OVERCOAT

Down the Bell. Two friends and me sitting in the front bay window after moving from the back room when a DJ came in turned the music up to a volume was difficult to hear what we said.
‘You seen his coat?’ He pointed to the coat I’m wearing since my jacket lost its collar.
‘It’s a mackintosh don’t you think?’
‘No it isn’t,’ I said, ‘it’s an overcoat, quality one too, fully lined, look.’
‘Yeh, it’s a mackintosh, probly got one of those belts you tie round the front.’
‘It’s wool, and from Dunn and Co actually,’ pointing to the label.
‘I reckon you nicked it from one of the street drinkers, it’s very Stokes Croft.’
‘No I didn’t, I’ve had it years and I tell you it’s quality.’
‘Hey, maybe it’s a gaberdine.’
‘Gaberdine? Course it’s not a gaberdine, it’s an overcoat.’
‘Gaberdine...now that’s a word I’ve not heard for years...funny how some words...’
‘...like hoover...’
‘Ay? No, not like hoover. I mean words that fall out of use like gaberdine.’
‘Wasn’t gaberdine the material it’s made from?’
‘Don’t know.’
‘Wasn’t it invented by that man Harold Wilson got his coats from and made a Lord? Can’t think of his name.’
‘Begins with “K”, I think.’
‘Kagan is it?’
‘Yeh, that’s it Lord Kagan...and it wasn’t gaberdine it was gannex he invented.’
‘How come you know so much about it?’
‘It’s his coat it’s probly made of gannex.’
‘No it isn’t, it’s made of wool...and I told you it’s an overcoat.’