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Winter always seemed to start for me around bonfire night – November 5th.It was around the time the clocks went back to and with the darker nights the cold weather seemed to come on.Clothes came into this too as kids would beg their mum's for old clothes to stuff with newspaper to make the guy – which we could then use to make a bit of money to buy fireworks.We never had any old men's clothes to stuff – but I used to help my mates make theirs and we'd share out the money.It was also a few days after my birthday so I may have got some new clothes for that. There's a few clothes of mine that I would have liked to chuck on the bonfire – but I've told you about that.I also told you about the time I burnt my socks around bonfire night so you had to be careful – if we went round to a mates who were having a bonfire mum always made us wear our oldest clothes in case of accidents like that.

I always loved the Winter as I seemed to feel more alive and it felt exciting to be out on the streets with my mates in the dark until mum would come looking for me. What I didn't like was my mum insisting on us being “well wrapped up” against the cold. I never remember feeling the cold at all in the Winter – in fact,as I've said,the only time I remember feeling cold was when I had to wear a white shirt in the Summer without my beloved jumper for some school occaision or other.Out of school things were not so bad – I could dump the coat she'd made me wear at a mates house if I was too hot in it or stuff the bobble hat into my pocket. School though was another matter as there were still the uniform rules ( I'm thinking of my primary school here ). I hated the rain as, as I wrote before I had to wear Wellington's and carry in my shoes to change into. There was also the mack which was always a pain to get on over your blazer ( and even harder to get off ! ! ) and which always seemed to be chaffing at the backs of your knees – even today I'd never wear a long coat. But worse was the snow when it seemed to my mum that we were going out on some voyage to the North Pole rather than a 15 minute walk to school. First she'd dig out that white underwear that my Gran would have bought that Christmas ( it always seemed to snow AFTER Christmas in London. Yorkshire was a different matter and I could see the point of wearing these clothes up there). I remember they were vest and pants made of “combed cotton” ( I remember reading the label) and I found them itchy – I never wanted to wear a vest at all – just my grey shirt with a jumper. I then could wear my duffle coat instead of the mack. That was a good thing as I liked my duffle coat. That too had been bought for me by my Grandparents. I remember feeling that it was different to my mates. It was black the same as theirs, with a hood – but mine had toggles instead of buttons and a warm tartan lining. I was ! always very careful to put the toggles in my short's pockets once I'd undone them so they wouldn't get lost or stolen for a joke from the cloakroom. I remember, too, that it said “manufactured in Bradford” on the label so I thought that made me special. That coat would have been all the protection I needed but there was also the scarf, balaclava and gloves ( or mittens when we were younger). The scarf was in the school colours and a lot of the children wore them in the Winter. The gloves and balaclavas, for those who wore them, were always navy-blue and most were hand-knitted at home I think. I'm not sure if it was a school rule that they had to be blue – but they all were. I hated having my hands covered like that – it felt like you couldn't use them properly and the balaclava always seemed to make my ears sore.

The real hassle was being dressed up in all these things and then having to get them all off in the cloakroom a few minutes later and being careful not to lose anything.What was worse was that even if it was freezing in the mornings (when it was often still dark) it would have warmed up by the afternoon and I'd have to go home carrying my coat and Wellies rather than wearing them as that would be too hot. Luckily my mum would still be at work so I could dump all of these surplus clothes and get out with my mates ... and just hope that it didn't snow the next day. I know that my mum was just trying to look after us but I think back then parents were a bit over-protective, maybe because of their own childhood experiences in the 30s and the war when many were short of adequate clothing, but I always looked forward to the Spring when I could just wear my blazer to school rather than a heavy and restricting coat.

Created: January 26, 2004
Last updated: January 26, 2004