Reader's Letter: Annual Trip to the Cooperative for “Winter Courts”

There, in a towering building with a grand-sounding designation, I was pulled, thrust, protruding, and roughly treated by the same experienced and well-meaning sales assistant who advises parents about the suitability of warm clothing accessories.

“You grow into it” or “give it in wear” was an inevitable responsibility when I dared to protest that the clothes fitted awkwardly. It was always the same in design – gray, knee length, slightly flare, fake pockets, six brown buttons that match the brown collar.

The winter coat was intended for the use of a “Sunday vest” and was never worn on weekdays. But we were already living in Bradford and were mostly protected against Saturday morning elements that I accompanied my mother and grandmother, which I didn't understand!

This was accompanied by a normal, boring shopping trip to town by bus (accidentally, men rarely “shop” and “women's work”).

The same routes are trampled, and the same retailers on Kirkgate and Lawson markets, as well as on Darley Street, are loved by the same retailers on Darley Street.

We always finished at John Street Open Air Market. There, the great Aunt Dolly had a food stall of men's workwear. I was once again bored while I was raised up with whispers and distorted faces of my family and neighbourhood gossip up to date.

John C. Jackson, Long Meadows, Burley in Warfedale