Jumper to it

Roughly once a year the" reaching for the jumper " ritual begins. It lives in the darkest recess of my wardrobe. I have owned it for around 20 years but would guess 36 days in that time I have worn it. I have calculated this as there have to be very special conditions for wearing it.

Its mustard yellow, has deep pockets and is incredibly thick. That is the reason for limited wear, its so thick it needs to be seriously sub zero to wear it. In the uk that's once or twice a year, in Canada for Christmas a few years ago it was needed every day. When we landed in Canada it was around minus ten , with another ten windchill. The jumper allowed me to wear a t-shirt and the jumper and still to be cosy.

In fact it was so cold that the great lake that we were near froze a couple of times. The waves gradually slowed , got slower and stopped mid wave. It was quite a sight. We were a few miles from Niagra falls and spent some time there over the two weeks. In fact we saw the new year in at Niagra, a free concert and fireworks.

This was probably the coldest night of all of them, it snowed the whole evening. I brought one pint of beer and soon the froth on top froze. I like cold beer but this was too much. I ended up seeing new year in with coffee and hot chocolate. Numerous people went to a nearby resturant , partly to use the bathroom and partly to use the hand dryers to get circulation back in their face and hands.

The performer came on the main stage, and walked off. Then reappeared in hat, coat and scarf. He was Roger Hodgson, backed by a multi instrumentalist . Very bizarrely he played all the hits, stopped, got introduced on the live tv broadcast and then played them all again. Even weirder a tv star went to members of the crowd and asked what songs they wanted to hear. Luckily they wanted the exact songs, in the exact order he had first played them.

Back in the uk I used the jumper a couple of times while climbing the mountain at the end of my road. By the time I reached the top it was quite high and therefore cold. I would climb, rest and eat then head back. That came with its own problems, I walked up one year and wondered what I was feeling in my pocket. I discovered a sandwich wrapped in a sandwich bag. A sandwich I had made the previous year and was now pure black. Possibly with some interesting bits now grown on to it.

Back home I have to watch the weather forecast and see which day the super jumper can come out again. Any hint of snow or sub zero temperatures and it might come out of hibernation . maybe next years holiday will have to be the North Pole , so I can get some better use out of it. Its like the stuff you keep in a drawer or in your garden shed, "maybe one day I will need it"

Maybe I need to get some indoor fireworks and give it a special welcome from the darken corner where it exists. Its not quite save it for a rainy day, more save it for a snowy day and hope for cold winds as well for good measure. I recently retired, yesterday in fact, so I can maybe go on a few cold walks and remeber how snug it can be in the cold.