Jacket potato

As you get older, life serves up certain inevitabilities.

In 1994 I was contacted by the Boy Scouts of America to inform me that I’d been successful in applying to be a summer camp counsellor, and would be heading off to Mississippi in the near future. This meant acquiring some new outdoor gear, and I really pressed the opportunity with my Mum to push the boat out and buy some decent stuff that would last a while, rather than more of the barely-adequate gear that fell to bits after 3 or 4 uses that I’d been living with up til this point (I get it – outdoor gear’s pricey!).

ANYWAY – I successfully petitioned the acquisition of a solid pair of hike boots (Scarpa Trek), a new rucksack (Tatonka, no idea what model), and a waterproof jacket: the Snowgum-branded Gelanots Goretex-alike. All capably advised and sold to me by my Scouting chum Mel[i]At this point I feel I ought to have more to say about Mel, but I don’t – she was just a generally awesome sort that I met in Venturers, but that in later years I didn’t do enough … Continue reading.

The boots lasted a good long while and then following some sole-splitting symptoms were replaced under warranty, but sadly the pace of constant daily urban & offroad use saw their demise in the mid-noughties.

The rucksack’s still going strong and in use on most long-haul trips, although it’s been a long time since it saw any hiking action I will confess.

But I’m here to salute the waterproof jacket. For, upon returning from Monday’s dogwalk, I finally came to the realisation that after nearly 30 years of service, it’s over. There are 2 main reasons for this:

  1. It’s a bit “snug”.[ii]Or to put it more correctly, it makes me look like some sort of articifial blue sausage
  2. A waterproof jacket has one primary function, and the clue’s in the name.

I remember selecting it at the time due to its impressive indigo colour – one of the few genuine things I’ve ever seen delicately tread the line between blue and purple. Also, the oblate spheroid shape of the hat-bit gave it a kind of Martian Traveller vibe. And, it was about 1/4 of the price of Goretex.

Of course latterly the magnificent indigo was augmented with general crud.

Truth be known, it was probably time to decommission it some time back, as what I understand to be the lining membrane has all but deteriorated – and not recently.

In recent years its main function was as a windstopper layer over the correct gauge of sweater for the weather condition, as I mainly wore it on dogwalks and nobody REALLY enjoys walking a dog in the pissing rain.[iii]Actually, the dog seems to quite enjoy it – but that’s more than counteracted by how tedious it is to towel him off when we get home so he doesn’t leave muddy streaks all over the … Continue reading

Coming in from Monday’s walk in a saturated waterproof which had done a better job of keeping the sweat in than keeping the rain out made me realise that it’s just time to call it a day.

Farewell, overly snug blue rain jacket. I can only hope your replacement lasts as long as you did.

Jacket potato

Footnotes

Footnotes
i At this point I feel I ought to have more to say about Mel, but I don’t – she was just a generally awesome sort that I met in Venturers, but that in later years I didn’t do enough rockclimbing or living in the northeastern suburbs to see much of socially.
ii Or to put it more correctly, it makes me look like some sort of articifial blue sausage
iii Actually, the dog seems to quite enjoy it – but that’s more than counteracted by how tedious it is to towel him off when we get home so he doesn’t leave muddy streaks all over the downstairs floor.
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