Recent content by Edward

Good score. I'm a big fan of military greatcoats. Going surplus is a great way of getting a quality, warm coat much cheaper than you'll ever buy a civilian alternative of the same quality. More modern milspec often isn't so good, but I've found up to about 1982 you can get nice stuff. I'd guess...

For a long time I really wasn't interested in a leather this length. Trenchcoats, looong, yes. Short leathers, yes. But not these. Of course, as always happens, over time things I'd previously ruled out can grow on me. I took to the idea of one of these slightly longer leathers after watching...

Heh, yes... I remember confidently saying in 2004 that "in 20 years time, linear TV will be gone and we'll all watch everything streamed from a big database online..." I was ahead of that curve, given the dates, if out by maybe a decade or two on just when they'll pull the plug on old-style TV...

I remember having three channels here in the UK right up to the early 80s, then Channel 4 arrived. That was it until 1990, when Sky TV (and, for six short months, British Satellite Broadcasting) brought us subscription television for the first time. The 90s saw other options for cable come and...

"Winston: tastes like a good cigarette should." As endorsed by Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble, no less... It's amazing how far things have changed in tobacco advertising, at least here in the UK. I remember when, although cigarette ads were banned nine years before I was born, ads for other...

Johnny Marr is a supremely talented guitar player, but I could never cope with Morrisey's voice. I like to say I remember the 80s too well to want to repeat them! A lot of the 70s' bad press is 80s propaganda. ;)

Blitz (Apple TV, 2024) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15939198/ Steve McQueen (not that one) directs the story of a group of Londoners who survive the Blitz. Not your usual, jolly family "Blitz spirit" mythology. This captures well the fear of the time - not only from the bombs, but also from...

That's a fascinating era of British TV. Sort of stuff that was still on, largely unchanged, by the time my memories begin circa Summer 76. Really interesting watching it back now as an insight into popular culture, how law enforcement was presented (a seismic shift from the Dixon of Dock Green...

Only ever been in the Gulf during a break between flights - Dubai a couple of times, and Doha once. (I swore I'd never leave the airport in Dubai after the flight forced a video about Dubai tourism on me as we neared landing, causing me to have to wait hours for the last twenty minutes of a film...

Not as of yet. I suspect the sizing runs against me - like a lot of far-Eastern sourced repop, it looks like I'd need a 48, and they stop at a 46. I could manage round the chest, but the waist measurements they're quoting, unless that's unstretched and there's a fair bit of give, are touch and...

Unusually (The Institution doesn't halt term for Easter, so many years I have just the long weekend during term, which inevitably means that in order to keep teaching I end up working the bank holidays as well) I was able, due to a late Easter, to take a full week off this year, and I managed...

I have a pair of these in the dark cherry colour. Were a challenge to get on and off for the first few weeks, but a joy after that. Different feel than taller engineers, though not a different look given they're tucked up under jean legs. Wearable in somewhat warmer weather for me than a taller...

Ten Pound Poms on BBC iPlayer. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt20318226/ This one skipped my notice in 2023, but was flagged with a second series this year. A British-Australian co-production, it follows a family from Manchester, among others, who take up the assisted migration scheme to start a...

Thanks - yes, it seems sizing up in these definitely helps.

I don't think it's likely to be viable - and there's the very real danger that once so altered, it would be difficult to sell if that didn't met expectations. I'd probably be happier with a jacket a size larger than my usual than take the risk, tbh.