Imperial Leather Update

Says Citrus, it's actually orange... well, orang-ey. Don't know what the word 'twist' is meant to signify.

I spent a longish time just over a month ago, writing about Imperial Leather soap. For those who do not wish to re-read the post, the substance of it was that it has followed me all my life, and even now, whenever I stay with anyone in Britain, it is Imperial Leather which lies on the washbasin, no matter whose house I am staying in. I also added that I had never personally bought any, but then ended up by saying that while visiting my brother and his wife, I had been attracted by the nice orange scent of the new line, and had succumbed. Now read on.

First and foremost, my cousin Elizabeth wants the world to know that she only buys Imperial Leather occasionally, and these occasions must unaccountably have coincided with my visits. She was extremely careful to provide something in dark-purple which I think was meant to be wine-flavoured when I stayed in her house on 20 September, and triumphantly pointed out that there was no Imperial Leather to be seen. Sadly, when I showered the next morning, I reached behind the serried banks of shampoos and there was a forgotten scrap of Imperial Leather, label still intact of course.

My old university chum James in Ayr took a different line. He hadn't been able to read the piece as he still hasn't got a computer. I explained what it had been about and he must have misunderstood, for he was quite apologetic about the bar of green soap lying on the washbasin, and later that night a newly-unwrapped block of Imperial Leather appeared alongside. I studiously ignored it the whole time I was there, pointedly making much use of the green stuff.

I don't think my brother and his wife had read the blog, anyway, but whatever the reason, the orange scented washing facilities of July were no more. Something else was in place of the refreshing Citrus Twist (see above).

As for my married friends in Glasgow, well maybe they never had used it, and my memory had been playing tricks. They weren't using it this time, they were using the one Spanish brand which I find reasonably acceptable. When I mentioned Imperial Leather, my friend said she might possibly have bought it sometimes, as she quite liked it. So there we are.

As for me, I have to say that the orange tang of the new line started to get on my nerves a bit after a week or so - one thing you have to say for Imperial Leather, it certainly lasts! I have also solved the problem of the label - I peeled it off. Easy, you will doubtless say, but in that case why have I never in my life seen a bar with the label peeled off before?

So I have three more bars of Citrus Twist to use up, but right now the scent in my bathroom is of Heno de Pravia, the same as in my friends' bathroom in Glasgow, and I am not copying them. I inaugurated it the weekend before I left Madrid.