Safety Patrol Slicker
Posted: June 9th, 2021, 1:16 pm
The American term 'Safety Patrol' is new to me, yet over the past few weeks it has cropped up on numerous occassions and often features a member of the patrol dressed in a yellow or black slicker when searching on the web for vintage rubber rainwear.
I have always enjoyed the rain and wearing good mack or pvc waterproofs to enjoy it. So I found the story 'Epic Rainstorm' fascinating and very enjoyable....and also full of envy as the rainwear was described in the story.
As a kid and later as a teenager doing a paper round, I frequently wore a yellow or black oilskin cycle cape and wellies. There were leggings that went with the cape but I never found any to buy. Later the capes became plastic and pvc and I indulged in my pleasures cycling. I even did my Duke of Edinburgh's (bronze) award overnight camp and hike in deepest Nottinghamshire wearing my yellow cycle cape as it poured with rain on the two day outing. I might have looked odd, looking like the 'Hunchback of Notre Dame' with the cape on over my rucksack, but I stayed dry, my schoolmates got wet.
I am sure rubberists and mack lovers have a in-built radar for detecting the gear we like, I know I can certainly spot good rainwear when out and about.
So back to the 'Safety Patrol Slicker'.
Finding a 1950's B/W photo of a young guy in his Safety Patrol black rubber slicker and large matching headwear, proudly displaying his 'Safety Patrol' badge on his upper sleeve made me search for 'Safety Patrol Slicker', what turned up were a couple of blurred photos and a piece of writing.
The writing was from a lady reminiscing her days as a Safety Patrol girl and the slicker she wore.
It was a lovely piece of memory writing..............so here it is enjoy it, as I did.
(If the writer is a member of Rainwear Central, I hope you don't mind me printing the account here........It's a lovely piece, depicting 'days long gone'.
**************************************
The Yellow Slicker
My husband has a yellow jacket that always makes me smile. Every time I see him slip it on, I think of being on the safety patrol when I was in sixth grade.
My School Safety Patrol card is another one of those things that surprised me by surviving fifty plus years stuck in little corners of big boxes. I have misplaced dozens of things over the years but this little card somehow held on to its space.
As sixth graders, we were the class that “manned” the safety patrol. That meant at noon and at the end of the day, kids from our class were sent to guard crosswalks around the school. I volunteered because I would have time away from the classroom. That was just too much to resist.
What I did not think about as I enthusiastically threw my hand up in the air that first week of school, was the weather. This was Iowa. Sure, at the beginning of the school year the weather was perfect. Before long, the warm Indian Summer and windy Fall days turned into the blustery, cold days of Winter. Like mail delivery, safety patrol guards could not be deterred by the weather. Rain, sleet, or snow, we headed out to our posts. To protect us from those elements, the school had a number of bright yellow slickers. These rubber slickers felt and smelled ancient. Heaven only knows how old they were but we HAD to wear them when we went out in the rain.
As lunchtime got closer and closer on my day for patrol, I watched the sky get darker and darker. The rain started falling harder and the temperature fell. As my fellow patrol person and I left to go to our posts, we were told to wear those yellow slickers.
“Be careful,” Mrs. Kibera told us, “with it getting colder, it could be getting icy.”
I walked to the locker, grabbed the crunchy yellow jacket, pulled the hood up, and walked toward the front door. Mr. Lenth, the school superintendent, and a teacher were standing at the entryway, observing and discussing the quickly changing weather. I nodded my head, the stiff and scratchy hood falling across my eyes as my legs pushed against the heavy rubberized coat. I was concentrating on walking against that added weight while constantly adjusting the stubborn hood.
I pushed the heavy door open and headed outside. As my foot hit the wet pavement, I felt it slip. I was moving too fast to stop. My other foot never made contact. Before I knew it, I was on my back. That yellow slicker was exactly that–slick! In a mass of crackling yellow, I was propelled across the sidewalk, down a little asphalt hill that was the side parking lot, and under a bus.
I looked up to see the teacher and Mr. Lenth looking down on me, saying in unison, “Looks like we need to end school early today.”
They helped me up, brushed me off, and sent me back to class. Shortly after, an overhead announcement declared due to weather, school was dismissed.
So, the little card survived to remind me of a time when I fell–literally–and was helped up by the kindness of others. There are times when we all need that type of gentle reminder.
I have always enjoyed the rain and wearing good mack or pvc waterproofs to enjoy it. So I found the story 'Epic Rainstorm' fascinating and very enjoyable....and also full of envy as the rainwear was described in the story.
As a kid and later as a teenager doing a paper round, I frequently wore a yellow or black oilskin cycle cape and wellies. There were leggings that went with the cape but I never found any to buy. Later the capes became plastic and pvc and I indulged in my pleasures cycling. I even did my Duke of Edinburgh's (bronze) award overnight camp and hike in deepest Nottinghamshire wearing my yellow cycle cape as it poured with rain on the two day outing. I might have looked odd, looking like the 'Hunchback of Notre Dame' with the cape on over my rucksack, but I stayed dry, my schoolmates got wet.
I am sure rubberists and mack lovers have a in-built radar for detecting the gear we like, I know I can certainly spot good rainwear when out and about.
So back to the 'Safety Patrol Slicker'.
Finding a 1950's B/W photo of a young guy in his Safety Patrol black rubber slicker and large matching headwear, proudly displaying his 'Safety Patrol' badge on his upper sleeve made me search for 'Safety Patrol Slicker', what turned up were a couple of blurred photos and a piece of writing.
The writing was from a lady reminiscing her days as a Safety Patrol girl and the slicker she wore.
It was a lovely piece of memory writing..............so here it is enjoy it, as I did.
(If the writer is a member of Rainwear Central, I hope you don't mind me printing the account here........It's a lovely piece, depicting 'days long gone'.
**************************************
The Yellow Slicker
My husband has a yellow jacket that always makes me smile. Every time I see him slip it on, I think of being on the safety patrol when I was in sixth grade.
My School Safety Patrol card is another one of those things that surprised me by surviving fifty plus years stuck in little corners of big boxes. I have misplaced dozens of things over the years but this little card somehow held on to its space.
As sixth graders, we were the class that “manned” the safety patrol. That meant at noon and at the end of the day, kids from our class were sent to guard crosswalks around the school. I volunteered because I would have time away from the classroom. That was just too much to resist.
What I did not think about as I enthusiastically threw my hand up in the air that first week of school, was the weather. This was Iowa. Sure, at the beginning of the school year the weather was perfect. Before long, the warm Indian Summer and windy Fall days turned into the blustery, cold days of Winter. Like mail delivery, safety patrol guards could not be deterred by the weather. Rain, sleet, or snow, we headed out to our posts. To protect us from those elements, the school had a number of bright yellow slickers. These rubber slickers felt and smelled ancient. Heaven only knows how old they were but we HAD to wear them when we went out in the rain.
As lunchtime got closer and closer on my day for patrol, I watched the sky get darker and darker. The rain started falling harder and the temperature fell. As my fellow patrol person and I left to go to our posts, we were told to wear those yellow slickers.
“Be careful,” Mrs. Kibera told us, “with it getting colder, it could be getting icy.”
I walked to the locker, grabbed the crunchy yellow jacket, pulled the hood up, and walked toward the front door. Mr. Lenth, the school superintendent, and a teacher were standing at the entryway, observing and discussing the quickly changing weather. I nodded my head, the stiff and scratchy hood falling across my eyes as my legs pushed against the heavy rubberized coat. I was concentrating on walking against that added weight while constantly adjusting the stubborn hood.
I pushed the heavy door open and headed outside. As my foot hit the wet pavement, I felt it slip. I was moving too fast to stop. My other foot never made contact. Before I knew it, I was on my back. That yellow slicker was exactly that–slick! In a mass of crackling yellow, I was propelled across the sidewalk, down a little asphalt hill that was the side parking lot, and under a bus.
I looked up to see the teacher and Mr. Lenth looking down on me, saying in unison, “Looks like we need to end school early today.”
They helped me up, brushed me off, and sent me back to class. Shortly after, an overhead announcement declared due to weather, school was dismissed.
So, the little card survived to remind me of a time when I fell–literally–and was helped up by the kindness of others. There are times when we all need that type of gentle reminder.