DH is badly in need of a new coat, and has failed to find one that he likes, so I have offered to get him one for Christmas. However, the reason why he hasn't found one is that he has very specific requirements .
The absolute pre-requisites are that it must be a trenchcoat, not an anorak or a wool coat. It must be reasonably smart to go over a suit for work. It must be long, down to mid calf on an average height man. It cannot have a hood. It needs to be water resistant at the very least. It cannot be leather or generally Goth in styling...the one he is replacing is from M&S, which gives you an idea of the level of blandness required.
The not so desperate requirements are that ideally it should have a removable thermal lining to transform it from autumn to winter wear, and it should be black. It absolutely needs to cost less than five hundred quid, but somewhere around the hundred and fifty mark would be good (less than a hundred would be miraculous)
And before you ask, no, I don't know what possessed me to volunteer for this impossible task - I don't think I've had a blow to the head, but I have been pairing with gloss paints, so I might have inhaled a bit too much turps.