Galoshes

GALOSHES, OR OVERSHOES.
Today, I am in the mood to blog. What motivates me is Barry Newman’s excellent column in today’s (Thursday, March 3, 2011) Wall Street Journal - “The Time May be Right For Galoshes To Make A Splash Again.”
His write-up brought back many memories of my experience with galoshes/overshoes, over 80 years ago. Putting them on, and taking them off, were not a problem. We took them for granted - they were part of our outdoor- winter “uniform”.
Barry did a good job describing this necessity of the past winters of long ago. I will only quibble with the article’s photographs. Those foot coverings aren’t galoshes - they are rubbers. Galoshes came half way up the calf, and fancier. They were easy to put on (unless they weren’t the right size - too small.). At the time, I was young enough to still wear knickers. But the older kids and men, would tuck their trouser cuffs inside the overshoe before they would fasten them up. The fasteners were very functional. There were four or five snap-over buckles, which were easy to close with cold hands. They not only kept my feet warm. But also dry. The ‘shoes’ were also thinly lined, which made them warmer.
We didn’t have a car back in those days, so my Mom and Dad did a lot of walking. They always wore the foot covering when going outside in the winter. They didn’t care about “looks”. Comfort always trumped style, We had lots of them, sitting on the floor, in the small room inside the back door, where our family of six stored all of our outside clothing. It is a wonder that we could tell them apart.
Today, you can’t get people to abandon their cars - even in winter - when driving on snow and ice is a real challenge and a hazard. So, I question whether the galosh/overshoe foot covering in winter will make a comeback. I am sure if you tried them for the first time you would be sold on the footwear!
Congratulations, Barry, on your interesting and informative column.
RCL - 3/3/11.