Tuesday, February 11, 2014

February is the Cruelest Month

Yes, Eliot said it was April, but truly, February is the cruelest month here in North Texas.

It has been wave after wave of sub-freezing, icy and snowy weather followed by a warm front with temperatures in the 70's.  And it has resulted in me having a terrible cold. And a cold in latex is a profoundly miserable experience.

When I have the sniffles and runny nose as I do with this cold, wearing an enclosing hood is messy at best and intolerable at worst. Sir has allowed me to wear an open face hood instead so that I may blow my little nose and try desperately to keep it clear. I am wearing a skinsuit as usual, but with the open faced hood (which actually looks quite nice...very hijab like as the skinsuit is black) Over that I have my usual dress, a red one yesterday and a black one today.

And, of course, if I venture out (to the mailbox has been this week's limit) I put one of the burqas over that.  The layers keep me warm in the freezing temperature and all is well from a cover point of view, but I notice that I miss the feel of an all enclosing hood or two quite seriously. I feel naked and exposed with my face hanging out like that.

To add to my discomfort, Sir is out of town this week and I am here alone with the cats and my cold. That poses a challenge as I must force myself to adhere to a rubber wear regimen eve tough I feel quite poorly. I confess yesterday I spent most of the day in bed, wrapped in the latex duvet, reading and blowing my nose. I did not get up and get dressed until well after noon. I longed to get up, put on a tight total enclosure catsuit, the tight rubber dress with a nice hobble skirt I got for Christmas, and slide into my thick, black burqa. But I simply did not have the energy. And the facial enclosure would have been a very bad idea.

Today, I feel a bit better and have arisen earlier, but I am still quite sniffly and my energy levels are low. I had some writing planned this week, more in my story about Katherine (see the confiningclothing group on Yahoo) but I think this post is about all I can manage.

I mentioned our mailbox above. Week before last Sir was also out of town and I had to collect the mail. Our box is at the top of the front yard about 50 yards (45 meters) from the front door. It was cold, drizzly, with the remains of an almost snow (more frost) on the grass. I had slipped on my new purple burqa over a purple dress and lavender skinsuit and finished off with black rubber boots and gloves. Nothing special, just my normal around the house attire plus the burqa. That day I was not gagged although I was wearing a second hood under the burqa. It is purple too, matching the dress.

I had walked up to the mailbox and was fishing around for the mail inside when a local police car (an SUV actually) pulled up and a female officer asked to speak to me. I turned around and could easily see she was somewhat disconcerted by the appearance of a purple rubber burqa, black gloved hands holding a stack of mail and adverts. I said hello and asked how I could help her.

She first introduced herself an explained she was a liaison officer looking in on our elderly neighbor next door. she wanted to know if I had noticed anything unusual in his behaviour lately. I told her no, but that my husband and I seldom saw him. We had noticed that he had not been out mowing or gardening as much but thought we were probably just missing him.

She explained that he had been ill and had undergone some behavioural changes, being angry and suspicious of people. I told her we had noticed nothing unusual. I was about to bid her a good day and get back into the house when she finally came out with, "are you okay?"

I told her that yes, I was fine. She then wanted to know about the burqa, the rubber, why was I "dressed like that?"

I explained that I always dressed like this when out in public; that I did not show my face. She seemed to take that explanation in stride but asked if the burqa was rubber. I said that it was and she wanted to know why I was wearing a rubber burqa. I told her it was warm and kept me dry. We chatted a bit about other things, her job, the neighborhood, the weather.  But she finally steered the conversation back around to me. It was obvious she was curious and concerned a bit as well.

Finally, she asked if I or my husband were muslim (I'd been waiting for that one) and I explained that no, we were not. Then she wanted to know why, if we were not muslim, I was wearing the burqa. I explained that it was a 'sex thing' between me and my husband and that I always wore rubber and always covered in public. I laughingly mentioned that she was lucky I was not gagged that day as I usually was when in public.

"So it's a fetish thing, then," she asked, "like 50 Shades of Grey?"

I told her that yes, it was a "fetish thing" between me and my husband and that she should not worry, it was just our way. Finally, she seemed mollified with my explanation, and we said our goodbyes and she drove off. She did offer the obligatory thought that being hooded and gagged in public was possibly dangerous and cautioned me to be careful, but seemed to be reassured by my attitude that I was neither a prisoner nor an insane person. I explained that I had been dressing this way for many years, including time spent living in Ireland. I decided to not mention that I flew dressed in rubber burqa as that would prompt a whole new set of queries and I was getting cold ... the temperature was still hovering around freezing.

What I have noticed since, however, is that when she makes her visits next door about every 10 days or so to be sure our neighbor and his wife are OK, she stops in front of our house for a while and just waits. I am not sure what she is expecting, but when it is a bit warmer, I shall probably go out and say hello again. Maybe I will invite her in next time.

Our neighbors, of course, have seen me and grown used to my dress and to Sir's as he wears his latex in the yard quite often. I daresay she has quizzed them and I can only surmise what they have told her.

I feel a bit better now and my nose is a bit less runny. I think I shall go have a nice warm liquid lunch ... soup or maybe chili ... then a lie down.

Regards
Lady