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The snow has arrived across most of the UK, just in time for everybody who’s planning a long journey, by plane, car or train, to reach their friends and family in time for Christmas. When the weather turns bad, it’s essential to ensure that you’re dressing appropriately for comfort and safety.
If you’re travelling by car, think about the age and condition of those travelling with you: young children and the elderly suffer much more from cold and can find it difficult to keep warm in the way that the fit and active adult does. If your car breaks down, it can be very difficult to keep warm, so ensure everybody in the car has a hat and gloves, a scarf and a jacket, so that they don’t lose too much heat through their extremities or through their core body temperature dropping.
If you’re driving, think about comfort and safety – something like a pair of jog pants is ideal clothing as it allows you to stay warm in the car, but also to get out for whatever reason, from scraping ice from the windscreen to checking the tyres, without worrying about getting messy.
If you’re travelling by car, train or plane, ensure you have layered your upper clothing. One big jumper is no good if you get stuck in a hot airport, whereas a hoodie with a T-shirt underneath allows you to take your top layer off when you’re hot and put it back on again when you go outside and it’s cold. A fleece jacket is an ideal top garment as it offers great insulation without adding weight or reducing your mobility.
There was a time when it was unfashionable to wear hats. Through the 1970s and 1980s, for some reason, men thought hats were unmasculine. Fortunately this weird behaviour has now changed and men wear both summer and winter hats. A hat that keeps your head warm in winter is important to your health and there is a wide range to choose from, the baseball cap, the hood of a hoodie, a pull-on beanie etc. Any of them will help insulate you from the winter weather.
Gloves are important if you’re going to be outdoors because they help reduce heat loss from the body but also because chilled hands do not function well. Canadian police estimate that a third of winter accidents while driving happen because the driver has cold hands and thus loses control of the wheel or over or underestimates their actions. Fleece gloves keep the hands extra warm in winter and come in a range of colours.
Scarves are not just a way of keeping your neck and chest warm, they make a fashion statement too. A winter scarf can be the easiest way to perk up a tired looking winter coat and having several in different colours allows you to match your mood to your outer clothing without having to invest in several coats or jackets.
Choosing and using the correct work glove can protect you from injuries, but it also helps you to work better if you’re wearing the right gloves for the job.
Light gloves are ideal for simple but dirty tasks. They keep dirt and non-toxic items like grease, or paint off your hands – the fabric may be cotton or nylon and if it has a cotton liner it also allows your hands to ‘breathe’. The PVC dots on the palms give excellent grip for lifting smooth boxes, plastic items and particularly glassware, which can be both slippery and dangerous.
Split leather gloves offer more protection and if they have cotton or canvas backing, they keep the hands cooler than a full leather glove, while offering reinforcements on the palm, thumb and index finger. They are ideal for heavy tasks that do not require specialist gloves: for example loading vans, packing equipment or gardening and other agricultural work.
If you need to handle toxic chemicals or liquids, then you have to wear some form of plastic gloves – neoprene, PVC, polyamide or nitrile material will protect your hands and longer lengths ensure that nothing you are handling splashes up your arms.
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