“Half memoir, half travel, A Yank Back to England...is an absolutely wonderful book, not only about going home again but also about love and family and tradition and the passage of the years.”
—Michael Dirda, Pulitzer Prize-winning literary critic (Washington
Post)
To see the entire quote, click here.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

A dressing down at Harrods

The side entrance to Harrods had steps and, as I struggled with Kate’s stroller, a young man in morning coat and gray-striped trousers rushed out to me.
“Oh, thanks so much, I was having a bit of a—”
“I’m sorry, sir, I can’t let you in.”
“Excuse me?”
“I can’t let you into ‘Arrods,” he said, blocking my path politely but firmly. “I’m sorry, sir, but cut down jeans are not allowed in ‘Arrods, sir.”
“You must be joking.”
“It’s the ‘Arrods dress code. Sir.”
“A dress code? In a store?”
“This is priceless.” Frances was amazed but, unlike me, she was smiling.

13 comments:

Amy said...

What the.....it's not like you were some homeless hobo muttering to yourself! How obnoxious!

The Prodigal Tourist said...

Thank you, Amy! My thoughts exactly. And Frances thought it was funny!

Carol Murdock said...

My goodness! Apparently there is one store left who doesn't need new business to stay afloat Huh?

~ Carol ~

Michelloui said...

I remember this happening to me when I had a backpack--not a big grimy-hitch-hiking-across-europe backpack, just a normal North Face student one. Not even the flashy smile got me through the doors. It was after a moment of pleading that I realised I was begging to go in a store. Just a store. Sheesh! I think it was more about being turned away from a store that irritated me!

Mandy said...

Hmmm, I might have been unable to control myself and retorted that perhaps a better command of the English language was in order rather.

Holiday Ideas said...

I used to work around the corner and the prevailing opinion was it was full of over priced tat anyway.

Try Harvey Nichs next time ;-)

The Prodigal Tourist said...

M--and I thought it was just me! Amazing, no?
Emm--believe me, I didn't control myself, I rather lost it...funny looking back now though.
HI--Totally right! Frances dragged me away and we went to Fortnum's and never looked back!

Living said...

I think you'd be okay with Project Wonderful ads- Blogger gets none of that. It's what I have, but I get no views, almost, so it got cancelled, until I reactivated it the other day. I can't have google adsense due to an incident where I ran a forum with google adsense ads and one of my members clicked it too many times trying to help me out, and I was labelled a liability.

Chiara said...

Sorry, wrong account! Anyway yes, PW is indeed quite wonderful.
Also we're not looking just for huge 'topics', even little interesting things would be welcomed.

Emm said...

Aaaah, good then... I am glad to see someone else willing to fly off the handle in the name of good tourism!

By the way, sorry to poke my nose in, but I advertise through Adgitize and I have their ads on my site. I have been on since Xmas and got my first payment for $12 this month. It might seem like a little but now that I've figured out how it works and how to make more money, I have already earned $6.26 this month. (You do make more money if you advertise too, but then you easily make your money back plus some extra). I would certainly recommend them above all other advertising schemes.

I am trying Project Wonderful and CMF Ads now too and will see how they grow in the near future. I have Entrecard too. I don't want too many ad spots on my account though and am going to give it another month or two and then just settle on Adgitize and maybe one other.

LHA said...

This is ridiculous, especially considering Harrods is a tourist destination - real Londoners don't go in there unless they are extremely wealthy (or are with visiting friends). And also, Harrods sells some complete tat and rubbish. I bet they sell torn jeans!

A Brit in Tennessee said...

Hhmm, makes me wonder now, if I should be so proud to be sporting my Harrod's shopping bag all over town ....
I could see that happening if you were shoeless or shirtless, but what the heck.
Good job you had a tie with you ;)

The Prodigal Tourist said...

Thanks for all the advertising advice! I think we're going to wait until Cadbury entices us with some free Flakes!
Limey, you are so right! Some guy told us his wife bought a dress with holes in it at Harrods, then was not allowed in the store when she wore it! (That's the next bit in the story, actually, but this has generated so many wonderful comments it'd be anti-climactic to post it now! Obviously their selling code is different than their dressing code.
BritinTn--thanks but don't worry, I finally see the humor in the situation (like Michelloui says, it's just a store--sheesh!). Plus, we had a wonderful time at Fortnum's! Of course, I'd never go back.