Autumn in Lund means one thing: rain. Time to bring out the gum boots, also known as Lund dancing shoes.
It is always something I laugh about up here. In most places, when you go to someone’s house, everyone takes off their coat and shoes at the door. Something peculiar happens here in the rainy season though, which is the majority of the year. Lund is the only place I have ever lived where, when visiting, people take off their coat, boots and pants.
This is not just a joke about 1970’s hippies and their naked potlucks. Loungewear in Lund, I have noticed, usually consists of a woolly sweater and whatever tights, long underwear or second pair of pants that were worn under the wet pants upon entry.
I used to tease my friends about it, calling it the Lund uniform. But I do it too now and it makes a lot of sense.
Most of us out here have muddy driveways and dirt roads, and even if you have an inside job most of the time, there are still basic chores like firewood that will make people muddy and dirty from the knees down, or worse.
Leaving the dirt outside means leaving the pants out there too, at least the outer layer. I have become so used to everybody hanging around in their second-to-the-outside sweater and long underwear that I do not even notice anymore. Fashionistas would be horrified.
It is partly that the best way to stay warm when life inevitably involves being outside in the rain is to wear as many layers as possible, preferably wool since it keeps you warm even when wet.
Jeans are a disaster, since cotton loses all its insulating capacity when it becomes even the slightest bit wet. And synthetic rain gear? Forget it. Fine if you’re walking around, but blackberries and salmonberry thickets eat that stuff for breakfast. It does not keep rain out when it is full of holes.
Woolly under-layers keep their wearers warm, while the top layer keeps the dirt out. This is great when working, but not so great when sitting on a neighbour’s couch. Easy solution: take your pants off.
It is actually one of the things I love best about this community. Nobody pays any attention to what anybody else looks like and being in grubby clothes is never a reason not to visit with neighbours.
It is a relief to not have to stop and think about what you look like and for clothes (and people) to be valued for comfort and practicality instead of fashion value.
The biggest danger is forgetting you are in Lund clothes and going into town like that. Then again, maybe everyone would be better off if the look of our clothes mattered a whole lot less.
