Grandad

[dalliance]

To be honest there's not that many occasions when I am left to feel rather old. One instance I recall from around 3 years ago came with a girl (circa 18-20 years old) working in a local branch of Subway.

I ate there occasionally and was struck by this girl's quite distinctive looks. After a couple of weeks it came to me who she really closely ressembled and I thought I would mention it in passing to her.

So the next time she served me I asked her if anyone had ever told her that she looked like a young Marianne Faithful. She smiled sweetly but rather blankly at me so I felt obliged to tell her this was actually a good thing - just in case she though otherwise.

So she seemed pleased that this was a good thing but had never heard of her, the name meant nothing at all. I explained a little bit about Marianne Faithful's history, athough I did think it best not to toss in any Mars Bar related anecdotes.

Another sweet smile and she wrote down the name so she could look her up later. Feeling old enough at this stage, her then informing me that it was a bit before her time didn't exactly help. My ego drove me to explain that it was plenty before my time too.

So with that in mind I am sitting in a coffee shop and there is a student aged girl sitting nearby with a Joy Division t-shirt on. I'm debating whether to try and engage in conversation with her about them and regale her with anecdotes about how I bought Closer the very day it was released.

I fear she will smile sweetly at me, assume I am a lechorous old sod trying to chat her up and tell me she has never heard of the band and she just liked the design of the t-shirt.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Grandad

Your last paragraph — almost certainly.

[Gangster Octopus]

Grandad

I like wearing a Ramones t-shirt, and telling youngsters wearing similar ones that at least I saw them when they were still alive. It's a great way to get space at the bar, seats on a bus etc. etc...

[dalliance]

Grandad

She left about 5 minutes after I posted this thread meaning a) she reads OTF b) she was off to see some lechorous young sod or c) she was going home to listen to Unknown Pleasures.

[Toby Gymshorts]

Grandad

I've got an Anthrax t-shirt I'm quite fond of, which appears to draw some attention. Most notably from a huge Rasta-looking guy in my local pub who shouted at the top of his lungs across the pub 'ANTHRAX!? FUCK, YEAH! GREAT BAND!'. That caused some consternation amongst the crowd.

Anyway, the girl in the Joy Division t-shirt will definitely think you're a lecherous old sod who's spent too long looking at her chest.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Grandad

There's a point — for me it was around about 50 — when you realise the pheromones just aren't working anymore. Younger women see you as only father-figure, and even the odd flirtatious remark makes them cringe. It's quite marked if you're situation where you engage with young people on regular basis.

[sw2borshch]

Grandad

Reading that Wedding Present thread I thought of the horror of trying to get my kite into my old Timmy t-shirt. Now, trying to fit it into my Anthrax Ts, jeepers.

[Moonlight Shadow]

Grandad

I got friendly with a late teens girl at work, found it interesting to hear what someone her age was thinking about, etc

I made it extremely clear I was not being a lecherous old sod...

That said, I'm a bit puzzled to see rather attractive 20 something girls checking my profile on Match...one gets his ego boost any way he can...

[Toby Gymshorts]

Grandad

If they're a size M I'll have 'em.

EDIT: To sw2. Otherwise that came across as very lecherous indeed.

[dalliance]

Grandad

Actually I have another example of a similar ilk. I have a few stylish ( to my mind) retro Eastern European football bits of clothing.

In this same coffee shop I kept catching the eye of another attractive enough girl in the same sort of age bracket. She smiled at me a few times and I politely smiled back, as you do. After a while she leaned over and asked if she could ask me a question.

Of course I replied. So she asked if the pale blue and white zip up jacket I had on was a football jacket. Yes it was I replied. What team is it she was enquired? Karl-Marx Stadt I responded.

Cue puzzled look on her face. I'm not sure I have ever heard of them she ventured. Well they were East German I said. Oh she replied with her brow furrowing. The city they played in is now called Chemnitz I offered encouragingly? No nothing.

By then I was sort of realising that I was fondly fetishising a football team and a national state, both of which ceased to exist before she was even born.

We did not exchange any further conversation.

[treibeis]

Grandad

I explained a little bit about Marianne Faithful's history, athough I did think it best not to toss in any Mars Bar related anecdotes.

Yes, but did you say, "Oh, and she starred in Irina Palm, that film about a woman who wanked off old blokes through a hole in the wall?"

[Benjm]

Grandad

I had a series of Joy Division t shirts over the years but lost the habit of wearing one around the time that they licenced the design to be used on the soles of a pair of trainers.

Then recently, my brother gave me one of these:



The intergalactic scream of a dying star - with extra cats.

I'd probably have been a bit precious about this when I was fifteen but now I rather like it. It hasn't opened any conversational doors with the youth, mind.

[Moonlight Shadow]

Grandad

Sadly, only males ask me about my Servette 1999 title winning season top I wear on occasion when cycling around...

[torres]

Grandad

In winter I sometimes wear my CCCP hoodie to work. Nobody under 30 has got a fuckin clue what it means.

[NHH]

Grandad

There's a thread somewhere else on the internet about this dreamy bloke who flattered someone by comparing her to Marianne Faithfull, and it was all well until she googled her and realised it was because the old guy wanted to get snickers in her knickers.

[N est à?]

Grandad

"It was this kind of giant, cold version of Cuba..."
"Cool beans!"

[Wouter D]

Grandad

torres wrote: In winter I sometimes wear my CCCP hoodie to work. Nobody under 30 has got a fuckin clue what it means.

I am under 30, and I have a fucking clue what it means!

Grumble grumble stupid generation of mine rubbing off on my reputation...

[linus]

Grandad

even if it's written in large caps?

[Calvert]

Grandad



Don't walk away, in silence

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Grandad

My sister, who's just started Uni in Edinburgh this week, went to Glasgow for a look around today and has coincidentally posted on facebook about some weird old bloke perving at her in a cafe. Rubbing himself under the table, she said.

[WOM]

Grandad

At his age, probably just psoriasis.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Grandad

Too true.

[Benjm]

Grandad

Calvert wrote:

Don't walk away, in silence

Confusion in her eyes that says it all...

Has to, really.

[Flynnie]

Grandad

This thread is pretty much how I feel every time I see some young whippersnapper walking around London in the New Era baseball hat of a sports team I particularly like.

I did see a dude in a Kenny Stabler Raider jersey in Chapel Market the other day. Middle-aged with a ponytail, he knew exactly what he was wearing.

[Bored Of Education]

Grandad

I have just spent 4 years at Uni with students half my age. I have no more to add.

Oh, apart from "How's tricks?" and the recognition of it being a greeting being very age-specific. 30+, I reckon.