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Daily Telegraph article 08.09.10

8^th September 2010

My sense of humour failed me in Johnson's dry cleaners recently.

I had taken in a batch of dresses and was startled when the woman on the desk asked me how much each one was worth. (It strikes me that inquiring after the cost of a woman's frocks is as personal as asking how much you earn.) She explained that if any of my garments were worth more than £200, they would cost a lot more to dry clean. The policy had apparently been introduced to counter insurance claims on ruined clothes; but to this customer it indicated a terrifyingly low level of confidence in the cleaner's ability to return classy garments intact. Furthermore, my bill was about to leap from around £50 to more than £150. I headed straight to Cambridge's Swiss Laundry, where no one prices your Westwood habit and they follow an old-fashioned policy of charging you for the service provided.