Chillout Room>Depositions>The Pirate Look
Hi Lorraine,
Thankyou for posting my brief introduction to wrapping up together. What follows are some of my recollections from about the age of six.
I am one of a twin and my name is Mark and my sister is called Katie. At about the age of six we moved to a farm, miles from any where, bleak, but set in beautiful countryside. We moved in at the back end of the year, September/October time when the days were getting shorter and the weather was becoming wintery.
As we lived off the beaten track as they say, instead of our mother taking us to school in the car she used to walk us across two of our fields, through a wood and into the village. It was on these walks that she used to wrap us up well.
It could be very windy where we lived so if it was a windy day, but no rain, mother would take four small square scarves from the draw of the dresser in the hall way, stand us in front of her and the wrapping up would begin. She would fold a scarf into a triangle, place the longer side of the scarf across our foreheads, in turn and bring the ends to the back, covering the ears by doing so and tying it off at the back tightly. She used to call it the pirate look, like you saw in the story books. The two remaining scarves were folded into triangles and were tied as masks, covering our nose and mouth, and tied off at the back above the knot of the headscarf and across the tail piece making a snug fit. Our coats were then put on, and the mask was then held snugly by the zip being done up. A flap that covered the zip was then buttoned up. Finally, the hoods were pulled up and tied by the draw strings.
These coats were long but I can't remember a name, only that they weren't waterproof. On our feet we wore wellingtons because the grass was always wet and the path through the wood muddy.
Our mother used to dress in a riding mack, wellington boots, headscarf and - if it was just windy - she would wrap a scarf around her neck and pull it up just to cover her mouth. This was generally a soft wool one.
I can honestly say my sister and I really enjoyed being wrapped up like this. I think it was the feeling of being warm, secure and protected from the elements.
Well I hope you enjoyed reading this Lorraine. Next time I would like to talk about wrapping up in the wind and rain.
Mark.
Thanks Mark, sorry for the delay in posting.
I'm very sorry those coats of yours weren't waterproof. What was your mum thinking of? She must have thought her riding mac was so good it would protect you all - but though certainly magical it is NOT safe to rely on the riding mac acting at a distance.
Looking forward to your next!
- LE
Here is the next part of my story.
In winter the area in which we lived could become wet and windy,with some mist and fog that drifted in from the sea. In these wet, windy and damp conditions it was essential that we wrapped up well.
A large headscarf was folded into a triangle and placed over our heads.The ends were crossed, not tied under the chin but taken round to the back of the head and tied at the nape of the neck. (When we became older we realised that this was a style which Grace Kelly used.) A medium scarf was then folded into a triangle and placed over our mouth and nose, tied tightly above the knot of the headscarf and the ends brought to the front and tied off, pulling the scarf tight into the throat. The mask then prevented the damp air from entering, which would otherwise give us sore throats. The headscarf and mask combination was a really tight and snug fit, keeping the weather at bay.
We then put on the coats that i talked about before, plus, over the top, plastic rain macks.The hood of the under coat was pulled over the headscarf and a matching rain hat the same colour as the plastic rain coat was put on top of this. We wore wellington boots on our feet.
Our mother dressed a little differently to us. She tied a mask on first which was usually a thin scarf. (At the time we didn't realise it was chiffon but we were amused that we could still see the features of her face even though she was masked.) A headscarf was then tied over her head. She then tied another mask on, the same way as she had tied ours on over the outside of the headscarf. This was necessary because she was a singer and taught singing as well. She couldn't afford to lose her voice or get a sore throat. The riding mack was then put on - and again wellington boots.
Looking back on this now we realise our mother enjoyed this wrapping up of her self as much as she enjoyed wrapping us up. As we grew up we enjoyed this feeling of being wrapped up and when the weather was bad we found every excuse to indulge.
In the next part I shall go into this in more detail. Hope you enjoyed the continuation of the story.
Mark.
Mark
I'm sure we did - thank you. Looking forward to the next.
Best
Lorraine
SHOP | CLUB FOYER | CHILLOUT ROOM | ASK LORRAINE