Don't get your knickers in a twist

You need to take a closer look at the ladies; in fact, at the lengths of their skirts and dresses. If short skirts are all the rage, you should be happy - and not only for aesthetic reasons. This means that there is going to be a bull marketon the stock exchanges. It is factors such as these that are used to calculate theHemline Index. Devised in 1926, it is based on the theory that the length of women's clothes is correlated to the movement of share prices. So if you don't want to upset the indexes, you should pack a few very short dresses for your trip to the French Riviera. This brings us nicely onto another major topic, er, intimately connected with the property market... underpants. Polish business journal 'Puls Biznesu' has recently reminded us that Alan Greenspan once came up with the Men's Underwear Index, according to which the sellers of men's briefs are the first to notice the signs of a market revival. The idea is that when the economy is finally out of the woods, gentlemen tend to go on an underpant shopping spree. The authors of the article add that The Daily Mail has recently made the index more precise by proving that during a boom men are more likely to dress themselves in colourful underpants. Gentlemen, I urge you to visit a few of the boutiques along La Croisette and buy the jazziest boxers you can find! There is actually a reason why underwear topics have a place in a real estate magazine. There has recently been a lot of talk in the sector about pulling underpants up and down. Not in the context of sex scandals, but in a code used by the heads of construction companies when competing for road contracts. But when it comes to knickers, remember: up or down is not so important, it's the colour that matters.