Saturday 18 October 2014

A milestone reached

This morning 30% and I headed in to Redditch for a few necessities* … my underwear and sock drawers required replenishment but, more importantly, I needed a new pair of boots for dog walking.

Yet another pair of shoes has fallen apart after repeated tramping around the Three Miler and it is time to select another pair. Choosing the right pair is always a gamble and, in the past, some of the most comfortable walking shoes have been quite unusual. Previously I have eschewed expensive pairs of walking boots in preference for a scabby pair of slip-on loafers, finding that light weight, Gore Tex engineered creations just do not seem to work on my feet.

A recent eBay acquisition by TP gave me an idea for my next pair of walking footwear. A couple of months ago a parcel arrived for him and, when opened, contained a shiny pair of Doctor Martens boots. I used to live in these from the age of sixteen through to my mid twenties and after trying on TP's latest fashion statement the mental gears slowly started to turn.

Today I went out and purchased a pair of black, nine hole DM classic boots.** I know that they will hurt like hell until they are worn in, but I still recall how comfortable they used to be once they had adapted to the shape of the wearer's foot … and they are a timeless classic too.

After picking up a mountain of pet food we headed back home for lunch. The day had been relatively fine and, after eating, I took a look at the lawn and decided that it would just about cut … Dry was not a word to be associated with the grass but the mower did a reasonable job and the fact that it is now trimmed means that it could now actually dry up and be tidied further.***

With the garden tidier we loaded Whiffler in to the car and took him for a wander around Alcester Food Festival. The real aim was not to sample the ubiquitous chunks of cheese, snippets of sausage or samples of sauces. We took him as we knew that there would be many people. children and dogs there and it was a perfect puppy socialising experience for him. He behaved beautifully, even when a grumpy Lurcher snapped at him, and was exhausted by the experience.

As afternoon turned to evening I wandered out to the garage and found myself swearing at the centre stand assembly of the Enfield … After consulting the manual and a couple of on-line diagrams it looks like WD40 and a fucking big hammer might be needed.

As the evening drew to a close and the dogs were let out to water my freshly trimmed lawn we were finally able to say that we had reached a milestone in Whiffler's development as we had gone an entire day without indoor crimes.
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* The observant reader will note that 30%'s car is not among the list of necessities … the bloody thing is still in the repair shop with "faulty head lamp washers"
** I also picked up a couple of pairs of brown casual boots too … I am always dangerous in a shoe shop
*** It is now short enough that we can actually see Whiffler as he charges around the lawn instead of peeing.

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