Jacket Envy

The title was going to be "Blob on the Blog" not my idea, it was dreamt up by Cathy & C on the way back from Sainsburys; in response to my declaring that I would take a photo of it for my blog.

I guess it had to happen at some stage, I'm just disappointed that it was probably because I lost focus. I have managed to pick up some excellent coats in sales over the years, ones with lots of handy little pockets for gadgets.

(Now I know that one can buy a range of jackets from that well known manufacturer, whose name escapes me at the moment but owners include (I think) both James Kendrick and Kevin Tofel of http://www.jkontherun.com. My problem is that the postage has always out weighed the cost of the items in sales.)

Yesterday we visited Windsor and came across a Tchibo store (www.tchibo.co.uk). Cathy went in first and was looking at jackets, I only popped in hoping to get another cheap 4-in-1 pen/stylus. After a scout around I wandered off in search of other shops. If only I had stayed and paid attention, I might have picked up a bargain jacket.

Cathy ended up with a Snow Gear jacket, as illustrated in the photo of her modelling it. Things about the jacket that really impressed me included: a passive avalanche detection system - radar reflective patches that can be picked up by detectors being used in a growing number of ski resorts; a wide range of pockets, that include one with a self-retracting ski-pass holder, an internal pocket for mp3 type player, with headphones hole to run cables inside the jacket (and avoid my usual problem of catching them on door handles and nearly ripping my ears off), pockets for mobile (cell) phone and for ski goggles, pocket with a microfibre cloth for wiping said googles; the jacket has a fleece inner that can be detached and, when turned inside out, can be worn as a jacket; I could go on but you get the picture.

It's a great jacket. So good in fact, I am contemplating heading up to Windsor on the way home on Tuesday to see if I can get one, though in a different colour (as I do have a problem going anywhere in matching clothes to Cathy - especially if they are mostly hers ;-0)

I wouldn't have thought about driving somewhere I have only visited twice before, and which is likely to be very busy, if it weren't for the marvellous power of TomTom. We had such a good journey up to Surrey from West Cornwall, not one disagreement over map and route, even with our trying a new route. I followed my mate T's route on the Axim with TomTom running and saw how it would reroute according to the shortcuts he took, the thing's a marvel, (though admittedly he knew the shortcuts for the time of day and TomTom didn't).