Clearout ?.

I notice that Age Concern has been collecting via its plastic bags, clothes to sell through its charity shops. Given the current recession, I wonder if people will be so keen to clear out their wardrobes as in previous years. Obviously, there are still items that can be passed on, such as that dress that you have not been able to wear since 1986, or the suit that you bought for your best friends wedding and thought it best never to wear again after the incident with the bridesmaid in the broom cupboard, however, I suspect that many will be less inclined to throw away anything still halfway wearable as the threat of potential unemployment looms.

I had a clearout of my own wardrobe recently, and was embarrassed to realise how much of the clothes I was throwing away had already been through the charity shops. I wonder how many items of clothing get bought in charity shops, on a whim because they are cheap, and then get passed on to other charity shops when the purchaser realises they are too embarrassed to wear them. Rather more than you might expect I suspect.

And talking of charity shops, Nearly always, the record section would contain those awful 'Top Of The Pops' albums, usually with covers containing pictures of nubile young women in miniskirts, grinning inanely, which consisted of cover versions of hits performed by people who were unamed and probably no one would have heard of if names had been mentioned.

Vast numbers of these things seem to have been sold new at one time but I have only ever met one person who admitted to buying them.

Perhaps people bought them for the covers.