Cloakroom Inventory

Though I don't know who you might be dear reader, I'd be willing to make a small wager, say ten bucks, that the most crowed room in your house is the closet near the front door where you keep your outside coats.  Despite all the fretting  by the President over our condition, we middle class Americans do have quite an abundance of stuff.  It is stuff we have been building up for generations,  but the build up really took off in the 80's when the ascendance of Reagan conservatism obliterated any slight embarrassment one might have felt about his or her stock of goods when John Kennedy or Jimmy Carter was President.  The remarkable multiplication of our recreational activities over the last 30 years has also added to our sense of what we need to have somewhere in the house.  Especially if you live in one of those humble dwellings built before 1980, I bet your front closet is packed.

This came to mind with the recent acquisition of a winter coat by my good wife.  It is said to be a replacement for another that has become obsolete.  However the old coat does not appear to be on its way out.  It certainly is still hanging there on the pole, crushed between a lot of like members.  Our daughter called recently to report that it is growing cold in Virginia and she cannot find the blanket-like thing she puts on her two year old to take him in the stroller.  She wondered if she had left it here after her last visit.  The ensuing search took me to our front closet.  It wasn't really necessary to empty the whole thing to know the missing item was not there, but I just got curious.  Here is the data.

Total number of garments: 41, 13 men's and 28 women's, consisting of 8 scarves, 15 vests and fleeces, 5 parkas, 3 light jackets, 2 mid weight jackets, 2 full length raincoats, 2 heavy wool coats, and 3 cycling jackets.  Stacked in a pile they rise to about 24 inches.  There is also a basket holding 25 hats, 4 pairs of rain pants, 12 pairs of gloves, 3 singleton gloves and 1 set of ear muffs.  There are 7 umbrellas in the closet.  (Candor requires that I add that there are quite a number of men's work coats and biking outfits kept in the basement.)

No coats for Christmas, PLEASE..