Stripey socks & polka dots

I like to wear sandals in summer. More Birkenstock than strappy Italian, for health & safety reasons

First problem: I have to wear socks. Really, no option

Second problem: nobody has invented socks which look like ordinary tights that are GUARANTEED not to sprout a hole over the big toe in a hard day of pavement slogging - not just unsightly but the equivalent of wrapping a painful, gangrene-inducing band of lycra round your toe

Third problem: white or light summery colours are absolutely OUT. The soles go black on town streets

I know what people think of those who wear socks’n’sandals

I have considered wearing really silly socks. Multi-coloured stripes, or polka dots, or even both together. Or mismatched pairs

I settle for plain, serviceable black

When Jenny Josephs poem Warning won the title of Nations Favourite some years ago, there were those who sneered – not great poetry, they said. But I do not know one woman, especially if she is or has been, a mother of teenagers, who doesn’t think it is right up there

Warning

When I am an old woman I shall wear purple

With a red hat which doesn't go and doesn't suit me.

And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves

And satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter.

I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired

…

But maybe I ought to practise a little now?

So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised

When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple

See? I’m just practising

Link: Warning by Jenny Joseph