Kinky Boots
I’m not a big shopper or a fashionista, but let me tell you about some perfect boots I bought back in the 1970s when we were living in London for an all-too-brief, magical time. (See also Laundry Day in London, Inks and Derek: Art and the Cricket Scores, Valentine’s Day in Foggytown, and Intro to Cookery)
One day I went shopping for some chic black leather boots that were then all the rage, and in a Kings Road shop I found a fabulous pair that fit perfectly. The only problem was the £35 price tag.
The exchange rate then was $2.50 to the pound, and I knew that would make an $87.50 dent in our American budget, more than I would ever pay for boots in those days.
But I really wanted those great-looking boots, and they fit so well that somehow my brain refused to compute, and I kept telling myself they were a real bargain at only $35. And, I further rationalized, for only another $35 I could buy a pair in brown, and I’d have the perfect boots to go with everything in my wardrobe!
And so I bought both pairs, and let me tell you that walking around London in those fabulous boots, I felt like a million bucks!
– Dana Susan Lehrman
Dana Susan LehrmanThis retired librarian loves big city bustle and cozy country weekends, friends and family, good books and theatre, movies and jazz, travel, tennis, Yankee baseball, and writing about life as she sees it on her blog World Thru Brown Eyes!
www.WorldThruBrownEyes.com
Sometimes you just have to do it! Glad wearing them made you feel so great.
Thanx Betsy, absolutely!
Good call, Dana. As they say, you only live once!
Thanx Laurie, and you might as have great boots in that life!
Fun story, Dana. And you confirm what marketers have always told us: when you buy something, it should be more about the feeling than the actual product. Though that probably applies more to shoes than paper clips.
Yes indeed John, and if it makes you feel like a million bucks – buy it!
Reading a price tag as dollars instead of pounds can get really dangerous, Dana, I hope you didn’t do too much of that during your year in London! But I’m sure your enjoyment of those boots was well worth the price.
Thanx Suzy, I don’t think I made that conversion mistake often, I guess it was just me justifying that pricey purchase, and they must have been really well-made because I did wear them for years!
And luckily Britain had just gone decimal at the time so at least I didn’t have to worry about shillings!
Now that’s my kind of rationalization, Dee!
Yeah Bebe, sometimes a girl just has to eat the cake and buy the boots!
Sometimes the satisfaction is priceless, Dana, and you just had to have those boots. I think all of us get it, hence my “best shoes ever.” Certainly not needed, totally worth it!
Thanx Marian, the satisfaction was indeed priceless!
No regrets! That’s the way to live when you see the boots of your dreams!
Yep!
If only mountain bikes could be had for that price! Of course, now, a good pair of boots might set one back a month’s rent.
You look great in that picture. Did you buy the car as well?
Thanx Dave but that’s neither me not my car in the image!
But to see what I once did to our T-bird see my story Fender Bender.
https://www.myretrospect.com/stories/fender-bender/
Both were ‘made for walking’ … reminds me of my fondness for support sox.
Yes indeed Kevin!
Those boots clearly helped make that brief magical time in London even more memorable. And still bringing back that time. Those boots were made for walking.
Yep Khati, I loved those boots and loved London more, rainy weather and all!