Snug, cool, snug-cool-warm...and Moccis.

Lately the word that rules my life is ‘snug’.  Could have something to do with the icy breeze gusting through the window of my office or the manic hailstorm that flung itself around the house this morning.  But maybe it’s something deeper than that.  I realised, when I was in Morocco, that much as I love hot weather, I also crave the cold.  But cold from a perspective of warmth, if you get my (snow)drift. 

‘Have you ever been to that place in Iceland?’ said Emma as she was cutting my hair (no, not too short, I still need the snuggery of it around my neck).

‘The Blue Lagoon?’ I said.  ‘The geothermal lake?  No. But I’d love to.’ 

And I told her about how one of my most delicious experiences this year was swimming in a toasty warm outdoor pool in Austria surrounded by snow-capped mountains. And about how much I loved a trip to America in winter when the snow lay deep on the ground but the sun shone bright – turning the whole world into a sparklefest.  Unlike here in the UK where, generally, snow means grey skies and sludge.  And inside non-snuggly cold.  Why is it we are so so SO crap at insulating our homes here in Britain? 

And, again and again, I find myself drawn to pictures of snug cabins, plaid blankets, faux furs, cable knits and roaring fires. Simple places.  Outside it may be freezing but inside it’s…snug.  No other word for it really.  Snuggeries. 

The Bonkers House, sadly, is not snug.  In fact, it’s the polar (ho ho) opposite.  Poor James sits huddled in a blanket with fingerless mittens playing his Xbox. 

‘If you got up and did something, you’d be warm,’ I say and he gives me ‘The Look’. 

‘What? Like doing Jumping Jacks the way you did at Reading train station?’ he says with scorn.  He has never forgiven me for this but, hey, needs must and it was cold. 

Anyhow. I bought him some slipper socks. I thought he’d stick them in the bottom drawer but, lo and behold, he loves them.  And then I had an email about Moccis – somewhat funky moccasin-type slipper sock hybrid thingies.  So I’ve been road (house?) testing them and very fine they are too.  Machine washable, skid-proof soles, and some pretty cool designs.  The company was founded by Anna Wetterlin who couldn’t figure out why you couldn’t get good quality Swedish-style moccasins in the UK.  So she started up a company to get her designs hand-made in a traditional factory in Sweden - and then sells them over here.

What is seriously unfair is that some of the coolest of the 35 designs are only available in small sizes (why do children have all the fun??  Taking of which, I still live in hope of flashing trainers in adult sizes).  

But still…Cool (or rather ‘snug’) idea.  Check them out. Here's another link in case you missed the first one. http://www.moccis.co.uk/