Marea With an E

Back to the Future

It didn’t take long.It was only a matter of time. No sooner had the print and TV media sent us all running, screaming, towards the nearest open window with the news that petrol prices, food prices, rents and interest rates were skyrocketing, they pull us back from the precipice with the news that we can all be saved afterall. How? What groundbreaking ideas are doing the circuit at the moment? Well it appears “thriftyness” is top of the list if recent items in a range of publications is any guide. Yes I know…it’s such and old fashioned word, our grandparents would be pleased if they weren’t so busy saying “I told you so”. No sooner had Maggie Alderson been given a pat on the back, from readers of her Sydney Morning Herald Good Weekend column, for espousing the virtues of long- lost sewing skills (“On the Mend, July 12) than The Daily Telegraph trumpets the news that there has been an upsurge ( based on a sample of one company) in people getting old clothes repaired and altered to save money(“Life in thrifty old threads” Saturday,August 2, 2008 page 5). I’m predicting that in a month or so “The Tele” will be running a story about how charity shops like “Vinnies” aren’t getting enough clothes donated because people are hanging on to stuff longer and I can definitely feel a story brewing somewhere about shoe repairers noticing the huge upswing in people getting shoes repaired. A load of old cobblers? Only time will tell but what with the revival in knitting and a steady stream of books about etiquette (and blogs by etiquette experts see smh.com.au/essential) it seems that recycling old news is here to stay.