Postmans trousers

Do you remember when postmen in Britain wore trousers?  Not just in the winter but all the year round. The material was a dark blue serge like most uniforms and the trousers had a red stripe down the sides of the leg.

I remember this very well as I was once given a

pair of postmans trousers to wear for school.  Not sure how old I was, probably about ten.  The war was on and there was clothes rationing and small boys wore out clothes faster than the coupons or money lasted, so second hand or hand me downs were the natural thing.

Those trousers though were just too far, but I had no choice.  Quite apart from the rough material it was that red strip down the side. 

 It took  a long time to get rid of that red stripe.  Day after day using school ink to cover up the red.

Eventually it seemed to fade into something less obvious but I was still aware of it.  The strange thing was that none one else seemed to notice it, but I did.  If I had had the nous to think about it then  I would have realised that we all wore a rag bag of mismatched clothing. And of course long trousers had the advantage of protecting legs during rough play.  But it was that red stripe!!