Club Foyer>Rainwear Letters>I noticed a girl
Dear Lorraine,
My wife, Judith, wrote to you a while ago outlining our love of raincoats and waterproof clothing. She suggested that I might write about it from my point of view.
When I was eight, my father died, and shortly afterwards I had what was probably a mild asthma attack. My mother took this as the chance to make sure I was wrapped up very warmly at all times, as she felt that I was "delicate". I realised many years later that having lost her husband, she was not about to lose the only other important person in her life as well, so she was being very protective of me. My winter outfit was a duffle coat, with a big wool scarf wrapped round my head and face inside my hood, and a plastic mac with a hood over it. In summer, I was dressed in a gaberdine raincoat, always buttoned to the neck over a warm scarf, with a cap or balaclava, and my plastic mac carried over my arm ready to be worn at a moment's notice. Sometimes I would have an old gaberdine underneath my ordinary one. It was embarrassing sometimes to be wrapped up in my gaberdines and balaclava, with gloves and wellingtons, when everyone else my age was in shorts and shirts, or the girls in cotton dresses and sandals, but I got used to it. When I started work at sixteen, I still had to wear a double breasted gaberdine coat, buttoned to the neck, though Mum had decided I was no longer in danger form asthma or similar conditions.
When I was 22, my employers sent me to work in a new office in another part of the country. It was an offer I couldn't really refuse, though Mum was less than keen. I got a small flat near a bus route to work, and also bought myself a bike to go out at weekends. I bought an anorak to wear on the bike, as I thought it might be more suitable than a long raincoat. I also bought waterproof trousers, made of rubberised cotton, in case of rain, and I carried my old nylon mac in my saddlebag with the trousers. One evening, in early october, I went to a barn dance with some people from work. It was a popular evening activity at the time (1968), and I cycled the seven or eight miles to it, in my overtrousers and anorak. When I arrived, I took off my overtrousers and put them, rolled up, into my anorak pocket, and my mac into the other pocket. As I went in, I noticed a girl standing by the door, dressed in a red doublebreasted PVC mac, rather like a school raincoat, and a sou'wester in the same colour. The mac was buttoned to the neck, and the collar turned up and fastened across her chin with a button on one point of the collar through a buttonhole on the other point. The coat was far too big, and came down well below her knees, she had the cuffs turned back, and under the collar I could see a blue scarf covering her chin and mouth. As she turned round I saw her long dark hair in a thick plait, hanging down her back below the rim of the sou'wester. I was fascinated by this beautiful girl, standing quite smartly by the door, her feet together, gloved hands clasped in front of her, and during the evening I made it my business to dance with her a time or two. She, like me, was new to the area, and we managed to talk at some length during the interval. A the end, I offered to walk her home, which she accepted, and we went to our cloakrooms to collect our coats. When we arrived at her place, she invited me in for coffee. I accepted, we went in, and Judith took off her PVC mac to reveal a fully buttoned trenchcoat under it. I must have looked surprised, because she remarked that the evenings were chilly at this time of year, weren't they.
It was more than an hour later when I left, and Judith took down my anorak from the peg in the hall, took my waterproof trousers out of the pocket, and told me I would need them on. She then handed me my anorak, but she had taken out my mac. I fastened the waist cords, and the zip up to my neck, and then Judith reached up and pulled up my hood and tied it, telling me I needed to wrap up to go home at this hour of the morning. Needless to say she also made me put on my mac, which she buttoned to the neck for me. As Judith has already described, over the next few months we saw a lot of each other, and she persuaded me to wear my trousers, anorak and nylon mac all the time on the bike; then she bought me a new nylon mac, this time a double breasted one with a belt. As the weather got colder, I had the US forces gaberdine, scarf, balaclava, wellingtons, and cape for wet days, and it all seemed quite natural. We would go to her local shopping centre, with me in my waterproofs, my face wrapped up, my hood up, and Judith in her trenchcoat and PVC mac, and no-one seemd bothered.
Eventually, it became obvious that I would have to take Judith home to meet my mother. Mum had seen off several girlfriends in the past by her frequent insistence that I needed to be well wrapped up. A couple of girls had actually walked out on a date when Mum insisted on fastening my top button for me, and handing me a plastic or nylon mac to carry in case of rain, but Judith was not deterred. We arranged to go in late March, by train. Judith cycled to my house very early, and we left on an early train. She was wearing her trench coat with a furry bonnet, popular at that time, and a long woollen scarf wrapped round her neck and chin, with the ends tucked into her belt at the back, making her look about fourteen years old. She carried her hooded plastic mac over her arm and she told me she was also wearing a very small sized pair of waterproof trousers over her tights and under her skirt, with the bottoms tucked into her boots. She made me wear my anorak with the hood up over my balaclava, my waterproof trousers, and my military gaberdine. I also had by then another nylon mac, again a double breasted one, but much heavier with a waterproof lining, which I carried over my arm, and I had a short wool scarf tied over my mouth with a single knot at the back. On the train we removed our outer coats, as the journey was about an hour and a half, but we wrapped up again in good time to get off, and walk to Mum's.
Judith played up to Mum all day, showing her the warm clothing I was wearing, accepting an invitation to look at the garden and buttoning herself into her trenchcoat, making me put my anorak on with the hood up, and then asking Mum if I would be all right without my scarf on - and then tying it on "just in case". When it was time to go, Judith went to the bathroom to put on her leggings, and then, as I was about to zip up my anorak she stopped me and said "You'll need a warm scarf on and yours is only light. You will have to wear mine." I then had to say goodbye to Mum, before Judith wrapped my face up in her big scarf, with a handkerchief pad over my mouth, stuffing the ends inside my anorak, zipping me up and fastening my hood really tightly. She then supervised me putting on my gaberdine, fastening the collar strap up, then buttoned herself into her trenchcoat, put on her bonnet, and then said "I think, as it's still chilly at night, that we'd better put our macs on." I had to put on my big nylon mac, which again Judith buttoned up for me, pulling the belt really tightly, and then putting on her own plastic mac, which she fastened to the neck, and tied her hood tightly round her face. She then kissed Mum, thanked her for a lovely day, and handed me my scarf, asking me to tie it over her face, really tightly as she liked it, in a double knot at the back. I did so, and we went home, but this time we remained fully dressed for the whole trip, and I remained fully buttoned and wrapped until I had ridden with Judith back to her place and home again.
There was also an interesting meeting with Ann, Judith's sister, but that is another story! As for the rest, Judith has pretty much described our life, though now she has learned how to lock a coat on, things could be very interesting in the future!
Kind regards,
John
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