Club Foyer>Chillout Room>Depositions

I became fascinated

I became fascinated by mackintoshes at a very early age - about 6. I was walking with my mother to a station about 2 miles from our house in the country to see the steam trains (which remains another great interest in life sadly past!). It was raining hard and we passed two soldiers marching along with water streaming off their shiny camouflaged rubber capes. They had the collars fastened tightly round their chins and mouths.

I was wearing a chocolate brown mac with a matching rubber lining and sou'weater. I tried, behind my mother's back, to get my chin below the collar of the mac but it was not high enough.

Why was that the start of everything?

I had, of course, no sexual feelings, just a love of the rustle and smell of mackintosh cloth.

When I went to school we had to have navy gaberdine raincoats - no interest for me there. However, they slowly started to get expensive and parents started to complain that they had to buy them when their son had a good weatherproof mac for use at home.

Virtually all these were riding macs, as I later discovered.

At last the headmaster's wife agreed that boys who had macs at home could bring them to school instead of the uniform gaberdines.

By the time I left, about six boys had their riding macs at school. The changing room, which already smelled of rubber-soled gym shoes, and rubber gum boots (no plastic ones in those days) had the added wonderful smell of rubberised riding macs as well. If we had been out in the rain the smell was even better. I used to creep in and touch and smell them.

When I went on to public school you can imagine my excitement when the clothes list included Mackintosh (One)* with the asterisk meaning that it had to be bought from the school outfitters.

The shop duly produced a selection of rubber macs from which my parents were invited to choose. They went for one of the cheapest which was a riding mac in every way except that it had no leg straps. I was not worried - I didn't ride - especially as it had a fastening on the collar which some others did not have.

At the first opportunity I wore it to the cinema even though it was not raining. My mother gave me an odd ook. I think she knew even then about my feelings for rubber macs.

The funny thing was that I always detested the rubbery smell of a ground sheet...

That holiday we went to stay with friends who had a daughter my age (13) and she had a riding mac which I found a massive turn on.

We went to the cinema one very wet night and I held her hand. But couldn't bring myself to tell her how much I liked her mac. Too shy!

Anyway, at school of course all the other boys had these wonderful macs and as is so often the case, as I grew older I got the odd crush on others and loved seeing them in their mackintoshes when it was wet. I even heard a story about a boy on whom I was very keen getting beaten for not wearing his mac in the rain. Heavens how that turned me on.

Sadly during my teens we lived in London and I never got a proper chance to see a girl in a mac again for a few years despite a longing to do so. I was now past puberty and all the sexual feelings were rife.

Eventually we moved to the country and I got some girl friends who all - yes virtually all in those days - had riding macs. I used to go and see them riding at shows, meets, gymkhanas, and just walking the dog. At point-to-points on wet days I followed pretty girls, luxuriating in seeing them in their mackintoshes, generally with head scarves.

I had a girl friend who was a keen and very good rider. She had two riding macs. Her I did tell about my fetish. She played up wonderfully well - but it turned out to be just one big tease. When we parted I was desolate.

Finally when I was about 24 I had another girl. This time and we did have serious games with our macs...

Alex