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Gary, 44, from the Bridge of Don area of Aberdeen, has not worn a jacket in August since 2015.
He walks to work. He walks back. He stands at the bus stop on Union Street in an onshore wind that has removed the dignity of stronger men, and he does it in one layer, and he says he is comfortable.
His method has now been shared thousands of times across the north east. And it is not what you would expect.
First, what he does not do
Gary does not cold-water swim. He does not take supplements. He has never done breathwork and he becomes visibly irritated when it is suggested.
“People keep telling me it’s mindset,” he says. “It is not mindset. It is nothing to do with mindset.”
So what is the trick?
The answer may surprise you.
It is a second jumper.
Gary wears a jumper, and underneath that jumper, he wears another jumper. He has done this for eleven years. He describes it as “the obvious thing”.
“A jacket is one thick thing. Two jumpers is two thin things with air in between. The air is the bit that does the work. I did not invent air.”
Gary, 44, Aberdeen
What the experts say
Thermal physiologists are, broadly, in agreement with Gary, which has been a disappointment to everyone who wanted this to be a controversy. Trapped air between layers is a genuine insulator, and layering has been standard advice from every hillwalking organisation in the country for approximately a century.
Where the north east complicates matters is wind. An outer layer that blocks wind matters more here than raw thickness, which is why Gary’s method works considerably better on a still day than it does on the seafront in a stiff easterly, a point he concedes with some reluctance.
The method, in full
- Step one: put on a jumper
- Step two: put on a second jumper
- Step three: there is no step three
Should you try it?
It costs nothing if you own two jumpers. It carries no risk beyond looking slightly bulky, and Gary points out that a jacket also looks bulky, and additionally has to be carried around all afternoon once the sun comes out at two.
His one warning: it does not work in rain. “Wool holds heat when it is wet. It does not hold it as well as being indoors.”
He has been asked whether he plans to write a book. He has said no.
