Silver Linings
Nostalgia 7
However, on another venture to the same establishment I watched her trying on about a dozen items of rainwear, mostly tweeds again. Oh, No! Tentatively suggesting that a plain grey, A-line, cotton mac I had seen on one of the shelves, and unusually on a clothes hanger alongside its companions, might suit her better, being much lighter and surely more comfortable than the others for day-to-day wear. Also I was to point out to her that it had an optional belt and that a matching rubberised headscarf came with it as well as the usual mobcap, my young but growing expertise coming into play by using subtle persuasion.
The superbly smooth rubber backing of the unlined mac I had discovered was magnificent and reminiscent of the one found in Nan’s cupboard years before. . . . I was elated when, having experimented with the skimpy piece of headgear as well as the cap, and ignored the belt as she was . . well . . 'fuller' than most, Mum finally accepted it as a style fashionable enough for the day, and she opened her purse at the counter.
The simple fact that my mother had listened to me and taken note of my comments was a matter of great pride. I had been able to persuade her to buy what was essentially a plain raincoat without having to explain my private motives, as opposed to her regular preference for the stouter, rougher variety that for all its ugliness was probably better suited to our winters.
It was something of a highlight in my life and spared me the presence of another horrid tweed variety hanging in the wardrobe in the hall.
I have to say that I don’t have many hates in life, but those tweeds have to be one!
Nostalgia 7
However, on another venture to the same establishment I watched her trying on about a dozen items of rainwear, mostly tweeds again. Oh, No! Tentatively suggesting that a plain grey, A-line, cotton mac I had seen on one of the shelves, and unusually on a clothes hanger alongside its companions, might suit her better, being much lighter and surely more comfortable than the others for day-to-day wear. Also I was to point out to her that it had an optional belt and that a matching rubberised headscarf came with it as well as the usual mobcap, my young but growing expertise coming into play by using subtle persuasion.
The superbly smooth rubber backing of the unlined mac I had discovered was magnificent and reminiscent of the one found in Nan’s cupboard years before. . . . I was elated when, having experimented with the skimpy piece of headgear as well as the cap, and ignored the belt as she was . . well . . 'fuller' than most, Mum finally accepted it as a style fashionable enough for the day, and she opened her purse at the counter.
The simple fact that my mother had listened to me and taken note of my comments was a matter of great pride. I had been able to persuade her to buy what was essentially a plain raincoat without having to explain my private motives, as opposed to her regular preference for the stouter, rougher variety that for all its ugliness was probably better suited to our winters.
It was something of a highlight in my life and spared me the presence of another horrid tweed variety hanging in the wardrobe in the hall.
I have to say that I don’t have many hates in life, but those tweeds have to be one!