One of the most fascinating facts I ever encountered in
stories and movies about WW II is that people made clothes out of used
parachute silk. I imagined a thick,
heavy duty fabric. After all, it had to
be strong enough to hold the weight of a man jumping out of an airplane! And it certainly looked pretty substantial in
movies like La Grande Vadrouille. So
when I looked for silk pyjamas on Evilbay and found one from WW II made from
old parachute silk I immediately put in a bid.
I thought it would go for a small fortune (not mine, I hasten to add),
but it was quite cheap – I suspect most people had no idea what they were.
Well, they arrived last week and I am so excited! They are made of the sheerest thinnest silk
imaginable, more like spider silk than the real stuff. I cannot imagine wearing them except in the
very hottest August heat wave – you hardly notice wearing them. They are also way too big for me, made for a
man twice my size, I reckon. The
waistband of the bottom has a hollow seam into which I threaded a thin pink
ribbon for fastening so they will stay put if ever I try to wear them. I might try to fob them off on MDL – he isn’t
into PJs, but surely PJs made of old parachute silk are another matter! Who could resist wearing a piece of WW II
flying memorabilia like that?
While fooling around with my camera I also tried – again! –
taking photos of the Tiny Visitors who inhabit the mobile. The trouble is, there is always a breeze or
thermal in my room, so they never stay still long enough for me to get a good
shot. And I hate taking them down,
because if you take off one you disturb all the others – it is a two person
job, whoever comes to visit me next will be pressed into service and instructed
to hold the mobile steady while I photograph its little inhabitants one by one.
So for now I include a few night shots of Willibald Waco, Quercus Robustus
and Fatty Messerschmitt in a fading sunset orange glow as they fly off to another
mission. As a matter of fact the glow comes
from my salt-lamp, but hey if it works, use it!
