In 1976, I went on a world tour and took a minimum of clothes I packed into my luggage, so anything I needed, I would buy overseas.
On the last phase of my journey, I departed from a city in Italy and went by hovercraft to Dover, England, to meet up with a coach tour headed towards London. I went for a two-week stay at a hotel, and towards the end of my visit, I had to find other accommodation.
After searching for several days, I came across a hostel and decided to rent a room for as long as I stayed.
This establishment is very cold compared to the hotel’s heating system.
Since I hadn’t brought good winter clothes, I bought more oversized knee-high shoes, a scarf and a thick knitted hat to keep my head and body warm.
I could fit several warm clothes under the oversized coat to keep the cold wind out and be much more generous.
I purchased my coat from a store in London and asked the saleslady whether the overcoat was in stock. She looked me up and down and tried to figure out why I wanted such a large size.
The sales lady asked me a series of questions, such as “Is the coat for you?” and why you want to buy a large size. I explained to her why I needed the coat. I will be wearing thick undergarments to keep my body warmer. With this answer, the sales lady was happy that I wanted to purchase the oversized coat.
I had no difficulty buying the scarf or the hat, but the footwear was another matter. I searched many stores in London and looked for particular shoes; they had to be knee-high, made out of waterproof material, and have fake fur inside. I found a store that had the shoes I needed.
The only problem with material footwear is it does not allow the air to circulate. When worn several hours a day, the feet become sweaty smelly and look like wrinkled prunes, whereas it does not occur with knee-high leather.
Wearing the coat with the many undergarments made me look obese, and I did not care how I looked as long as it kept my body warm. Walking the usual way was difficult as I could not see my feet, so I had to rock from side to side (like a penguin) to propel my body.
While strolling along, I shopped at a boutique and noticed a dress I liked. I could not get through the door comfortably because of my immense size. I managed to extricate myself from the door on my own.
I saw the sales lady and asked where the dresses were for the smaller sizes.
I could see her glaring at me, and she directed me to where the dresses were. I chose one of them and asked where the dressing room was. I could hear her say, “If you damage the dress, you will have to pay for it.” my answer was Yeah! Yeah! She repeated this sentence every few seconds until I reached the dressing room.
There was a moment when she did not repeat this sentence; it did not last long before I heard her repeat it many times; she was beginning to sound like a broken down record. I had to keep my irritation under control.
I immediately removed my coat and undergarments to display a svelte figure where the smaller dress size was two sizes too big for me.
I came out of the dressing room wearing the dress and showed the same sales lady how big the dress was on me, and I asked her whether she had a smaller size. She looked at me in total disbelief when she saw me in the dress and how big it was.
To get her attention, I waved and explained that my significant figure was fake and the reason behind it.
I asked her why I would choose a small-size dress to try on when I displayed my prominent fat figure.
My next question to her was whether I would have the common sense to know a suitable dress size.
Her answer to both questions was she did not know.
I wanted this dress, so I purchased it, and I thought I would grow into it when I left London and headed back home to Australia.
When I exited the shop, I experienced another mishap by getting jammed in the doorway again, and this time, I could not release my body from the door on my own as I had come into the shop.
For a moment, I tried to work out why, and the reason dawned on me it could have been when I donned my undergarments in the dressing room, not in the order I took them off.
I called the sales staff to help me exit the shop as my fat body jammed in the door again. Since they all knew why I was obese in the first place, they could see the funny side of it and burst out laughing while they were pushing, prodding to get me unstuck. They found it challenging to release me from the door and called upon more staff to help; the new group arrived but were not made aware that the figure I portrayed was false and assumed that my body was naturally fat.
So, imagine their shock when they heard peals of laughter from the staff already present when they arrived. I could listen to one of the staff members saying that it was not kind to laugh at me in my condition and how rude of them to keep smiling. The staff member who made this remark was taken aside and told the truth.
My concern was to get out of this situation as I had envisioned help coming from outside and that I would make headline news. I was stressed to find myself in this situation.
I was free at last!
With fond memories,
Julie Eden