...and there's no discharge in the war
Oct. 17th, 2005 11:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ventaSo, after three years of recurrent pain and blisters, I've finally conceded that the pair of Docs I bought are never going to fit.
Picture if you will, a scene where a Venta aged about 16 or so trots self-consciously into the covered market in a far-flung northern town, looking for footwear. She trots out again with a pair of size4 black DMs. They are DM shoes. Later, just before she goes to university, she will graduate to size4 8-hole black DM boots.
While at university, Venta walks around a lot, and walks her way through boots quite fast. Every couple of years, there is a scene were she goes to a shop, and buys a pair of size4 8 or 10-hole black DM boots. These boots are made of stiff leather; there is an uncomfortable interlude of a few weeks while the new boots are persuaded to behave, perhaps at the cost of a few blisters, and then she's off striding the streets again.
Now cut to a scene in a wet, wintry November. Venta is reminded as she splashes through the puddles that her current boots leak badly, and she goes to a shop on Gloucester Green. Aware that her feet are very wet, she buys a pair of size4 10-hole black DM boots without trying them on. Once home and dry, she begins the perilous breaking-in process.
Which goes on.
And on.
And on.
It's almost as if the boots were too small. Have her feet grown ?
Six months later, at a folk festival she encounters a stall selling DM boots very cheaply, and purchases a pair of size4 8-holes. They are grey, but appear to fit. They are immediately comfortable, and she relegates the nasty black boots to the back of the wardrobe in disgrace.
Which sounds like a happy ending. However...
The grey boots are starting to show signs of wearing. Plus they are, well... grey. Which is a good colour to be, but does occasionally look a little odd when one is wearing black. I decided that I did really need to get some decent black lace-up boots - intermittent attempts to tame the last black pair have failed, repeatedly.
I wanted plain, black lace up boots. Words like "waterproof" and "hard-wearing" - maybe even "stout" - should feature in their description. Have you any idea how difficult they are to find ? I didn't want walking-boot style boots, and I didn't want boots with floppity suede sides and mysterious bits of fur poking out uncomfortably through the laces. Basically, I wanted Docs (although come to think of it my Docs have never been waterproof, though everyone else has always claimed theirs are). But I'd evolved a theory: The pair of unfitting Docs I bought were made at the new factory in (I think) China. The pair of lovely grey boots were "old stock", still with the made-in-England logo. I theorised that the design changed very slightly when they moved manufacture from England, and that I was thus doomed from now on.
I had a number of fruitless expeditions into shoe shops - at best I could find things which would just about do... ish. But then I usually discovered they cost in excess of a hundred pounds and went right off the idea again. Had I been a bloke, Cat boots would have been fine. But if you want ladies' Cat boots - and when you're a size4, there's not a lot of option - they come in beige. Or pink. You can get ladies' Timberland boots in black but (a) they have a stupid white ankle-cuff bit, (b) they're pretty much walking boots and (c) you need a mortage.
(Incidentally - as far as I can tell, childrens' shoes don't go up past about 2, and blokes' shoes start about 6 or 7. What do you do if you're a guy with size5 feet, even if it's only a transient stage ?)
Eventually I gave in and tried on some Docs. It was a last resort and... yup, sure enough, the 4 was too small and the 5 too big. They don't come in half sizes.
Just as despair was setting in, ChrisC suggested a trip to Camden and, after a lot of enjoyable wandering about looking at things which were almost entirely irrelevant, we happened on an army-surplus stall. Did they, I asked hopelessly, have any of those nice, solid looking army boots in a 4 ?
To my surprise, they did. But they were too big. Did they have a size smaller ? They did. One pair of gel insoles, and I have my black boots. Size "235" German para boots (I guess the size might be 235mm ?), thirty quid. I can't imagine why I didn't think of it earlier.
I also went to see New Model Army on Saturday night, at the Astoria.
A couple of songs into the set, the opening words of Fate drifted out and suddenly, over on the far side of the venue, a guy was up on someone's shoulders. The security guard up in the balcony observed and, after the way of his kind, frantically flashed his torch.
Ah well, I thought, that's the end of an era. Although venues generally frown on people sitting or standing on each others' shoulders, somehow NMA gigs always seem to have got away with it. Admittedly, there seem to be fewer people doing it now than when I stared going, and I've not seen a tower three-people high in a long time, but I'd put that down more to the fans getting older, wiser and creakier than anything else.
As Mr Security frantically brandished his Maglite, I confidently expected downstairs security to put a stop to all this human mountaineering. I think Mr Security confidently expected that, too. Instead... nothing. Eventually Mr Security stopped signalling;the lone standee stayed where he was until the song ended, when he slipped quietly back into the throng. People seemed to be free to sit or stand on shoulders regardless of peril. As far as I'm aware, that's unheard of anywhere other than large outdoor festivals. A pair of people-on-shoulders made an amazingly incompetent attempt at forming a "whirling dervish spinning round" in Here Comes The War and crashed to the floor without so much as a raised eyebrow from Mr Security.
Do NMA cut some kind of deal with the Astoria security ?
Oh, and top marks to the girl who'd managed to invent herself and entire set of actions to the chorus of The Charge :)
I enjoyed the set, but did feel it was a little... subdued. This probably wasn't helped by my slightly lukewarm reaction to their latest album - though there were relatively few songs off it in the set. I enjoyed the gig, and there were still some great songs, but somehow something seemed to be slightly missing. Was anyone else there ? Was it a quiet night, or am I just getting jaded in my old age ?
I also think the police must have stolen Justin Sullivan's hair... again. After a quick whip round the UK's rock names, only Liam Gallagher was prepared to loan out his hair for the evening. What is going on there ?
In other news, the new guitarist seems well up to scratch. And because I like cheesey backing vocals, I'm pleased to hear Poison Street coming out more often again - in this case, as a showcase for new-guitarist's screaming-solo ability. I'm not 100% convinced of the wisdom of letting Nelson play the drums, though. I mean - you know how much I approve of two-drummer action, right ? Except it Just Doesn't Work if both drummers are playing the same thing. Nelson and Michael Dean got it together (or rather, got it not together) and managed a little syncopation on No Sense but for the rest of the time I'm not convinced it added anything.
Picture if you will, a scene where a Venta aged about 16 or so trots self-consciously into the covered market in a far-flung northern town, looking for footwear. She trots out again with a pair of size4 black DMs. They are DM shoes. Later, just before she goes to university, she will graduate to size4 8-hole black DM boots.
While at university, Venta walks around a lot, and walks her way through boots quite fast. Every couple of years, there is a scene were she goes to a shop, and buys a pair of size4 8 or 10-hole black DM boots. These boots are made of stiff leather; there is an uncomfortable interlude of a few weeks while the new boots are persuaded to behave, perhaps at the cost of a few blisters, and then she's off striding the streets again.
Now cut to a scene in a wet, wintry November. Venta is reminded as she splashes through the puddles that her current boots leak badly, and she goes to a shop on Gloucester Green. Aware that her feet are very wet, she buys a pair of size4 10-hole black DM boots without trying them on. Once home and dry, she begins the perilous breaking-in process.
Which goes on.
And on.
And on.
It's almost as if the boots were too small. Have her feet grown ?
Six months later, at a folk festival she encounters a stall selling DM boots very cheaply, and purchases a pair of size4 8-holes. They are grey, but appear to fit. They are immediately comfortable, and she relegates the nasty black boots to the back of the wardrobe in disgrace.
Which sounds like a happy ending. However...
The grey boots are starting to show signs of wearing. Plus they are, well... grey. Which is a good colour to be, but does occasionally look a little odd when one is wearing black. I decided that I did really need to get some decent black lace-up boots - intermittent attempts to tame the last black pair have failed, repeatedly.
I wanted plain, black lace up boots. Words like "waterproof" and "hard-wearing" - maybe even "stout" - should feature in their description. Have you any idea how difficult they are to find ? I didn't want walking-boot style boots, and I didn't want boots with floppity suede sides and mysterious bits of fur poking out uncomfortably through the laces. Basically, I wanted Docs (although come to think of it my Docs have never been waterproof, though everyone else has always claimed theirs are). But I'd evolved a theory: The pair of unfitting Docs I bought were made at the new factory in (I think) China. The pair of lovely grey boots were "old stock", still with the made-in-England logo. I theorised that the design changed very slightly when they moved manufacture from England, and that I was thus doomed from now on.
I had a number of fruitless expeditions into shoe shops - at best I could find things which would just about do... ish. But then I usually discovered they cost in excess of a hundred pounds and went right off the idea again. Had I been a bloke, Cat boots would have been fine. But if you want ladies' Cat boots - and when you're a size4, there's not a lot of option - they come in beige. Or pink. You can get ladies' Timberland boots in black but (a) they have a stupid white ankle-cuff bit, (b) they're pretty much walking boots and (c) you need a mortage.
(Incidentally - as far as I can tell, childrens' shoes don't go up past about 2, and blokes' shoes start about 6 or 7. What do you do if you're a guy with size5 feet, even if it's only a transient stage ?)
Eventually I gave in and tried on some Docs. It was a last resort and... yup, sure enough, the 4 was too small and the 5 too big. They don't come in half sizes.
Just as despair was setting in, ChrisC suggested a trip to Camden and, after a lot of enjoyable wandering about looking at things which were almost entirely irrelevant, we happened on an army-surplus stall. Did they, I asked hopelessly, have any of those nice, solid looking army boots in a 4 ?
To my surprise, they did. But they were too big. Did they have a size smaller ? They did. One pair of gel insoles, and I have my black boots. Size "235" German para boots (I guess the size might be 235mm ?), thirty quid. I can't imagine why I didn't think of it earlier.
I also went to see New Model Army on Saturday night, at the Astoria.
A couple of songs into the set, the opening words of Fate drifted out and suddenly, over on the far side of the venue, a guy was up on someone's shoulders. The security guard up in the balcony observed and, after the way of his kind, frantically flashed his torch.
Ah well, I thought, that's the end of an era. Although venues generally frown on people sitting or standing on each others' shoulders, somehow NMA gigs always seem to have got away with it. Admittedly, there seem to be fewer people doing it now than when I stared going, and I've not seen a tower three-people high in a long time, but I'd put that down more to the fans getting older, wiser and creakier than anything else.
As Mr Security frantically brandished his Maglite, I confidently expected downstairs security to put a stop to all this human mountaineering. I think Mr Security confidently expected that, too. Instead... nothing. Eventually Mr Security stopped signalling;the lone standee stayed where he was until the song ended, when he slipped quietly back into the throng. People seemed to be free to sit or stand on shoulders regardless of peril. As far as I'm aware, that's unheard of anywhere other than large outdoor festivals. A pair of people-on-shoulders made an amazingly incompetent attempt at forming a "whirling dervish spinning round" in Here Comes The War and crashed to the floor without so much as a raised eyebrow from Mr Security.
Do NMA cut some kind of deal with the Astoria security ?
Oh, and top marks to the girl who'd managed to invent herself and entire set of actions to the chorus of The Charge :)
I enjoyed the set, but did feel it was a little... subdued. This probably wasn't helped by my slightly lukewarm reaction to their latest album - though there were relatively few songs off it in the set. I enjoyed the gig, and there were still some great songs, but somehow something seemed to be slightly missing. Was anyone else there ? Was it a quiet night, or am I just getting jaded in my old age ?
I also think the police must have stolen Justin Sullivan's hair... again. After a quick whip round the UK's rock names, only Liam Gallagher was prepared to loan out his hair for the evening. What is going on there ?
In other news, the new guitarist seems well up to scratch. And because I like cheesey backing vocals, I'm pleased to hear Poison Street coming out more often again - in this case, as a showcase for new-guitarist's screaming-solo ability. I'm not 100% convinced of the wisdom of letting Nelson play the drums, though. I mean - you know how much I approve of two-drummer action, right ? Except it Just Doesn't Work if both drummers are playing the same thing. Nelson and Michael Dean got it together (or rather, got it not together) and managed a little syncopation on No Sense but for the rest of the time I'm not convinced it added anything.
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Date: 2005-10-19 01:42 am (UTC)FWIW, I'm currently living in a pair of baseball boots that cost me a tenner, and hence looking like an ageing Ramone ;~)