The seats in our office are covered in a cling-wrap like plastic.  When I first saw them, I thought it was the wrapping because they looked new.  Lucky I didn't tear it off.

I have since learned that it is common practice for some Indonesians to wrap their new furnishings in this thick clear cling wrap-like substance so they stay looking new.  It's unsurprising really cos stuff gets dirty here pretty quickly.  Or maybe my apartment has just because I am a bit of a sloth.

Anyway, the cling wrapped chairs mean that, when you wear a skirt or dress, the backs of your thighs stick to the chair and it's kind of sweaty and gross.

It reminds me of the way your butt would stick to the seats of the bus on dusty bush school excursions in the middle of summer.  You would be stuck there on the bus, literally, three to a seat designed for two at my povvo public school, to go on some sort of unenlightening educational adventure in the scorching heat, when all you really wanted was an icecream and to go home early.

The only thing I remember about most of those excursions is the uncomfortable heat.

Or, the sticky seats remind me of going to the beach in Sydney when you unfortunately end up on one of the old STA buses with the plastic seats and no air conditioning.  This often seemed to happen on the bus route between Bondi and Bondi Junction.

Your own sweat only added to the salt water dripped on the seats by people returning from the beach… and other people's sweat.  Eww. The windows would never open enough for you to breath adequately, and you would be bumped up against by American tourists carrying surfboards that I highly doubt most of them knew how to use.  Once I sat next to a Japanese tourist on the route, who started readying herself for the intense surf on the bus by donning a swimming cap and goggles.  It was like she thought the bus would stop at Bondi and everyone would just get tipped straight in to the ocean right then and there, with no time to prepare.  The bus ride back was always worse, because there was no reprieve, like going for a swim, at the end of that journey, and you usually had that feeling of being covered in sand.

But yes, in short, plastic covered furniture may be practical, but it's not usually comfortable.  Imagine making out on a plastic covered couch or something.  Ick.