Hi everyone, just wanted to let you know I've moved the blog to WordPress:

behindthetimes.campbellmay.com

I did this so I could move it to my domain and spell out "behind the times" in the subdomain. Also, this layout was made for WordPress, and I've been having some glitches with it on Blogger, and it's too perfect to part with! So click on over to WordPress! See you there!

Walking around Kroger today, I took a minute to realize just how cool it is that I can buy mangos in February. Not to mention oranges, limes, lemons, bananas, and peaches. It got me to thinking that, before supermarkets, people were pretty limited in their choices of fresh fruits and veggies. If something wasn't in season, you were pretty much out of luck. If something couldn't be grown in your climate, you would probably never taste it.

Unless, of course, you were rich. The rich could afford to build hothouses, in which all manner of warm-weather fruit, vegetables, and flowers could be grown in all seasons.

General Tilney, of Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey, is rich enough to afford this luxury. Catherine Morland describes the hothouses at Northanger Abbey as "a village." Take the following quote:

"Though careless enough in most manners of eating, he loved good fruit - or if he did not, his friends and children did. There were great vexations, however, attending a garden such as his. The utmost care could not always secure the most valuable fruits. The pinery had yielded only one hundred in the last year."

Gown from The Lady's Pocket Magazine, 1824

So it's relatively common knowledge that in nineteenth century England (and indeed, well before), ankles were viewed a bit more lustfully than they are today. Hence the long dresses, right? Gently-bred ladies were meant to keep their ankles covered at all times, (though from my reading it seems that “accidentally” allowing a glimpse was a relatively innocent form of flirtation), and great care was taken to ensure this. So the question of the day is this:

Why were ankles so scandalous?

I mean, really? What was it about a woman’s ankles that inspired so many etiquette rules, that required gowns to fall all the way to the floor? It really is a mystery to me. Maybe it’s because I’m a girl, and can't understand the convoluted workings of the male brain (read: libido). But honestly, I’ve never heard of modern men making remarks about a woman’s ankles. I mean, really.

But apparently, ankles got nineteenth century gents all hot and bothered.