Wednesday 22 December 2010

Temperate thoughts.

I recently ventured out in the cold clothed in several layers consisting of a short sleeved t-shirt, a long sleeved t-shirt, a sweatshirt, a fleece and finally my fleece lined outer coat. On my feet I had two pairs of socks and some warm fleece line boots. On my head, in order to help contain any heat therein , my knitted hat.  On my hands a pair of gloves. Despite the multitude of layers I still ended up shivering. The cold was biting into my cheeks and face and was slowly seeping through all those layers to my skin, and then my bones.

As we quickly made our way to the bus station on our way home a young man passed by. On his feet, some sneaker type shoes. A pair of jeans hanging down around his torso as if ready to part company from his thin wiry frame and fall to the floor. I spied some bare flesh at the knees through those tears that seem all the rage in jeans these days. Above the low slung jeans and the peeping undergarments, he wore a thin sweatshirt with a hood.  The hood was not atop his head which was bare and uncovered. 

Admittedly he was walking by fairly quickly, more quickly than I can move these days, but I must confess to wondering how the young can get away with dressing as if we are in the middle of summer with the sun streaming down and all the warmth that brings, in such low temperatures and not seem to feel it at all, whilst I with my layer upon layer of clothing end up in some frozen through state?

Casting my mind back ( or trying to) to when I was that age, was I able to venture out in thin clothes in the depths of winter and not feel the cold? Could I leave the house in a thin dress or coatless in those days of carefree jaunts either with friends or a boyfriend?  I can vaguely remember coming out of our local coffee bar and then feeling faint because I had gone from those warm surroundings into the bitter cold of the night. I didn’t faint as it happened because I’m not the fainting sort, I have never fainted in my whole life,  but the resulting horrid feeling that you endure without losing consciousness can be far worse I feel, but I digress.

I simply don’t understand why as you age and get older, the cold simply ‘soaks’ itself into your very being like water soaking into blotting paper, penetrating all those layers of clothing and then through skin to bone and into your very soul. It takes so long for me to return to some sort of temperature normality after returning home because it has penetrated right through to my inner being.  Perhaps when young you can retain heat better or are warmer blooded than when you are older or maybe you simply cope with it better or  are just thicker skinned.  I ponder this enigma every year. Sad I know.

TG

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5 comments:

  1. I remember wearing a mini skirt and short sleeved top, when I was young, in the winter but it was all topped off with a maxi coat of pure wool. These days, T.G. I go about multi layered as you do and still feel cold.

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  2. I know just what you mean, too. Now for me, I'm hot natured, but all of my friends turn up the heat hotter and hotter every year. The ones that used to go without coats or go outside in the snow with only a jacket are now bundled up to look like 500 lbs. Amazing. These same gals won't even come over to my house in the winter because they say I keep it too cold. Ok, I'm the weird one, I guess, but you're right, the older people get, the colder they feel. I don't know why at all.
    XOXOXO

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  3. Laura always seemed under dressed for cold weather but then she's like me and isn't bothered by the cold while her mother is dragging out the flannel nightgowns if the temperature drops below 65F(18C).

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  4. My time in the tropics has pretty much taken a devastating toll on my ability to tolerate cold very well thus when it's winter I use my little heating pad on my feet often while at the computer. Fashion is another matter...I don't know if I'll ever get the fashions of today for the most part...I figure that's how it is...we can consider it getting old or finally finding some wisdom!

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  5. Penny is it simply that as we get older we feel it more?
    Jenny you are very lucky then to be 'hot blooded' and not feel it that cold seeping into you.

    Rocket Man, you have summed up the differences in us very well. I'm with the flannel nightgowns. In fact, I often sleep in my dressing gown if its really cold.
    Joe, I don't even have being in the tropics as my excuse. I do remember going into my fathers bungalow and it being like some kind of hothouse in winter as he aged, and I agree about the wisdom thing! ( as I often have told my children!)

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