October 17. Day 290. Dress code

 The whole idea of a dress code is to make life easier. I admit, some are more straight forward than others. Black tie everyone understands. But one man's casual is another man's beachwear. And just how smart is smart casual? Still blue jeans and a white T shirt should be straight forward enough as a code. But when it was decided that would be the dress for the cousin photo you'd swear in some corners it was a Code Blue or hospital emergency. Such a code was, according to which of the dissenting voices you listened to, stupid,  unreasonable or a unprecedented attack on personal style and individuality. Still with a little bit of reasoning, sweet taking, guilt tripping, bribery or appeals to the greater good every one of the kids eventually stepped up to the mark and arrived  at the photo shoot dressed and ready to go. And despite all the misgivings it has to be said things seemed to go pretty well (by which I mean more smoothly than previous attempts to get a grandchild photo for Grandma). But the real fun started after the professional photographer had left. With a whole parkland at their disposal the jeans and t shirt clad brigade decided to find that individuality and style not restricted by clothing. There was much craziness and laughter and in the unlikely event that none of the professional photos turn out there's still a fine collection of memories for the day. Anyway there has to be far worse ways to kill a couple of hours on a Saturday than mucking around in the park with your cousins even if you have to wear blue jeans and a white T shirt while doing it.