Knickers are pretty handy in the spring when it's still chilly. The skin/flesh around the knees is very thin and it makes me shudder to see people out in a long winter jacket but with bare knees. They need looking after and a friend of mine who lives in Italy and owns a kit manufacturing business says he and his friends don't get their knees out till May!

We're a little hardie here in England but I like knickers because they're so handy for that transition period between longs and shorts which is sometimes only a matter of a few weeks.

I also agree with Denise - knees are very handy, esp on those days with a chilly early start.