As everyone will have noticed, it’s been a bit hot and sticky recently. This means several things:
- As Brits, we naturally fall into reminiscing about the good old days, when it just used to rain miserably
- We notice that it’s more likely to be sunny on weekdays and rain at weekends (this is in fact true, and is due to pollution)
- The newspapers take pictures of very glamorous women on the beach to demonstrate pictorially that, when the weather is very hot, glamorous women like to go to the beach.
- Transport is horrible. End of story.
- And we get our milky legs out, like matchsticks that have been discovered at the back of a dark cupboard.
On the subject of milky legs, I decided mine were due an airing. The government has apparently called this sort of heat Level Three, which means that the NHS has specific instructions to keep patients cooler and more comfortable (genius!) and if this is a Level Three sort of heat, then I think I have the right to wear shorts. In the Metro this week, there were several clarion calls from government and business organisations, asking for employers to relax the rules. I am thus at the forefront of employee relations, and leading by example. Besides, I’d made a foolish boast on Facebook the night before that, no matter what, I was wearing shorts tomorrow.
I went for, well, shorts; and it occurred to me that a nice Hawaiian shirt would perhaps fit, too?
I only had one meeting to attend on Wednesday; and I have to say, the wearing shorts thing did not go well. Let me explain:
- I had visualised the meeting, and I thought it would be OK. What I hadn’t visualised was a large, open plan reception area, complete with a very supercilious security guard. I don’t think he believed for one minute that I was there for a meeting at all.
- Also, whilst I knew the chap I was meeting (he was fine with the shorts thing), I don’t think I impressed his assistant/intern. Well, what do I care? She should have been on the beach. It said so in the papers.
I think what I have learned is this: I am by no means a suit and tie sort of bloke, but we do all sort of naturally gravitate towards an appearance that makes us all feel comfortable with one another (believe me, I was never what you’d call conventional, but even I have reverted to type). And I crossed the line. I might as well have turned up with a three-foot Mohican or a series of small children in tow.
So, the shorts are now for office use only. And I apologise to Londoners at large. The stumps are staying under cover.
Filed under: current affairs, presentation | Tagged: business, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, etiquette, heat, NHS, presentation, start a business, weather
