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Dear Lorraine,
I don't know if anyone else on this site feels the same as I do, but I find the fastening and unfastening of buttons quite fascinating. It ties in well with my liking of mackintoshes of all sorts, but especially those of smooth shiny material such as plastic or rubber. The concept of layering coats and mackintoshes further adds to my enjoyment, and this is still further enhanced when these garments or donned and taken off. My past experiences of witnessing these activities have been somewhat limited to date, however, the experiences I have encountered have been not only enjoyable, but quite memorable.
I have already relayed to you my experiences with Gillian during my childhood. Please let me now continue with some of the events which have occurred since then.
I shall take up at the period when I was at grammar school in the Lake District, where, as you may be aware, the rain, once it starts, never seems to want to stop. As a consequence, people living in that area of the country during the 1960's practically all owned, and frequently wore, heavy coats with plastic or rubber macks over the top. It was a delight to me to be in the cloakroom both at the beginning and the end of the day, witnessing the other kids doffing or donning their outer clothing, all of whom wore gaberdines over their blazers, and sometimes having to struggle with buttons on garments which they had obviously outgrown. During wet weather, (and sometimes when it was fine too), plastic or rubber macks were squeezed into, as was my case. I found it far more convenient to wear a mackintosh rather than carry it, although if the weather was very warm, I used to just fasten the bottom few buttons to stop the coats flapping. Sometimes though,if the weather was very hot, I would button everything up fully and pull in my belt on my gaberdine as tightly as I could, revelling in the fact that it sat just under my ribs. I regarded this as very uncomfortable, something which made the whole ensemble even more pleasing in a strange sort of way.
None of us had hoods on our gaberdines, (it being an all boys school in those days), however the outer macks frequently had a hood of one sort or another, otherwise souwesters were quite popular. These hoods however, were worn down by most of the boys, even in the rain, as we wore school caps, which made it uncomfortable to wear both.
Much to the amusement of some of the other boys, I however sometimes wore the hood of my plastic mack up. It had a drawstring which when pulled tight, made my cap come very low over my forehead, I recall having to keep my chin up quite high in order to see where I was going, but I didn't mind this unless the tight part rested on the top of my eyes. For a while, I overcame this problem by wearing my scarf over the top of my head over my cap, and putting the hood over the top of that. This had the effect of making the hood sit higher, and also provided extra insulation. I was never very keen on having cold rubber or plastic next to my skin in those days, and the scarf also provided a wicking barrier between my skin and the hood.
By the time I was old enough to leave school, we had moved again. This time to Blackpool. I was disappointed to find that in spite of the inclemency of the weather during the illuminations time, very few people were dressing the way I liked to see them. There were a exceptions however, and a particular girl of whom I was very fond, and in fact dated for a year or so, had parents who insisted that she wore her gaberdine every time she went out. She hated doing this, and as a consequence used to wear another coat underneath it. The idea being that as soon as she was out of sight of her parents, she would remove the offending garment, leaving her other one on. I don't think she bargained on my liking of her in two coats, especially in summer, but it was fun while it lasted, and I enjoyed watching her do up and undo the buttons. I even got a display of her wearing a plastic mack with both of her hoods up on a couple of occassions. I just could not keep my hands off her, but she was not happy about wearing so much, and in the end, she moved out of her parents house, and things with her were never the same again.
Some years later, I met up with, and married, a friend of hers. And although she scarcely wore more than one coat, I have tactfully spoken of my likings for the fairer sex to be well, if not over, clad. She is quite happy to wear a long plastic mack over her coat when it is raining, but is quite modern in her dress normally, preferring jackets rather than long coats for everyday wear. She does humour me sometimes by wearing two coats, providing the weather is very inclement, and that they cannot be seen under her mack, but these times are very infrequent.
This site has been a Godsend to me for which I am very grateful. It has served to reassure me that I am not the only person for whom coats and macks are of such importance, and that 'strange' is only in the eye of the beholder.
I have enjoyed writing this letter to you, it feels like a sort of therapy if you can understand that.
Many thanks.
Kindest regards
Malcolm
Dear Malcolm
Very good of you to write this further installment!
There's a chorus each Winter now about teenagers who like to surge about the city in the Winter without coats on, 'catching their deaths'. Is this connected I wonder?
I get the sense it's partly about parents' losing control...?
L
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