Doc Martens!!

A couple of weeks ago, I received an email from someone who reads this blog regularly. She'd heard about Daphne's and my writings through a listserv and had been following my hunt for good footwear. The latter, built for punishing demands, is a must for people who have physical disabilities, cannot afford public transit fare and must walk everywhere.

"You say you wear a 7? I have a pair of lightly-used soft black leather Doc Martens boots which are too big for my ... feet ... and I'd be happy to ship them to you if you'd find them useful.... I was going to eBay them but I'd just as soon ... send them directly to a good home!"

DOC MARTENS! Oh, my poor aching feet!

Well, I received the parcel today and it contained a further bonus: one pair of casual burgundy flats, suitable for more dress-up occasions (relatively speaking - I avoid truly dress-up events like the plague). I'd been wearing my black shoes, the ones with the great slashes in the soles, for that. Like my old runners, also with great slashes in their soles, after I'd picked up a gently-used pair of Sauconys recently, the old black flats are headed for the trash bin.

Now I have SIX pairs of decent shoes: brown winter hiking boots, burgundy casual flats, black Reeboks, light grey Saucony's, black Doc Martens (they are soooo soft, like butter, and surprisingly light), and the copper brown Rockports I've had for several years and have poorly abused, requiring them to do extra, very wet duty.

Am still on the hunt for durable, comfortable sandals, suitable for hiking-walking-trailblazing. Should probably also get a pair of Wellingtons or some such footwear for walking in the rain.

Still, if I never got those I'd still be happy, having gone from owing three pairs of shoes, two of which were ten years old and had 3" slashes in their soles - and only one of which was any good for walking -, to six pairs of really good shoes. With care, those six pairs should last me the rest of my walking days. That's the goal, anyway.