Sunday morning haiku

Morning mist hangs over

clodded Autumn field.

Buzzard sits and watches.

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Fashion crunch

Given that global economics and fashion are inextricably linked, what styles can we expect to during the credit crunch?

Thanks to http://www.econoclass.com/fashion.html I understand that an economist - Thorstein Veblen who wrote The Theory of the Leisure Class - says we feel we gain kudos in the eyes of observers via conspicuous consumption.

In women's fashion, there seems to be a penchant - when financial times are tough - for returning to clothes which highlight (a very narrow definition of) femininity. Maybe it's reassuring to see women personifying traditional roles, makes us think we'll soon be back in the good times. A sort of sartorial back to basics - child labour, slums-dwelling, TB, that kinda thing.

We could consider the relationship between the stock market and hemlines a kind of "The length of your hemlines can go down as well as up". http://fashionsolutions.blogspot.com/2006/10/1960s-hemlines-and-stock-market.html has a great post about this, with a lovely graphic illustrating the value of the Dow Jones going up and up over 70 years - with hemlines doing the same.

Thanks to Sir Nicholas Stern's report, environmental issues are being taken a little more seriously these days, especially when one can "go green to save green" (thank you http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4176/is_20080209/ai_n21416165 for such a great phrase). Which means that fashion mavens can now be seen proselytising eBay, swap-a-ramas, vintage (didn't that used to known as secondhand) customising (ditto make do and mend) and Stitch'n'Bitch.

All in all, I think that means we can look forward to the size-0 version of the hourglass figure, sporting waist- and bust-enhancing outfits with long skirts. Carefully aged to look vintage, probably in pink.

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A bit Steven Wright

A friend put this to me "Should we start stockpiling solar panels, wind turbines, tidal generators, etc, while we still have the oil left to make them?"

I loved this, reminded me of Steven Wright's sense of humour: "I think it's wrong that only one company makes the game Monopoly."

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Does Virgin Trains have the monopoly on interesting travellers?

Once or twice a week I do a 320-mile round-trip by train for work. Usually the whole journey is taken-up by tapping away at my laptop, but occasionally I get into conversation with a fellow traveller.

The people I talk to are always rather unique. Frequently, they do interesting things - someone from the Environment Agency; a marine geology professor; a technology-for-learning consultant; someone from UnionLearn; a Trustee at a large, somewhat mysterious organisation with a huge charity wing; a Carphone Warehouse manager; and a financial services person - but they come from all walks of life.

Pretty much everyone I see on those trains is dressed for office-based work and/or in a suit, as am I. Outwardly, we don't look very exciting and yet all sorts of things are going on underneath.

Recently I met someone who'd been in bands pretty much continuously since the era of Punk, I can't think how we got onto this topic, as we'd started with the Republican candidate for US vice-President. Someone I met a few months ago kept me laughing continuously for the entire journey. Another person got me thinking of new topics for my forthcoming PhD. The Environment Agency person was nice enough not to call the Train Manager when I more or less asked for a job. A member of the Household Cavalry was easy to talk to and we found ourselves talking about the deep'n'meaningful within 20 minutes of meeting.

I'm wondering whether my experiences demonstrate that everyone is interesting - and you'll have something fundamental in common with them - if only you ask the right questions? Or is there something special about people who get up at 6am to travel 320 miles (or earlier, to travel further) in a day?

It'd be unusual for one train company to have the monopoly on interesting passengers, so may I recommend next time you're on a long journey, that you get talking to the person next to you. It could give you a business lead, a chance to swap theories on life, or a very good stomach workout.