my nephew is going to college in chicago in the fall (yes nephew, i do have nephews who have actually o.r.d-ed from the army.) and i'd been giving him advice on surviving harsh winters, which included a bit about the invaluable down jacket: "[a really puffy down jacket] will make you look like an idiot in a space suit, but the vital thing is that you will keep warm, and for goodness sake, no one looks all that fashionable in winter. don't get vain about this; hypothermia blue isn't an attractive colour to be either." no sooner had i sent off my email than our yvonne came online and declared herself firmly on the side of the wool coats, and straight on hand with a scorching earful about hypocrisy, and i was forced to admit that, as a person who owns very many impractical wool coats of highly improbable and equally impractical colours, i could not (with any credibility) instruct my nephew to get himself a sensible black down jacket, and therefore had to write him again with an amendment to the effect that he might, if he so unwisely chose, obtain up to three wool coats of a fashionable nature, but that i begged to be discharged of any responsibility when it came to his physical welfare in winter (all the while hinting broadly at arm-twisting by yvonne -- in all fairness yvonne also concedes that when she wore wool coats she always had to carry an umbrella to keep the snow off, and i am sure no nephew of mine is going to twirl umbrellas through any damn blizzards.)