Episode 124: Me and my new SBR mackintosh
Here is an account of my first public appearance of any consequence, in my then new SBR.
Written at Jos’s insistance into our youthful ‘journal’ and now, reproduced here.
I have told how I came about to possess this first SBR mackintosh (Episode 122), organised for me by Jos and as I added, I needed a lot of persuading, even bribery, before I did pluck up courage to wear it out, but then only in Norwich where I kept it in my flat there and where, in a crowded town like Norwich, no-one took any obvious interest in me. In any case, just then I was mostly living at home a lot of the time for nursing call-outs. I’ve probably said before, Jos and I have been (and are still) very chary and reticent about wearing our SBR mackintoshes anywhere near home, which you certainly seem to understand judging from one of your more recent e-mails.
So……………...Very soon after, however, I visited an old college girl-friend living some way away for a few days and had decided to travel by train rather than driving for what was quite a long way. Jos was still trying to persuade me to wear this new SBR mackintosh, my first ever of course, and proposed that I should try it out and ‘risk’ wearing it but only on the journey. It was that time of the year, autumn, when it would not seem unreasonable to appear in it. So the plan was that I kept it packed in my case and then to put it on for the return journey – once my friend had seen me off. Something even more odd about getting on the train and then putting on your mackintosh, I wondered! I didn’t wear it during the visit, needless to say.
My friend had packed me a nice sandwich lunch to eat on the way home which I intended to eat while I waited for my connection towards home at Peterborough. Once at Peterborough and knew the time of the next journey on my homeward journey, I was to ring Jos who would drive to a more convenient station nearer home, to pick me up and save me making the rest of the then remaining tedious train journey to our home in deepest Norfolk.
So there I was, belted into in my lovely new SBR mackintosh, which I had decided I certainly liked, in a busy railway station and, I particularly remember, a nice sunny day. Very self-consciously, I wandered around looking for somewhere to sit, slowly realising that nobody was taking any notice of me, even though I was dressed in a manner that would certainly excite Jos. Eventually I wandered to the end of a platform which had an unoccupied seat in the sun and, resisting the urge to take off my mackintosh, I sat down and ate my lunch. As I did so, I became comfortably warm despite a coolish breeze, so comfortably that I put away the remnants of a good lunch and unwittingly fell asleep – it was a good lunch and I had had a busy few days.
I awoke with a start after some time to find, to my horror that I had missed my connection onwards!
Luckily, I had not yet ‘phoned Jos and still had to do so. Rustling back down the platform, I started looking for a ‘phone box (those were the days!). I asked a ticket collector who told me the only ones were just outside the station. Off I went and found them, but then there was the question of small change. I had foreseen this and, being the days when I didn’t carry a handbag round as a matter of course, there was, I hoped, the right amount inmy purse which was in my case, which I was still dragging along. It hadn’t occurred to me earlier to put it into the pockets of my new mackintosh, although I knew the subtle pleasure of slipping my hands into its nice rubber-lined pockets. So I phoned Jos with the train times and all was well. Jos asked if I was wearing my new SBR mackintosh, so I was able to assure him on this. I had in fact been wearing for a couple of hours by the time I made my train connection and, to my surprise, had enjoyed the total experience, most of the time oblivious of any attention I might have been attracting. Jos was, in that case he said willing to drive down to Ely station and pick me up there to make the homeward journey a lot easier for me, providing, he emphasised, I was wearing my SBR. If I wasn't, he said, he would not be able to find me! I agreed quite readily to that plan.
Yes, I did actually enjoy the experience and soon found that I liked the idea of wearing the SBR mackintosh in public, if well away from home or from people who knew me. of course! Jos was quick off the mark in encouraging me in this aspect. He said how surprised he was when he met me off the train at Ely that afternoon. I managed to look very smart and attractive, certainly to him, which considering I am rarely considered smart and certainly not attractive as a general rule by anyone, emboldened me to try further adventures wearing my mackintosh.
Curiously enough, less the six months later, an opportunity arose which Jos was quick to suggest was just the occasion for me to do so. I saw a announcement in The Nursing Times about in a conference of nursing officers like myself and on a particular subject that I was interested in at the time. I was quite keen and eventually enrolled for it because it was a week-end course in the main Addenbrookes Hospital (in those days in the middle of the town)in Cambridge which is nearer to us than if it had been, as more usual, in London somewhere and it was titled a 'Symposium', a new word to most of us, not even in our dictionary at the time. It was in March, from Friday evening to Sunday lunchtime and accommodation for Friday and Saturday could be arranged, for early applicants in a near-by college. I was too late for that, needless to say!
I mentioned it to Jos in case he knew anything about Cambridge hotels, which he did of course. After a day or so, he came back with a proposal.
As, he reminded me, I liked so much wearing my new SBR, he would book me into a hotel well away from the conference and well away from the railway station and the cost could go against our (his) firms accommodation budget. Why? I asked. I should have guessed!
He would book me in for the Sunday night as well and he would drive down early Monday morning and we could together make visits to places of interest for the day and... I could wear my smart new SBR - it was an appropriate time of year, early spring- with little or no chance of me meeting people I knew in my SBR, as he knew I dreaded that. He would drive me home obviously in the evening and I would also then save the cost of the rail fare in one direction. Yes, I tried not to appear too keen on the idea but agreed to his plan - but not until after a little flattering persuasion.