In 1980 I was 13. I had been brought up on a farm and had always ridden. We lived in a dry part of the country - Norfolk - but nevertheless I was used to owning and wearing a riding mac not only hen riding but at all rural events iun wet weather - point-to-points, racing, agricultural shows, walking the dogs, shooting parties etc. etc. I thought nothing of it - only an irritation if I was made to wear my mac to keep warm when it was dry!
However, over the next two years I started to change shape! I grew breasts and my bottom filled out. My jeans were what my mother called increasingly well filled! Puberty had arrived. With it came an odd feeling about wearing a mackintosh - a feeling of being restricted in rubber cloth, and at the same time a sense of longing to be made to wear my mac. One day we went to a country show when it was not raining but I took my riding mac - an almost new one. I wore it all afternoon despite it not really being necessary and being the only person wearing one. Two days later we went to a wet point-to-point. Naturally not only I but my mother, brother, younger sister and about 30% of the spectators had macs on. I found myself almost unknowingly fastening the leg straps, doing up the top button and turning up the collar. I felt wonderful and somehow my mother realised this. That evening she quietly asked me if I actually liked being out in the rain and without thinking I said "Yes - provided I'm wearing my riding mac". She asked me why and I told her it made me feel all "gooey". Of course she knew exactly what was going on.
She might have forbidden me to have a mackintosh - in the true sense of the word - but sensibly she went the other way. She made certain I always had a new riding mac when I needed it and wore it when I wanted to even if it was not really necessary. As a result of this and also because proper traditional riding macs went out of fahion shortly after that, I never got totally hooked on them. However I do have strange feelings about them now and again and think I'll shortly try and find one for myself 20 years after I last had one. "
Angelica B
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