Sunday, February 27, 2005

Another Reason to Mask

I've obviously been interested in the implications of covering your face in public. I did some research and just came across this by Christopher Slobogin, the Stephen C. O'Connell Professor of Law, University of Florida Fredric G. Levin College of Law.

In London, police say that every worker or shopper is caught on
at least 300 cameras every day.


[In the United States] the security
industry estimates that more than 2 million surveillance
cameras are in use across the country. In Manhattan in 1998,
volunteers counted 2,400 electronic eyes in public places used to
catch everything from red-light runners at traffic intersections,
shoplifters outside grocery and department stores, and drug
sellers loitering near lampposts.

©2002

and the correlated quote:
There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being
watched at any given moment. GEORGE ORWELL, 1984.3

His full paper can be found at: http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/law_school/ruleoflaw/pdf/LJournal02Slobog.pdf

One can imagine that out of a desire to protect our privacy, more and more people choose to hide their faces in public whether by vailes, hoods, or masks of some variety. While it is illegal in some countries, it may become popular enough that laws are forced to change.

So maybe we rubberists that enjoy masks and hoods are the vanguard in a new privacy movement...wouldn't that be an intersting turn of the screw?

Regards

Lady

Tuesday, February 22, 2005

Thursday, February 17, 2005

UK Adventures...London...weekend shopping

As promised, here are some more tales of our recent trip to London.

When we returned to London from Bath it was cold and windy. Again, taking the taxi from Paddington to our hotel was no problem and we had no issues checking in. The hotel we stay at is quite used to having Saudis and their wives as well as a wide variety of other world travellers. We were shown to our suite and I spent the rest of the evening in until supper time.

Sir went out for a while and when he came back in he presented me with a wonderful gift! I now have a second burqa in latex...this one is WHITE! It absolutely glows it is so pretty. It is not that off white color of some latex, but the more recent bluey white shimmering color. It ifts like a dream, being a little extra large to accomodate hoods on my face underneath it. The black one has always been a bit tight over more than one hood.

I was dressed for the evening and we went out on Regent street at dinnertime and wandered a bit. It was chill for Sir, with the wind. He was in a pair of latex slacks, a rubber turtleneck and blazer under a heavy leather trench. I, in my layers of latex, was very warm after the initial tempreature adjustment. Those of you who wear rubber a lot know what I mean...that sudden shift when rubber changes temperature and has to warm back up to body temp.

I was wearing my transparent skinsuit, a corset and a pair of stockings, a black, hooded full enclosure catsuit over that, and a long flowing black dress with built in hood and gloves. Knee boots in black as well. Then the new burqa went on over all that. So I had on 5 layers of rubber in some cases...yes, I was warm.

We hailed a cab and climbed in...it is not easy to get into a London cab gracefully with all the layers and with the retrictive catsuits...but I think I managed. Sir had made reservations at a very elegant restaurant that caters to Saudis in particular. The maitre De didn't bat an eye when a man and his white flowing ghost came wandering in the door.

As I said, the retaurant caters to islamic diners, particularly saudis. This meant that I was able to sit on the floor on a beautiful soft cushion next to him while he ate and no one gave me a second glance...well, at least not a third glance...I think the bright white rubber burqa did catch a few eyes. :)

There was a man sitting with his two wives, both in full muslim cover (niqabs, not burqas). They were also sitting on floor cushions next to him. When he stood up to leave, he gave Sir a smile and bowed slightly. Sir was absolutely thrilled later. He was obviously being complimented on his wife! (At least that's how he took it...I giggled under my hoods).

We cabbed it back to the hotel and went to bed. The next morning (Sat), Sir ordered us breakfast in bed and we just spent the morning goofing around. But about noon, I was dressed again, without the second catsuit and in a dress that has no hood or gloves (had to wear separate ones). I put on the black burqa and we went out shopping along Bond street and Oxford street.

Nothing special happened. The seas of people parted to let us pass, the shopkeepers treated us properly, and we saw several other ladies in full muslim dress up near Marble Arch. We also went round to the V&A and to the National Gallery. idn't buy much...the dollar is so poor right now that it even the cheap stores on Oxford were more expensive than we could warrant after the exchange rate.

We had a moment when one of the staff in the national gallery asked me if there was anything special I wanted to see. It was about to be a bit wierd since I couldn't speak under the latex. But Sir stepped in and answered her for me and all was well. It is still amazing to me how much communication can be acocmplished when you are gagged. Simple gestures and head movements communicate wonderfully. I know Dark has suggested that I am essentially in some sort of isolation now since I never speak to anyone but Sir...but i don't feel isolated. I feel quite connected and able to carry on my life just fine.

We were caught out in a rainstorm Saturday afternoon, but no worries for us. I was about as waterproof as possible and sir was OK...but the wind was terrible. I was very glad that 1) My burqa is closed and over the head and 2) that Sir has a strng grip. I very nearly took flight as we pased some of the cross streets walking down Piccadilly.

saturday evening we went over to the London flat of some friends and had a wonderful dinner. They had not heard of my latest obsession and were quite taken with the idea of me in total bondage and silence wandering the streets of London. I was back in the white burqa for the evening. They are quite a kinky pair in their own right...we sat around, me in silence, of course, and they chatted with Sir. Later, we went into their playroom for a while. It was fun and we got back to the hotel about 3am.

Think I will close here for a while.
Regards
Lady

Monday, February 14, 2005

UK Adventures...The city of Bath

As promised, here are some details of our travels in the UK.

First, we were in Bath for the week. Sir's meetings took all day there and I was confined to the hotel room. No special reason, just that he felt I should stay in, in some light bondage, and remain covered.

The actual rule was that I was to remain in the hotel room, in full cover, until the maid had come in to clean. After that, I could remove the burqa if I chose, but was to stay dressed as usual. If I chose to leave the room, I was to wear the burqa and stay within the confines of the hotel. he did not want me on the street alone.

The first day I did this, Wednesday (because we arrived Tuesday evening), I am afraid the maid had quite a shock when she entered. I was sitting on the setee with my shroud covering me completely. I was gagged underneath it and could not have spoken to her even if I had been so inclined. When she first saw me, she was startled and I think it took her a few minutes to decide I was 'real'. She told me she was going to clean the room and I just sort of nodded to her to go ahead.

Subsequent days, I had the same maid and she seemed to get used to this black rubber blob sitting on the sofa, comepltely curled up, just waiting for her to make up the room. She said good morning to me each day and finally got to the point where she would give me a 'have anice day' as she left.

I kinow I became the talk of housekeeping because each day it seemed a different pair of maids would wander in to ask if she needed any help...while watching me like hawks.

Each day after she left, I put the Do Not Disturb sign on the door and usually spent the rest of the morning and lunch time reseting, reading, watching TV. I found that I felt more comfortable with the burqa on for a couple of reasons. First, I wanted to be sure and be covered (as I had on some heavyfetish hoods and other gear under the burqa) should someone ignore th eDND sign and second, I just felt more comfortable. It really is getting to be my garment of choice for lounging.

After lunch time, I did go down to the lobby a couple of days and just sat there reading. More to get out of the room than anything else. This, of course, raised eyebrows the first time, but after a while the staff and even the guests seemed to just accpet that there was a black crow reading the newspaper in their lobby

I was not allowed to eat lunch, of course, and had to wait for supper with Sir when he returned each evening. He ordered us a nice breakfast each morning ... on Thursday I had to sign for it ... and I had a bowl of fruti i could nibble on during the day. But i can't eat in public because the rule is that i must be gagged in public...so lunch was make do in the room and wait.

Supper was much the same except he came back to the hotel, we entertained ourselves a bit, and then went out. I always wore something different for dinner...usually a hobble dress or hobble skirt. let me tell you that Bath is NOT the city to walk around in a hobble skirt and heels with limited sight!

Again, I was not able to eat, but I sat on the floor next to him at one place and sat in chairs across from him at the others.

I will continue this in a few hours. They are calling our flight now.

Regards
Lady

Tuesday, February 08, 2005

Travels Continued ... Arrival

Just off the plane in London and thought I would report my experiences. writin gthis on a moving train, so it might be a bit poorly spelled. But I am getting more and more used to doing everythng in my gloves now, so maybe not. BTW, the laptop is mine (I've had questions). Sir and I have his and her laptops and, in repsonse to some of the questions I've recieved, he not only allows me to post these missives, he has required me to do so. I am also allowed to IM and email people, but I am not allowed to speak to anyone vocally, in public.

I spent most of the 9 hour flight relaxing and sleeping. After we fot on boardthe plane I was seated in an aisle seat in the center section of two seats in Business Class. Sir was in the set next to me, of course. We had a middle row, Row 4. There was no First class on this flight...just business and coach.

This meant that I was somewhat exposed to people getting on the plane and moving up and down the aisle, but it was not much of a problem. I sat down and fastened my seat belt over the burqa. I had a few odd stares as people boarded seeing a woman compeltely shrouded, reading a novel.

The flight attendant asked if I wanted orange juice or champagne, and I simply shook my head. That was about the extent of my interactions. After we took off, I read for another hour or so, then decided it was time for bed.

It is amazing how much communication with flight attendants is on the order of yes/no queries. Consequently, being a burqa'd woman who does not speak poses little or no problem.

Did I want a hot towel? Shake of the head
Did I want a DVD player? Shake of the head
Did I want dinner? Shake of the head
Did I want breakfast before landing? Shake of the head
Did I want a bottle of water? Nod of the head (so I would have it if I desperately needed to drink)

I think, finally, the flight attnedants got the idea that I was not speaking for some reason and they decided to leave me alone. After a bit more reading, I reclined my seat, raised the footrest, and reached under my burqa and pulled a second thin rubber veil down from where it sits on the inside of the burqa's headpiece. This veil just covers my eyes and prevents me from seeing, but does not interfere with my breathing through the eyescreen.

I drifted off to sleep and Sir indicated that I snored only a little bit for the next few hours.

As we were getting into London, Sir woke me up, I sat up and reached under the burqa nad raised my eye veil. I noticed the woman sitting across from me staring and smiled at her as much as possible, but I don't think she could see through the perforated screen.

What I did notice is that I MUCH prefer flying in a loose skirted dress like I have in the past as compared to the hobble dress I have on now. I was (and currently am) not very comfortable.
The dress is so tight that I cannot move my legs very much and after several hours on the plane, they are a bit sore and stiff.

I was very thirsty and would have liked to swap hoods and taken a drink, but we were close to landing and when I indicated the bottle of water i had acquired at take off, Sir just shook his head and told me i could wait until we were past customs.

We deplaned, attracting some stares from the ground crew and headed for passport control. Sir had filled out our landing cards, but we did not know if I would be required to show my face, so we stopped at a ladies restroom and I removed the gag hood I'd worn all night. The open faced hood was under it. I also took the opportunity to down a LOT of water and to empty my bladder as well. We decided not to try having me catheterized on this trip, so I was ready to pee!

At passport control, we both went to the desk and Sir showed our passports and explained that
I was not allowed to show my face in public. The woman at the desk nodded like she had this happen all the time and signalled another woman to come over. I was led off to a private room, lifted my burqa, and the woman glanced at me and my passport and then let me cover again.

We walked through customs Nothing to Declare without stopping. two agents glanced at us a bit, but there were two other women in black abayas and niqabs going through as well and the customs people seemed much more concerned with the large number of people from Jamaica that had arrived about the same time.

I DID notice the two niqabis looking my way and talking to each other, but they did not approach us.

Sir escorted me to the ladies where I went in and put the hood on with the small mouthhole. then, we went to a restaurant in the airport and had a bite to eat while waiting for our train.

We've had lots of stares on the platforms (we've had to change trains once) but no one has said anyhting. Sir got first class tickets and the conductor took both of them from him and punched them without ever looking directly at me. I think I have become invisible.
we are almost at our destination now and will shortly head for the hotel. I am not overly tired, but would like to get a bit more rest before tomorrow.

So I will close here. Once more, we have demonstrated that you can travel covered completely in latex if you have a mind to...and someone who plans these things out as well as Sir does.
Regards
Lady

Monday, February 07, 2005

Travel to London..Burqa'd, Bound, and Gagged

Well, here I am sitting in the airport waiting to board a plane to London.
We went to the San Jose airport this morning and I was covered in the usual manner. That is, I was in a full rubber dress (very tight and hobbling today) with an open faced hood on. So my face was uncovered for the first time in over a month.

This morning I put the open faced hood on with a transparent catsuit after my bath. The only difference was that I didn't have a hood on the catsuit and I had the open faced one pulled on my head after my hair was dried.

Then I put the hobble dress on as per Sir's orders. My boots are knee high under it...black rubber and with about 5 inch heels, but that's normal.

The only other undergarment is my usual corset..this time a black one that serves as my bra as well...no stockings or other undergarments.

The catsuit has the usual attached gloves and feet...it is just missing its hood
Over the dress, I pulled on the burqa so that I could show my face for a momnet to the security check point woman at SJC.

We got to the airport two hours early and Sir checked us in. The airline peple escorted me into a little room and I showed my face to her for just a moment. she checked it against my passport photo and smiled and nodded. hse didn't mention the fact that the open faced hood was rubber.
It wasn't the same woman as before, but she was quite friendly. She escorted me through the security line and Sir met me just before we had to be checked through the metal detectors.
Some of the TSA people must have been the same as when I flew to San Diego because one of them smiled and said, "Good to see you again". Of course that was just before she also told me I had been selected for additional screening.

They did make me take off my boots, but no one seemed put off by the fact that I was in latex stockings (as far as they knew) underneath. They wanded me, but did not go through any hand luggage because Sir had all of it and they didn't do any extra check on him!

I had to show my boarding pass twice, of course, but again, no one asked for my ID again.
We went straight to the Airline lounge, then I went to the ladies room and took the burqa off for a moment to put on a full face hood over the open faced one. This one had no mouth, so I was gagged the whole flight from SJC to DFW. You can't imagine the sensations of getting on an airplane, covered in multiple layers of latex, gagged and hooded, booted and gloved, and then settling into my window seat in First Class and just shivering with both fear and excitement. It is a recipe for arousal if there ever was one :)

I was not served lunch, of course, and the flight was uneventful. I think the flight attendant was a bit surprised when I pulled out a Patricia Cornwell murder mystery to read, but everyone maintained their professional demeanor.

Now we have landed in Dallas and are waiting in the airline lounge until our flight to London boards. We have a long layover here, so Sir has allowed me to change the gagging mask for one with a very small mouth hole so we can have dinner. I really couldn't talk in this hood either, even if I wanted to, so I remain, for all intents and purposes, gagged.

My dinner, as usual, was liquid. He ate a steak dinner while I had a milkshake and a can of Ensure, which I drank with a straw while holding it up under my Burqa. He ordered the shake for me and was carrying the bottle of liquid nutrient solution (which is quite tasty, actually) in his carryon.

After dinner, we returned to the lounge and I changed the mouthhole hood for the mouthless hood again (I am amazed that these hoods Sir carries in his hand luggage are not subject for query by security...but he says he just wads them up so they don't look like a mask or hood on the X-Ray.

Now I am ready to board the plane. I presume I will not be allowed to eat or drink on the flight...10 hours...but it is OK...I am used to long periods of gagging and lack of liquid. Sir says that If I become very distressed he will let me switch to the other mask to drink something, but I don't think I'll need it.

Actually, it's an overnight flight and I plan on pulling the inside veil in my burqa over my eyes as soon as we board and just sleeping the whole flight. I find this ability to blindfold myself and to just drift away into my own little rubber world so relaxing that I doubt I will be aware of anything during our flight.

I wonder what London Customs will do with me? We always go thru nothing to declare, so I am hoping to have no problems.

Regards
Lady.

Tuesday, February 01, 2005

One Month of Living in latex

Today marks one complete month that I have been covered in latex 24/7.

So far, so good. The rash has not returned and I am still quite comfortable in following the protocol sir has laid out. he returned a few days ago from his trip and I was happy to report that I had no problems other than the minor issue of the rash on my back.

I now venture out in public anytime I feel a need to and no longer worry how people will view me in my ruber burqa. I have not had any negative experiences.

But this month promises to be a bit of a trial. My parents are coming to visit and I will have to deal with their reactions to this new lifestyle. THAT should be interesting. as I've said before, they know I wear rubber street wear and have seen me in a variety of rubber clothes...but not in a full enclosure skin suit and not in a rubber burqa.

Nothing more to report currently. Life and latex continue as usual. Sir has begun talking about gagging me for an entire month, but I THINK he's just joking ... :)

regards
Lady