Now that it’s the end of summer, I’ve been looking online for a new coat. My current one is creamy white and puffy, but it’s also kind of beat up and stained after five years of roughing it in the winter wilderness. I like to lean on stuff while waiting for the public bus, and washing the coat is a little bit of an ordeal because it has to go in the dryer with three clean tennis balls that act as little beaters and fluffers for the downy feathers inside. This is what the label actually says to do, so I do it, but I feel like I’m knocking around actual ducks in there and it gives me a strange sensation.
So I think I’m going to opt for a new color and style this year, and keep my current coat for backup. I’m not really familiar with the current choices though, because it’s summer, and also, here in a college town everybody and their frat brother wears rain jackets from The North Face that have names like “Bionic” and “Mammatus.” Mammatus is the name of those weird clouds, isn’t it?
Truthfully, I guess a rain jacket would be a better investment than the cropped wool ones with multiple buttons that I usually covet because wool, while stylish, is a bear when it’s wet. I mean, a sheep. It really smells like a sheep when it’s wet.