Club Foyer>Chillout Room>Depositions

A very weatherproof lady and her son

I was brought up by my English Mother, a very weatherproof lady. She read to me, from A. A. Milne's books, including "When We Were Very Young" , in which was a poem called "Happiness":

John had great big waterproof boots on,
John had a great big waterproof hat,
John had a great big waterproof mackintosh!
And that says John is that!

The frontispiece of the book was a watercolour painting of a young lad in SBR souwester, wellies and mackintosh, standing in a puddle, with rain coming down like rods.

Mother had SBR wellies, a rubberised mackintosh (classic rubber sandwiched between two layers of fabric), oilskin leggings and souwester, and rubber gloves, which she would don to go out in the rain, to check the drains on our hill section, or pick flowers for the market.

I can still hear the ripping and sploshing of her mackintosh, and see the smile on her face, as she sallied forth to brave the weather.

She would come back in, take off her wet weatherwear and I, aged about 4, would pick up her SBR wellies and pull them onto my arms, then flex my arms to make the rubber ripple, while dreaming of having rubber trousers and a jacket with no front openings - just a tubular collar big enough to pull over my head.

As I had no mackintosh, I was not allowed out in the rain, and Mother would tease me as she donned her waterproofs, about my total lack of weather protection.

So I grew up, desperately wanting an SBR suit, which I finally achieved at the age of about 57, when PVC waterproofs were available, but went very stiff with the cold weather.

By this time I was running a tour business and had to wash my vehicle at night in winter, so I surfed the net looking for soft rubber clothing - unsuccessfully - but found instead a supplier of rubber sheeting.

Next I located two patterns, one for straight legged trousers and the other for a ladies' overblouse, ordered 5 metres of 0.8mm insert rubber and went to work, making my first glorious rubber suit!

They last about 3 or 4 years, then perish in highly stressed areas, so I get more rubber and make another.

This last suit is made of 1.6mm insert rubber - much closer to the weight and thickness of my Mother's rubber boots!

It is delightfull to wear, has enough "guts" to make itself felt around my body and is deliciously protective.

Aquasprite