Many years ago, between A Levels and university I worked for a short while at the department store Bonds of Norwich. I started in Homewares but was moved up to Furniture on the top floor, for which I had to wear a dark suit with a splendid bumblebee tie – the shop’s symbol was a bee 🐝 Furniture’s Mr Ellis and I would patrol the floor, trying to get customers interested in our lines of Ercol furniture. I would say things like, ‘Madam certainly has an eye. She has instinctively picked out the finest dining table in Norwich.’ Or, ‘Surely the question Sir should be asking is, “Can Sir afford not to own so exquisite a sofa?’’’. Dear Old Bonds. It never felt like work. Discover more of the tales behind the ties in my new book #FrysTies – out now 👔