Shoe In

I know that based on a few past postings there was a dreadful rumour out there that I was a retifist but I'm not really into shoes.  No honestly!  I mean I like shoes but I'm not like one male co-worker who at last count had 32 pairs of some of the coolest shoes I've ever seen.   I'd be surprised if I have more than half that and even then I find myself wearing the same ones all the time.

Take those great Italian brown leather sneaker style pair that I wore over on the flight on Monday.  They are amongst my favourites.  I found them quite by accident one day when wandering through the streets of Rome.  They are stylish, look great and are extremely comfortable and I wear them all the time.  Only downside is that the laces are a bit long.  Fast forward to Tuesday morning as I am transferring from Terminal 3 to Terminal 1 at London's Heathrow and I'm using one of those moving sidewalks.  Now I don't know about you but as a kid I was always afraid I was going to be pulled into the escalator when I reached the top.  Same with those moving sidewalks when I reached the end.  I just knew if I didn't get off quick I'd end up going round and round like something out of a Tom and Jerry cartoon.  

Turns out that's not what happens at all.  When one of those suckers grabs - oh lets say a slightly long shoe lace on a pair of stylish, great looking and extremely comfortable Italian brown leather sneaker-stye shoes - what it actually does is send you crashing face forward and rips through the leather eyelets and traps you until someone hits the emergency button.  Result is one very embarrassed, shaken-up traveller with one shoe needing some very particular and creative type of repair.   And also a traveller with no brown shoes to wear when the occasion demands.

Again fast forward yesterday to a shop on a side street in Munich where we stop to pick up a few postcards.  As well as postcards the rather funky lady there stocks all sorts of fun and silly stuff - clothing, nick-knacks, cushions, table cloths and... shoes!  Really great shoes by Maruti!  And as I paid for my postcards my eyes feel on a pair of their washed shoes that though they aren't anywhere like my Italian brown etc. pair are brown, stylish, look great and extremely comfortable.   Now understand I had no intention of buying shoes but damn these had my name on them.  And while I was trying them on Laurent saw a pair that just screamed "Buy me Beaulieu".  What else could we do - beside we both believe in helping the local economy when we're visiting a country.

So here for your viewing pleasure are two pair of very stylish, great looking, extremely comfortable and dare I say trendy shoes.

Willym's shoes: if Maruti's publicity is to be believe these shoes are washed
and have some sort of special finish.  Much like my hair they will
continue to change colour as they age.

Who says blue doesn't go with brown? I think Laurent's
new shoes look pretty damned cool.

May 16 - 1891:  Richard Tauber, acclaimed as one of the greatest singers of the 20th century, is born in Linz, Austria.