IT’S been a busy week.
Gardening on Monday.
Fetching the post from the office on Tuesday.
A dog walk with friends on Wednesday.
I needed a lie down yesterday and I’m still not sure I’ll summon enough energy for the trip I booked to the tip this afternoon.
Actually I’m taking the mickey.
Tuesday was a really busy day as I combined the trip to the office with a walk across Leeds city centre.
It hadn’t changed much.
A few blocks of partly-constructed student accommodation were a bit taller than the last time I looked.
It certainly didn’t resemble the post-apocalyptic waste land that I had feared.
Groups of construction workers roamed the streets eating their lunch in a Salvador Dali-esque blur of hi vis vests and Cornish pasties.
Other than that it all seemed very as you were.
After three months of lockdown and all but non-essential shops closed there are bound to be very important things you have missed.
Mine was a trip to see my tailor.
Mind you given James Michelsberg is such an effervescent, upbeat and enthusiastic character I couldn’t claim to be making the trip on morale-raising grounds.
Although it was for me because I buttoned a shirt to the top, wrapped a tie around my neck and slipped on a jacket for the first time since March.
It felt good.
Although I did attract a few quizzical looks as I strode purposefully up Briggate towards Michelsberg Tailoring’s Victoria Quarter atelier.
He is one of a handful of businesses in the historic retail arcades that chose to re-open on Monday following relaxation of the rules.
Others, like Harvey Nichols, have clearly decided to keep staff furloughed until they view the retail landscape as less hostile to revenues, whenever that will be.
Arriving “fashionably late” as James described it (I didn’t know what to wear), I ascended the stairs to be greeted by Michelsberg wearing a double-breasted chalk striped suit in a summer cloth mix of wool, silk and linen, extreme cutaway collar shirt, silk tie and highly polished black Oxford shoes – complete with PPE face shield visor.
It was Beau Brummell meets Darth Vader.
He was visibly delighted, probably more to be back at work than seeing me, and has a full diary of clients calling in to collect suits, jackets and trousers ordered in those heady pre-lockdown days.
I’ve spent lockdown looking at far too much I shouldn’t have on the internet.
No dear, I mean clothes and shoes.
To be fair, it gets me more excited than the other.
In one of my surfing sessions I’d seen a blue check jacket with a subtle orange over-check which I thought was stunning – both in terms of how it looked and the online price quoted by the Japanese tailoring house.
A little research revealed that the cloth was actually made here in Yorkshire by an historic mill called Marling & Evans, which dates back to 1782 and is based in Slaithwaite on the western edge of the Huddersfield textile district.
I messaged James Michelsberg and wondered if he was busy.
He said no, he was sipping a gin and watching his daughters drown their dolls in the paddling pool.
I sent him a link to a photo of the cloth and in a short time he had contacted the mill and discovered that they had the cloth I liked, but were down to the last 6.4 metres which they would sell to me at a special rate.
Which gave me enough cloth to have a jacket made and another length to sell to anyone wanting to replicate the ‘Parky Capsule Wardrobe’ look.
Well it beats a hi vis tabard.
Just.
When I took the cloth to James he was impressed by its ‘handle’ – how it feels and wears – and enthusiastically set about showing me different shades of lining and recommended buttons that would complement the cloth.
We discussed the colour of felt under the collar, what name to have stitched into it and the monogram inside of the jacket.
Despite lockdown being kind to my waistline (I haven’t had a canape for weeks) I decided to have a bit more room in the jacket than the previous one from Michelsberg.
A couple of people made some rather unkind comments about it being a bit tight when I was pictured wearing it in this blog.
But as Alan Bennett might say, one person’s “too tight” is another’s “svelte”.
And anyway, I might want to wear a bit of knitwear under it in the winter months.
James has now received a full set of cloth samples from Marling & Evans and is looking forward to offering this new range of cloth to his customers.
He is delighted with the introduction and says that I may well now be upgraded from my role as ambassador to non-executive director.
I don’t know what that means in terms of discount, but I’m working on it.
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Parky’s video clip of the week
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What I’m looking forward to this week
WHEN I called in to collect the post from my office this week among the bank statements and correspondence from HMRC and Companies House was a small padded envelope with my name and address handwritten on the front.
Intrigued, I carefully opened it and out tumbled two enamel badges bearing the Leeds United crest.
I double checked if there was a dead animal or voodoo doll accompanying them.
Well you can’t be too careful.
But no, just a letter from serial entrepreneur David Oddie – who I call ‘The Big O’, given that he is 6ft 7in.
It read: “I consider myself very fortunate to have spent more than my fair share of time in the company of Norman Hunter, most recently at the last game Leeds played at Elland Road against Huddersfield Town.
“Sadly it would be the final game Norman would attend before his untimely passing.
“He made no secret of the fact that his greatest wish was that his beloved Leeds United would be promoted back to the Premiership in his lifetime and he really believed that this season would see his dream come true.
“Like so many others I am deeply saddened not only by his passing but by the injustice that he will not be able to share the joy of our promotion.
“As a token of my gratitude for his service to Leeds United and my respect for him as a true Gentleman, I have commissioned a limited edition of 100 enamel badges bearing the letters LWFN in place of LUFC.
“LWFN: Let’s Win (Promotion) For Norman.
When we are back in the Premiership it can go on to stand for: Leeds Won (Promotion) For Norman.
“Please accept the enclosed badge with my compliments and best wishes, MOT.”
What a nice gesture in tribute to a club legend who was a genuinely lovely man.
I might not be a fan of Leeds United, but given I have lived in and around the city for 20 years and count many of the club’s fans as friends, I would like to see them promoted this season.
It would be great for the city and for the wider region.
And given the brand of football played under Marcelo Bielsa and the attendances at Elland Road, I don’t think they would be out of place in the Premier League.
And Norman would just love it.
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Reasons to be cheerful
I mentioned Alan Bennett’s bitter lemon story a couple of weeks ago.
What I didn’t realise was how hard it is to buy a bottle of the fizzy drink.
I’m doing some volunteering and shopping for people who are ‘shielding’ and unable to leave their homes during lockdown.
One lady enjoys a bitter lemon and after two fruitless trips to my local Asda I decided to look elsewhere.
I drew a blank at Waitrose – no bitter lemon but plenty of orange blossom water – and then Sainsbury’s.
But I found success in a neighbourhood Co-op where they had several bottles of diet bitter lemon.
If you are in need, call in to the Co-op, nod three times, wink twice, mention my name and they might find you a bottle under the counter.
But go easy with it.
Those bubbles go right up your nose.
Have a great weekend.