GR translation: Damp woolen aides

[Michael Bailey]

Mike Jing wrote:

V17.26-30, P18.3-9  Girl at the main desk, gumpopping, good-natured
bespectacled ATS, waves him on upstairs. Damp woolen aides on the way to
staff meetings, W.C.s, an hour or two of earnest drinking, nod, not really
seeing him, he’s a well-known face, what’s’isname’s mate, Oxford chums
aren’t they, that lieutenant works down the hall at ACHTUNG. . . .

What does "damp woolen" mean here?



It’s a metonymy, like calling a businessman a suit - in this case maybe
they were out in the rain or snow (or they sweat a lot) and their suit is
made of wool?

There may be more to it - harkening back to the “second sheep” mentioned in
the opening passage of the book?