Winter coat dilemna

Today is 5 c outside and cloudy.  Winter coat or fall coat?

This question has been troubling me all week.  Living in Sweden, I’m reluctant to take on the winter coat until I’m absolutely sure we are staying in winter.  Why?  Because I’ll have to wear that coat for 6 months straight.  No matter what a Stockholmer tries to tell you, it always snows in April and occasionally May.  If I take on my winter coat in November, that’s 6 to 7 months that I’ll be wearing the same coat every single day.

Non-northerners may say, “Why can’t you just put your winter coat on one day and switch to fall the next?”

Because it doesn’t work like that.  Once you put on the winter coat in any weather that is 5 c or below, no other jacket or coat will keep you warm enough.  If I put on my fall coat the next day, I’ll freeze as my body will now realize that it could be in greater comfort.

Also, changing to a winter coat requires a complete overhaul of carrying a bag vs. stuffing everything in my giant winter coat pockets.  You don’t want to carry a bag in the winter – it’s just going to get soaked and weigh you down.  Wallets, phones, keys, etc., must be moved to the winter jacket so everything is at hand.

So the decision to wear a coat is quite a large one.  Once I’m in that coat, I live in it.  I become one with the coat and cannot come out until the ground thaws.  Thus, my dilemna.  I think I’ll go with a fall coat, scarf, gloves and hat.  I will not be in my winter chains quite yet.