didn't agree with (not the first part anyway!).

Our School Short Trousers

While I do not recall ever wearing strap shorts to school, I do recall very clearly all the different methods that were devised to hold shorts up and make them look smart. Around the age of 9 years of age or so I did start to notice things and have my preferences and this led to arguments with my older brother. As I've said Mum would get all of our school clothes ready on the Sunday night and then we'd put them in neat piles in the airing cupboard. Then she'd iron them fresh each morning for school and I remember getting into a race with my brother to finish our porridge first and brush our teeth so that we could get to Mum first and get the "best" pair of shorts. We never knew which two pairs she'd have got out and ironed but there was usually one pair out of the two that one or other of us would prefer as they were all of different types.

Family Dynamics

I suppose I was being unfair as he was only 3 or 4 and maybe I'd been just as bad at that age - but I don't remember being so and like I've said me and my older brother were dressed pretty much the same when we were that age and my little brother must have felt left out when we got to wear school uniforms and he didn't (although I don't recall complaining about my older brother wearing school uniform a year before me but at that time there were more distractions for me as my little brother was still a baby and I quite liked him then!).

Arguments Over Clothes

I didn't start to argue with my Mum about what I had to wear until I was older - about 9 or 10 - and that was normally because I wanted to look DIFFERENT to my older brother not the same as my little brother did to us!. Anyway when I asked my Mum why he couldn't wear something else (meaning easier and quicker to put on) than the strap shorts she would give the same answer that she used to give me when I argued about wearng something myself... "Because"! That - with one of her looks - meant that she wsn't prepared to argue about it but it really meant that she had decided that certain items of clothing were best for us or she thought that we looked smart in them no matter hwat we thought. I still used to argue - Why did I have to wear wellingtons when it had stopped raining? Why did I have to wear a white shirt to Sunday school? and,worst of all and the cause of some real arguments every time,Why did I have to wear my check shorts to travel up to Leeds in? but she always just said "Because..." and in the end she won out just like she did with my little brother and the strap shorts and on the whole it was soon forgotten.

Arrival at School

Once he was into them and all calmed down we'd set off for school in a rush and once we'd crossed the last road before the school gates my Mum would let me run on ahead and I'd notice with relief that the others kids were still arriving and we were in fact in plenty of time - something that my older brother knew as he'd come strolling through the gate without a care in the world. Then I'd see my Mum with my little brother chatting to the other Mums who also had smaller kids or even babies in prams with them and I was in two minds whether I was better off in uniform going into school with my friends or when I too wore those strap shorts and could stay at home with Mum - but that's how life is. Like with most things all of those arguments about what shorts to wear and so on were intense at the time but once the decision was made and they were on it was all forgotten about on the whole as there were plenty of other things to be thinking about.

Mum's Attitude

Mum did her best to sort us out in the morning and set us off looking smart as a new penny. I know now that it wasn't easy as a single mum. Three boys must have been a real challenge. And we were often not all that cooperative, But we weren't the only ones and then she would try it all again the next day despite our objections and I must say that we were better off than some kids who's Mums left them to wear their uniforms how they wanted to for school as the teachers would get on at them before asssembly and send them out of the class to "smarten up" and then get a comb out of the desk drawer. The teachers always wanted "their class" to look the best as we went into assembly in the mornings but by afternoon assembly they didn't bother so much. They were probably just as anxious to get us off of their hands as we were to get out of school.

Bill