old shirt

For those of you who know me well, then you may recognise me in that very familiar shirt. This is an old shirt - I mean really old. This picture is from 1997 or 98, so I was wearing it back then, and I'm pretty sure I first acquired it back in 1995/96. The story behind the shirt is that it is actually my Grandfather's - a source of quite a few garments in my wardrobe. So I think the shirt is probably from the 1960s or thereabouts - which means it's a 50+ years old shirt. Not bad, eh? I'm kind of pround that I'm still wearing some family 'airlooms', I think my Grandad is also happy with that.

Anyway, a few days ago I wore the shirt to work, and one of the girls asked me if it was a new shirt. To which, of course, I replied - no... no, it's not a new shirt - it's quite old... I then passed on the story to her. Buying 2nd hand clothes or used clothes is not something familiar to Chinese people - there's no second hand shops here at all. I tried to explain how in Australia and many other countries it is quite common, and in fact fashionable for many people to buy old retro clothing etc. She thought this was a very bizarre concept and word spread around the office. For the rest of the day when someone came to work, the staff made sure they heard the "grandfather shirt" story... probably sounded like some strange story from Communist era Mao days to them? Who knows...