Stormy Weather

Just as I began to think that a breeze and some sunshine were becoming the order of the day, typical St. Louis weather kicked in and yesterday was a not-so-wonderful 45 degrees and pouring rain all day. Wednesday afternoon was spent playing croquet on the campus lawn, and Thursday was spent shivering and wringing the water out of my mackintosh’s pocket linings. It is very tough to look, and more importantly feel, elegant and put together when it is windy and raining and you need to spend any amount of time outside. One big help: an umbrella you actually enjoy lugging around all day.

Personally, I got mine at the venerable James Smith & Sons, still housed in their Victorian store on New Oxford Street. Again, I will get a picture of my personal umbrella up as soon as my camera stops acting up, but I have the basic city gent’s umbrella with a walnut handle (and had a little plaque with my initials added ). Just knurled enough to not look machine processed, but still smooth and comfortable to hold. The confidence one feel’s knowing that the first small gust of wind isn’t going to result in an inverted canopy and a face full of water cannot be understated.

Also, if you have the opportunity to visit their store, it is gorgeous, and although the staff can be a bit stodgy, they are generally helpful and will accommodate whatever you need. Personally, I wanted my umbrella so have silver-finish fittings, and all they had in stock was brass-finish, so they politely polished the brass finish off in just a few moments, and you would never know it.

There is too much to say about umbrellas for one post, so I’ll save the sublimity of Swaine Adeney Brigg and the stick umbrella for later.

Walking along with my brolly held high, whilst others with their dollar-store contraptions got soaked, I would have normally been a bit too smug for my own good, but the wind kindly kept me almost as wet as everyone else. Thanks?