BEPPLE: Hot and deadly men’s summer fashion

Oh the signs of summer.

As soon as summer comes, women wear sandals and bare legs. Practical and sensible. Some men do too, but the majority, especially in the workplace, suffer vainly with long pants, socks and closed toed shoes. Men are as much slaves to fashion as women. 

Some signs of summer happen year after year, and I wish they didn't. Like the news reports that end with "and the drowning victim wasn't wearing a life jacket". Sadly, with weeks more of summer heat, I'm sure we'll be reading those words many more times.

I was at a lake the other day listening to a fellow berate his friend for wearing a life jacket. That's right, he was giving his friend a hard time for putting it on, saying "don't you know how to swim? Why wear it?". Too bad that the fashions around life jackets and PFDs weren't  different. There are close to 350 preventable drownings every year in Canada, and for 77%, not wearing a PFD was a key factor. The vast majority of drowning victims, eight out of 10, are men.

Fashion for shoes and socks. Fashion for life jackets. Wearing shoes and socks at 35 Celsius may be very uncomfortable but at least it won't kill you. 

Another sure sign of summer is the political barbecue circuit. MP Cathy McLeod, plus candidates for the upcoming federal election NDP Bill Sundhu and Liberal Steve Powri are out and about from Bridge Lake to Kamloops, 108 Mile House to Valemont and all points in between in the Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo riding.

My guess is McLeod goes to barbecues in sandals while Sundhu and Powrie wear shoes and socks. One of the advantages of bring a female politician on the hustings in the hot summer season. 

Noticeably absent is any sign of a Green party candidate at local barbecues. Rumour has it that the Greens have someone picked out for this riding, but for reasons perhaps clear only to them, they are holding off publicly declaring. They are the invisible candidate. They seem unfazed by the upcoming fall election.  

But, if this summer the Green candidate does show up at a barbecue, my bet is they'll be wearing Birkenstocks, no matter their gender. 

Oh the signs of summer. 

— Nancy Bepple is a recovering politician and local news junkie. She expects she will never recover from her love of the banjo.