crusties

   The term is applied predominantly to males, but also includes females. Crusties are young drop-outs who wear ‘encrusted’ dreadlocks or long matted hair and unfashionable nondescript baggy clothes (parkas, army trousers, fishermen’s jumpers), usually of dark colours. Females wear long black ‘granny’ dresses and home-made bangles or possibly beaded hair. Crusties often have dogs (cross-bred Alsatians are popular) which they keep on leads made from a piece of string. Their bohemian lifestyle often involves living communally and the use of soft drugs. Crusties are evident in the high streets of many of Britain’s towns, and are especially in evidence in Winchester, Glastonbury and other towns with a reputation for being havens for hippies.

   MIKE STORRY