Way back on 14 May, I was, as you may recall, measured for my purple suit at Anthony Formalwear in Billericay, Essex.

Well, this week, the great day finally arrived when I paid them my balance and received my finished suit. I’ve lost about half a stone in weight since 14 May, so I was expecting to be pleasantly surprised by the fit.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t. The trousers are a good fit – not loose as I was expecting, but not tight either; over all, perfect. The jacket, on the other hand, is rather a different matter. The sleeves are good, the length is right, the buttons are nice, the lining is lovely… but the waist is unlikely to fit me any time this year at my current rate of weight loss.

Quite how they have managed to produce a tailor-made suit jacket that is too tight for someone who has lost half a stone since being measured, we’re not sure. We’re going back to the shop first thing on Saturday (it must be serious, we’re leaving home at 9am on a Saturday) to see what they can do about it.

The worrying thing is that I seem to recall them mentioning in passing at some point that their suit factory has a summer closure throughout August each year, so if this is cause for a major reworking I’m not quite sure how they’re going to manage to organise that between 30 July and 3 September. All will be revealed on Saturday, I suppose. *gulp*