I always pride myself in being prepared. England has defeated me.
Wait, let me back up here for a moment.
Yesterday, I bought three different jackets. This is on top of the hoodie I brought, the trenchcoat, and my 1970s tux jacket that I tend to wear as a blazer. I bought three jackets because England has Weather, and as a native Californian, I am unaccustomed to Weather. Also in my defense the weather absolutely faked me out: it started raining in California as I left, and when I got to London it felt like warm, mild California weather for the first few days. So, I thought, this will be fine. Then the weather changed, and we had bitingly cold wind which pierced through everything I had, regardless of how many (4!) layers I threw on.
So I spent most of yesterday going around to shops looking for the quickly-diminishing Warm Clothes. I now have three cardigans that I can put on over things. And I have a packable (backpacking friendly!) puffy down jacket. And a £8 Primark rain shell covered in a touristy print of London landmarks... and a navy blue leather moto style jacket.
That last one cost more than I expected (but a fraction of what it was worth), looks fabulous on me, and required a second trip by Underground, a walk from Hoxton to Oxford Circus, and a serious wrangle with an over-enthusiastic stock clerk who started to put the day-hold items back a full two hours before he should've. Seriously, after I put it on "thinking about it" hold, then raced back to get it, it was gone. It wasn't on the racks, and it wasn't on the hold pile, and it look a very nice cashier who recalled where it'd gone to retrieve it. Thank. God. The lady behind me fell afoul of the same issue, but made at least a fifteen minute tirade of it to the store manager; I was just happy enough to get my awesome jacket and get the heck out.
And then today dawned sunny and mild again, and I sort of wonder if I'm going to have a reason to use any of these jackets for a bit. Well, no, that's not true - I'm wearing the blue today. :P
Cardigans are great! Thermals, silk underwear or possibly some new fangled under layer also helps in cold climates. If snow type cold, I would wear under layer, turtleneck and thin yet warm sweater with a blazer. And have a wool overcoat, scarf, and knit hat for outdoors. Long underwear, though, was key.
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