The coat that fell through the Rift...

[fajrdrako]

A few weeks ago I acquired a new coat from the laundry room. There's a place in the laundry room in my apartment building where people leave things they don't need or want any more - sometimes junk, sometimes wonderful and useful stuff. I've left many books and magazines down there.

So one day a few weeks ago someone left a coat, which I picked up. (The same thing had happened for maaboroshi a while before that.) It was fairly plain, dark blue, fit me well. I was pleased. A few days after that, I took advantage of having another coat to wear, to wash my somewhat-grubby Mountain Equipment Co-op down-filled coat. Not a bad idea, except that I threw it in the drier and it shrank. It still fits... sort of. It fits tightly enough to make me feel like Gargantuelle the Fat Woman¹ and not want to wear it.

So I've been wearing this new coat and was happy with it until today. In fact, I'd been wondering why someone got rid of it - it's comfortable, light, inelegant but not ugly - I concluded that they'd just got another, better coat, and didn't need it any more.

I realize today that they jettisoned it after a spell of cold, dry weather. Then we got a lot of damp weather, in which it was fine. (Waterproof, too.) Then today was cold and dry, and I discovered that the manmade material of the lining has a serious cling problem in cold, dry weather. A serious problem. I kept expecting some kid to say, "Mummy, why is that lady's coat trying to climb up her body and strangle her?"

Maybe spray-on anti-static stuff will help, but I suspect this is too much for any spray to cope with.

I do have another coat in my closest somewhere. Down-filled, safe, and it fits.

Pity, though. I liked the blue one.

~ ~ ~

¹ Which really I'm not - honest!

Comments

[cynonymous.livejournal.com]

You might try rubbing an unused fabric softener sheet (Bounce or equivalent) against the lining.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Very good idea - I'll try it. It can't do any harm, and might make a good bit of difference.

Thank you!

[order_of_chaos]

"Mummy, why is that lady's coat trying to climb up her body and strangle her?"
Alien plot-device. Every bit as likely as homicidal shop-window dummies (same blend of ridiculous and genuinely creepy that you get on Doctor Who), and slightly more likely to work.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Perhaps no one left it in our laundry room. Perhaps it teleported itself off its alien ship, making itself appear to be a simple coat by using its chameleon circuit, waiting for the innocent victim like me to come by and say, "Oh, look! A coat!"

Note:

So far, the coat is winning.

[order_of_chaos]

Mwahahahaha!!!

[rosiespark.livejournal.com]

Don't jettison it - just keep it for damp weather, when it's not dangerous. *g*

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Dare I ever trust it again?