It’s 34 degrees outside. I’m wearing a T-shirt. My coat is tucked away in my closet, where it spent most of last winter and will likely spend most of this winter. Let me tell you why.
My house has a very efficient heater. So does my office. So does my car. I never spend more than 30-45 seconds, TOPS, outside in the winter.
Furthermore, I am a large man; in fact, I’m pushing 300 pounds (thought I’ve lost close to 50 pounds in the last nine or so months ). I wear loose-fitting clothes that I find comfortable. Long sleeves, sweatshirts, sweaters, and similar garments do not flatter me and are also uncomfortable. Also, I drive a rather small car.
Simply put, I find that the 30-45 seconds of discomfort I feel when I’m outside when walking from a warm place (for example, my car) to another warm place (for example, my office) is worth it compared to all the discomfort I would feel trying to drive in a bulky coat, or that I would feel in general wearing winter clothes.
So to my coworkers, my boss, my clients, my parents, and all the other people who keep asking me “Where’s your coat :eek:?”: It’s at home in my closet.
I’m the same way. I have a winter birthday, and I finally had to tell my family to stop getting me long-sleeved shirts. Nice as they are, I just don’t wear them, because I get overheated indoors wearing them.
I refuse to break out my coat until there’s at least a foot of snow on the ground, and even then it’s just a light jacket.
[chaneling mom]
Please at least keep a coat or blanket in the backseat in case your car breaks down on the freeway or something like that. It could be quite a ways to walk and/or quite a while until someone comes to get you…especially if it’s icy or snowy.
[/mom]
Yup, I get that all the time too. “Oh my god, you didn’t bring a jacket?” “Well, I didn’t expect to spend more than a few seconds outside, so no.”
This once bit me on the ass, though: my family and I were driving from Colorado to New Mexico, in two vehicles, in the middle of winter (snowing and everything. I wore a T-shirt and shorts, because I expected to spend the whole trip in the car, and in that case, who cares. Except that Dad decided to stop for breakfast (I thought they ate before we left home). So, I get to hang out in this crowded diner, as heavy snow fell outside, in a T-shirt and shorts. Thanks, Dad.
I wear t-shirts perennially, and wear shorts up until early/mid November. I only wear a jacket (not even a coat) if it’s really snowing big. I just like the cold (40° F with t-shirt and shorts is nothing to me); it’s not because I expect to spend little-to-no time outside. I’m officially considered a lunatic here on campus. That or a freak of nature.
I second snermy’s comment. As long as you have access to the proper warm clothing in case there is an emergency (tucked in the back seat is fine) then I don’t know what people are all worried about.
I probably should take my own advice. I am currently exiled in an area that gets snow (I detest it) and while I have an extra blanket and coat in the back seat of the car, I tend to wear Birkenstock sandals (with socks in winter), all year round. (Except when it is really wet and snowy outside.) I need to have some real shoes tucked away somewhere in my car as well, “just in case”.
I am cold-tolerant. I think 40F is just perfect and 50F is absolutely toasty. I can easily stand 30F in shorts and a tee-shirt, no matter what you may think. Once it gets down to the 20s I’ll put on jeans and a coat, but the heavy stuff can wait for the 10s and the sub-0s.
I’m fine outside, but I have a request: Give the heaters a rest! 60 is warm enough! Pushing frikkin 80F is going to make me uncomfortable and wishing I was outside. I use more antipersperant now, because I’m constantly walking into hothouse buildings on perfectly-cooled days, than I do in the summer. Once my body is acclimated to 30F it does not want to be jolted up to 79F, so it sweats profusely to compensate for your hyperactive heaters! GAAH!
Feynn: Kill me? I don’t think so. It’s above freezing, anyway. I’ve walked a good ways at that temperature dressed in shorts and tee-shirt. Maybe I haven’t been exposed long enough, or you have your temperatures mixed somehow.
It doesn’t feel bitterly cold to me until it gets down in the 20s. Bitterly cold is different from cool or chilled, and you feel the difference in your top few layers of skin. brr
I just moved from Fairbanks, Alaska to Boise, Idaho I must say the weather is much warmer and not warranting of a jacket to my Alaskan sensibilities, and that even when standing in the bleachers to watch a High school Football game. (Of course it’s warmed up since the football game, tis a pleasant 50ish degrees during the day as opposed to the 40-30 during the game.)
In fact when it got to –40 in Alaska I’d only climb into the car wearing a flimsy flannel jacket, or if the car has been significantly warmed up I forgo the jacket. Of course there are several sleeping bags in the trunk and a cell phone in the glove compartment so it’s not quite as suicidal as it sounds.
Ditto on what most people are posting here…I don’t need a coat to wait for the bus or walk to the car, etc. It’s too much hassle and too much bulk.
Anyway, here in the balmy DC metro area, I’ve noticed that a lot of people wearing down parkas, gloves and hats when it’s 50-something degrees out! WTF!
I lived in Minnesota for two years. Never wore anything heavier than a knit jacket and hood.
My fan is still running in my room. It was in my open window until other people in the house complained about the cold seeping out my door. I can’t sleep well if it’s warmer than about 55 degrees F in my room.
I don’t mind the cold in winter. Not at all. It’s the snow and ice I mind.
I’m with ya. I am pretty cold-insensitive, too. The thing that bugs me is that it’s really hard to find short-sleeve shirts in the fall and winter. My preferred winter attire is a light sweater with a t-shirt (one of the feminine-ish ones) underneath. That way, I can wear the sweater outdoors or indoors if is cool enough, and take off the sweater in most indoor situations. A long-sleeve shirt would be too hot under the sweater. I rarely wear a coat, and if I do, it’s just a shell-jacket.
The Beansprout also doesn’t like to be bundled up. It’s kind of funny. People are always commenting on my “happy baby,” and wondering why theirs is fussy by comparison. Meanwhile, it’ll be 50 degrees out and their kid will have a snowsuit and a fleece hat on. Newsflash! Your baby is BOILING HOT!
Oh, and I’d like to add one more thing: To the people (including my mother) who are constantly asking me “Aren’t you cooooolllld???” The answer is “no.”
). I wear loose-fitting clothes that I find comfortable. Long sleeves, sweatshirts, sweaters, and similar garments do not flatter me and are also uncomfortable. Also, I drive a rather small car.