Mr Rogers' Sweater

Mr Rogers' Neighbourhood was a popular kids program that ran from 1968 to 2001. The opening scene was often one in which Mr Rogers comes into his house wearing a jacket. He takes his jacket off, and then he puts on a sweater.

Many have found this an odd thing to do, and I would have found it odd too had I never moved to Portugal. But here in Porto I frequently do exactly what Mr Rogers does in these opening scenes. The reason for this is that we keep our apartment relatively cool all year round. During fall, we don't mind putting on a sweater. It's a refreshing change from a long and warm summer.

Temperatures in our apartment are often no different from outside. However, it feels strange to go out wearing a sweater instead of a jacket, so we don a jacket when we go out of the house. But since the temperature outside is little different from inside, a jacket on top of our sweater is too much. The solution to this is to take off our sweaters before putting on our jackets. When we return from our errands, we put our sweaters back on.

Mr Rogers' behaviour tells me that he lived in a relatively warm climate, and that he liked to keep his house cool for this reason. As far as the climate goes, he would have felt right at home in Portugal.

Feeling comfortable in my sweater