By special request..... The coat

This is my coat. It is very warm indeed - being made of wool cashmere angora. I have had it since I worked at the Reader's Digest, seventeen years ago, which leads me to believe that wool cashmere angora is very reliable. I have also just realised that I have never had it dry cleaned - which is absolutely disgusting. This coat has lived in Surrey and Devon: two fine counties. You see the bag in the picture: I have still got that too - and take it to work with me every day. Mulberry. Which will mean nothing to Dr Rob - but believe me, still gives me a little thrill, because it is about as extravagant as I have ever been with a bag.
One fine feature of my coat is its pockets and the versatility that they bring. You can keep so much in them. Including small cats and hamsters (although not together of course - that would be cruel, and then you would need to visit the dry cleaner). When your hands are in the pockets, you can wrap the coat really tightly around you to make you feel quite thin. Alternatively, you can just swish along with the fullness of the cut creating a sort of big blob shape.

My friend Linda just looks at my coat and says "Lost Encounters" in a dreamy kind of voice. I don't know what she is talking about because I am simple.

In this shot, I am standing outside the University of Rovaniemi in Finland. On this particular jaunt, I wore my coat in minus 43 degrees (not sure what sort of degrees because I failed Physics O'level as well as French). Needless to say, my trusty coat was a real boon in these extreme temperatures and my nose felt very sticky inside.

Here I am, having removed my coat in minus 43 degrees and adorned instead a rubber floating suit. You can see me floating in the gap in the sea ice, made by the arctic icebreaker that we were journeying on!

Of course, travelling on the only passenger-carrying icebreaker in the Arctic, and floating in the Baltic was remarkable... but not as cool as this:

I describe it as skidooing in a fairy tale. Martin and I were allowed off-track into the meadows where the powder was three feet deep. I had to be dug out three times - but it didn't stop me enjoying myself. Here I am being dug out:

See how the instructor is up to his bottom in white stuff.

Anyway... I have rambled away from the detail of my magnificent coat - but have realised in the process just how worth every penny it has been. So Dr Joolz, thank you for the prompt, and what is more, thank you for the whole wondrous coat conversations altogether.