(and now the angels want to wear them)
These are my red boots, which I have just had magnificently re-soled at a cost greater than what I paid for them (in Leclerc's sale about five years ago) by our local cordonnier. Some time ago I bought a tube of red shoe cream for them at the same establishment, which cost getting on for half what I paid for them. Following its application, I buffed them up with the black shining brush, which Tom subsequently used for buffing up his black shoes, which then took on a slightly unearthly but, to me, rather lovely pink glow, with which he was not overly impressed.
Now the zips will probably give way, and I shall have to go to great length and expense to replace them.
But when you love a pair of shoes this much, what can you do?
***
...and ironing is paradise enow
when listening to four episodes, back to back, of the Radio 7 dramatisation of 'Middlemarch', courtesy of the Listen Again facility. An hour of pressing and folding, not my favourite task, quite flew by in such blissful company. I never cease to be grateful that Middlemarch has for so many years, been part of my inner landscape, and am firmly of the belief that no one should go to their grave without having read it at least once. Three times is better, and better still so many times that you don't really know how many, but could easily go into it at any point and know just where you were and with whom, and feel more at ease than with so-called real life.
Of course knitting while listening would have been even better, but more on that anon.
***
Spoon pak choihas reappeared in the supermarket. Possibly the most delicious brassica in the world, oh but hang on... well, very good anyway. The only disappointment is an unexpected absence of oyster sauce in stores. I'm off to 'wok it off '(as they say on cookery programmes) now.
***
Dear Marly has asked me what I have learned from my fortnight of thirty words. I have not yet formulated a truly considered and cogent answer to that, which may mean I don't have one. However, it has been rather nice to knock this out quickly without constraint, counting on my fingers, or having to labour it too much. After all, it is only blogging...
15 comments:
If I had a pair of red boots, I would love them as well.
I wish those were my boots...
The only way I get a pile of ironing done is to watch TV at the same time. I don't watch much TV so the pile grows...
I have a pair of boots like that. (Not red, but beloved.) I haven't done much to keep them up, just wear them out and about where it doesn't matter how they look. But I LOVE them and will never get rid of them as long as I don't have to.
I have a shirt of my granddaddy's, a lined flannel shirt that has gotten stretched out. I want to have it altered so the lining fits the shirt again and am wondering if it will end up costing more than the shirt did....
For years I didn't have an iron. I am very good at hanging up washing quickly and folding it to minimise creasing. This is a house which favours T shirts rather than crisp white shirts so I can just about get away with it.I still remember my mum ironing a crease into my levis.I dont think she ironed my knickers though...
I am the family ironer. I take great pride in it & am very good. But without radio, or tele glanced at, the process would be purgatorial.
Those are truly yummy boots.
I've spent far too long this morning mooching about on your blog. Love the photos, love the way you write.
What a fabulous find you are.
Wonderful boots, and I completely understand why you'd keep them up. Both chic and comfy - what's not to love about that?
I once had a pair of sunglasses fixed (I drove over them!) for as much as I'd originally paid.
Also reminds me of a beloved pair of red shoes I wore all over Europe on a 2-week vacation in 1985 I think. So rare to find something that comfortable as well as fashionable for my odd-sized feet.
Love your souliers rouges. I want some like that.
How right you are about the importance of Middlemarch! The mother of a friend of mine used to iron to T S Eliot's Four Quartets, so he tells me. But Middlemarch must be more productive.
Boots, me too. Not red, but black, Bought from Russell and Bromley 20 years ago and still going strong.
Middlemarch, I have not read but you have inspired me to do so.
BBC 7 and Radio 4 play again are a daily visit in this little house in Australia. I have been listening to Vanity Fair.
Bok choy Yum.
Your post had me saying Yes to everything.
Perhaps a trick of the light, but I see the outline of toes beneath the fine leather. A perfect fit indeed; they seem to be alive.
them's good boots
Zips! What a lovely word and one I have had to abandon in a country where "zip" is a verb and zipper is a noun.
What does one say in Brittany?
I dislike red- a lot. But I once had a pair of red boots, & I loved them to death! Though they had high heels, I wore them to walk about on shopping expeditions! Can hardly believe it now. I sobbed when they finally wore out.
It was fun to read your unrestricted post!
Thanks all.
Funny how we learned the word souliers for shoes at school - I've never heard it used here, but always chaussures. The title quote is of from an old song that features in Le Grand Meaulnes, where an invisible and drunken man is singing it in the aftermath of la fete etrange. It's also the name of a French folk band.
I never enjoyed any other of George Eliot's as much as Middlemarch. I liked that quote of someone - 'G.E. offers us no heaven and no hell; the best and the worst we shall get is Warwickshire' which is just fine by me. I saw the 4 Quartets going cheap on CD on Amazon a while ago, and wondered about them for ironing. could be a bit soporific and might be a safety hazard mind...
I've only ever heard a zip called a fermeture here, though strictly it is a fermeture eclair, which sounds a bit like franglais for fasten up your chocolate choux bun!
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