A Shed of One's Own - another look at men's mid-life style

I picked up a copy of A Shed of One's Own - Midlife without the Crisis in Watertones (note they no longer use an apostrophe - so much for literacy). It's a light-hearted look at the ups and downs of men's middle age and is an enjoyable read.

 Here, for example, is what he says about cycling, a topic close to my heart -

When you next see your cyclist friends, they have lost all their excess weight and become sinewy and weather-beaten.....Dedicated cyclists don't do small talk any more....They..go to bike shops and salivate over an unusually sleek carbon frame. Out in the garage they keep a small stash of dog-eared bike magazines. They wear lycra without embarrassment. They are lost to the world.

In relation to men's mid-life style, Berkmann describes the relaxation of the middle aged dress code which once saw men dressing quite formally, even at weekends. He sees men continuing to wear younger styles because, "we see ourselves as we once were, and sometimes rather better than we once were." This has led to men wearing clothes quite inappropriate to their mid-life status. He drives home his point - "Skinny jeans: absolutely not. And especially not with gleaming new boxfresh trainers."

Hear hear!