The other day I noticed two women sitting together in a cafe
enjoying a coffee and a natter. Both seemed to be about the same age. Mid
sixties would be my guess but in their outward appearance they were quite different.
One was slim, grey-haired and neatly but quietly dressed.
She looked like a retired head teacher.
The other carried much more weight, had long wavy hair dyed
black, wore lots of makeup and jewellery and managed to look like a pantomime
dame.
In other words one carried her age well while the other did
not. It doesn’t matter in the sense that nobody really bothers anyway and for
all I know the well-groomed lady could be an undetected mass murderer.
Yet it is impossible to avoid the thought that some people
do not see themselves when they look in the mirror. No doubt in our heads we
all gild the proverbial lily when we gaze at our own reflection, but surely we
do at least see something resembling reality. Don’t we?
7 comments:
Not only do we gild the lily in our imaginations, we angle our heads in a habitual manner and adopt a "mirror expression" that is calculated to flatter us, but which others rarely see.
"we do at least see something resembling reality. Don’t we?"
Good grief, I hope not.
Perhaps when we gaze at our reflection we see ourselves as we used to be...
I bumped into one of my oldest friends in the shop the other day, and as usual, we chatted about just about everything. Before he retired he was a project manager for some of the lergest buidling projects in Europe, and was a great example to good building practice.
After we'd said a few cheerios, I saw him at the counter, and wearing an awful, frayed denim shirt over worse jeans, under a scruffy coat and looking vaguely like a tramp...
...then I realised I was dressed exactly the same...
Good to be over sixty eh...
The more shocking thing is to see yourself in a monitor fed by CCTv camera.
It is not head on, not mirror image and shows your natural posture.
At first you think it is a stranger.
Scruffy dress gives you anonimity. You are not trying to impress, sell anything to, get off with anyone. Hustlers leave you alone, as being not worth the bother.
The real upper class has known this for ages.
CherryPie was nearly right, at my age I loo in the mirror and see my father............
Sam - especially when combing our hair.
Woodsy - it's not that bad surely.
Cherry - yes we probably knock off a decade or two at least.
Scrobs - maybe you need to be careful, one day some kind person might press a tenner into your hand... on the other hand...
Doonhamer - I'm not too familiar with the upper class, but I'd expect their scruffy look to be pretty difficult to imitate. Maybe it needs a touch of something mildly eccentric such as a bright yellow waistcoat.
Wiggia - I see my father too. Apparently some of my facial expressions are his expressions. Oddly enough our grandson has one or two of them as well.
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