Somax - Pyjamas for Purists

Suitable for Matron

Traditional pyjama enthusiasts are saying that Somax are delivering the goods when it comes to pyjamas and nightshirts. We need to listen, chaps.

Somax use an admirably fogeyish selection of colour schemes and patterns for their pyjamas — some of which you might have last seen in Carry on Matron. We're talking pyjamas for purists. How do patients dress for hospital now? I would like to think they dress respectfully in proper pyjamas, slippers and dressing gown — and carry a good wet pack or sponge bag about their person — but I fear lounge wear rules the day — and that's just the nurses.

This summer I swooped on a pair of Somax light-blue-and-white-striped cotton short pyjamas you see here from their Christopher James range. The shirt is short-sleeved with a revere collar and breast pocket, and the shorts have a nice length that comes between knee than mid-thigh. I'm very impressed with them; so much so I might go for the same style in royal blue stripes. The cotton is smooth and crisp, and they provide the comfort and fit we want from summer pyjamas. Just add a glass of gin and you're set. Oh, and I'm teaming the pyjamas with a travel book on Jamaica from 1962 introduced by Ian Fleming, who adored the island. I think I've mentioned before that I enjoy reading old travel books; they make the best kind of history books (without the tiresome revisionism). Fleming's Thrilling Cities series is a great read. And Patrick Leigh Fermor's books, although he wrote his retrospectively. Actually, we might make one of Patrick's books a read for this year's Summer Book Club.

I believe Somax are based in Northern Ireland. If so, this might be the first item we've featured from that part of the UK. If anyone knows anything about the brand do get in touch. I had the devil of a job trying to find any information on them. Or anything from Northern Ireland we might be interested in for that matter.

I obtained these shorties from Wood's of Shropshire — an excellent shop for finding things you won't find on a typically tedious high street.