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A little introduction to this situation. I lived in the south of England not far from London, and at least twice a year I would go on holiday with Mummy for about a week to a friend of Mummy's in Devon. I always called her 'Auntie', and she had a daughter about 2 years older than me, I was at this time about 10 or 11 years old. I went to a local convent school for a number of years, and being mainly girls, I always had a school gabardine raincoat with a hood, and a very similar uniform to the girls, which I was always told how smart I looked in it. We always travelled by train, from Paddington station, to Devon as we did not own a car, and I understand that if you travelled in school uniform it was children's fare, even if you were older. So in consequence I always travelled in my convent uniform. ( Bar shoes; white socks; blazer; school hat; raincoat; etc.) So in the early 50's I arrived in Devon for another weeks holiday. On this particular day we were going in Auntie's car to Taunton for the day, it was during the Whitsun holiday. The weather was quite warm but some showers were forecast. Auntie's daughter had offered to Mummy a matching set of shorts and blouse, that she had grown out of, for me to wear. The shorts were quite short, and both blouse and shorts were in white with a small flower pattern all over. Auntie's daughter wore something similar. We were nearly to Taunton when it started to rain. Mummy turned to me and said "You did bring your school raincoat with you, didn't you? Is it in the boot with the other things?" I answered "yes" I thought it was. But on arrival when the others are putting on their macs I am surprised mine is not there!!!! Auntie said "We will have to buy you a plastic mac, and I know a shop that sells them." So I am given a bright red umbrella and off we go to the shop. It is a Ladies and Children's wear shop. We all go in, the first part of the shop is the small children's wear, but these are all too small for me, the next part is the girls wear, so here I try on several plastic macs in different colours, some with hoods some without. Also I try on several ordinary rain coats, once again, in different colours and styles, some with hoods, some with matching hats some with matching head scarves. It is decided that I should have a plastic mac with a hood in transparent pink with white polka dots. Of course being as it is raining I have to wear it out of the shop, but before that, between the children's department and the girls department, there is a big rocking horse and it is decided that I should be put on this for a moment. The seat was a bit like a high chair seat, with a strap that came around my waist and did up at the back, so I could not fall out! The shop was not busy so Auntie decides that maybe they will look around and asks the assistant from the children's department if she will look after me, and to keep me strapped into the seat on the rocking horse. I am sure the assistant was only about 16, and as Auntie said she had been very helpful, she readily agreed. I am sure she enjoyed Mummy and Auntie making me try on all the different macs, and discussing with them which one she thought I looked nicest in. So there I am in my new plastic mac, with my hood up, being looked after by the assistant, who kept coming up and rocking the horse for me. I thought this was going to be for 3 or 4 minutes, but I was wrong. After about 10 minutes the assistant came up and took my hood off for me. It was over half an hour later that Mummy came back with Auntie and her daughter, who had a new blouse bought for her because I had a new mac. As I said I had on quite short cotton shorts and a short sleeved blouse, and while I was sat on the rocking horse I can remember thinking how smooth the plastic was, and as I got warm how soft it became. This feeling I thought was wonderful. I was eventually unstrapped and taken down from the rocking horse and had to thank the assistant for looking after me. By the time we left the shop it had stopped raining, but I still had to wear my mac for the rest of the day. By this time I really liked the feel of it. It was the first time I had a mac or coat that I could see through and this in itself was quite different. But everybody could see my floral shorts and blouse, which through my mac looked more like a short dress. With my school raincoat it did not really matter what I had to wear underneath, because nobody could see it, so when I had to wear some of Auntie's daughters clothes it did not matter, but now it was like walking along without a coat on at all. In Devon nobody knew me, but I thought when I got home I would try to wear my school raincoat most of the time. For the rest of my stay in Devon, I wore a raincoat whenever I could!!!! I really liked my school raincoat and hood, and I liked my new plastic mac, so I made sure I wore one or the other every day. Since that day I have always owned at least 2 plastic macs with hoods, and I have always owned at least 2 school raincoats with hoods. Peter I'm sure you looked so cute in your little girl clothes under that soft plastic mac. I can understand why you still wear them to this day. Auntie Helga |