Like many parts of the UK, the weather around here has been icily cold since the start of the year.
It’s no great secret that I hate the cold. I love summer and warm sunshine. However, having said that, I do enjoy a walk on a crisp cold sunny winter’s day (as long as it’s not icy!)
One thing that makes cold winter days bearable is the hood of my winter jacket. The rest of the jacket is a necessity, but I do love that fur-lined hood. (Manmade fur I hasten to add!)
As I walked along the coast road the other night, taking great care not to fall on my ass on the large patches of black ice, I was very grateful for that hood. It sheltered me perfectly from the biting wind, but it got me thinking.
I’ve always loved hoods on my jackets and coats. This is a lifelong love affair.
The earliest hood I can clearly remember was the white fur-edged hood of my red snowsuit jacket. The snowsuit had been brought over from America and, while I had little use for the padded waterproof trousers, I loved the jacket. I wore it until I had long since outgrown it and the sleeves were halfway up my arms!
Then there were school coats with velvet lined hoods. I loved those.
In high school, it was my donkey jacket with its warm hood that kept out the winter chills. I felt a bit like Paddington Bear in that one.
I remember another jacket from my late teens/early twenties that was lilac in colour. It was made from the softest microfibre. I wore that one until it was in tatters.
When I started work, I needed a decent smart raincoat. I’ve always been useless with umbrellas so a hood was a must. I took myself off to M&S and opted for an ankle length cream coat with a large soft draping navy blue velvet-lined hood. It may have been a nightmare to keep clean, but I loved that coat!
Time took its toll on it (and my high heels – I spiked holes in its hem many times! Yes, there was a time when I wore stiletto heels to work.) I replaced with a very similar model in black. Think Scottish Widows advert. I still have it more than twenty years down the line.
There have been numerous winter jackets over the years but all of them have had hoods too. Even my recently purchased leather jacket has a hood.
So, why this lifelong fascination?
Apart from the desire to stay warm and dry, you can get “lost” in a good hood.
It’s your own special personal space in the world. No one can enter it. No one can share it.
These days, as the weight of this crazy world weighs heavy on me, my fur-lined hood has become my winter sanctuary. No one can touch me when I’m in there. No one can disturb me. I’m safe. Secure. Protected.
So, I’d better pause here and offer up an apology to any local friends I may have inadvertently blanked recently!
If I’m out and about on my own with my hood up, I’m not being rude. I’m channelling my lone she-wolf and I’m lost in my own wee world.
(image sourced via Google – credits to the owner Fotocelia)
Coral McCallum 