Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Anything but knitting

People talk a lot about the weather, have you noticed? I spend a lot of time thinking about it too, and planning for it. Scheming to get through it as practically yet fashionably as possible (practicality being more important now than when I was 19.)

When I was a student crossing a wide muddy park every day for classes, I longed for rubber boots - but I was ahead of my time and could only find hideous pale grey ones that came to mid-calf and let the rain in if you wore them with a skirt. Now you can't walk into a discount department store without falling over rows of bright stripey, flowery, or polka-dot boots, and you can be choosy. Do you want heavy ones that smell like a chemical plant but have great patterns, or do you want softer floppier ones that don't? To the knee or to the ankle? With heel or without? Maybe you should get more than one pair, since they work all year - in the rain, in deep snow with lots of wool socks inside, in the midsummer garden.

Yesterday was a rubber boot day (category: rain.) Today is just cold. Not as cold as South Dakota or Ottawa, but cold enough to choose a down coat over a cloth one. Too cold even for snow. But it'll come, and when it does I'm sure I'll be back into my pink polka dot rubber boots, in either coat, both being a perfect match for them. Because, you know, I'm so practical.

1 comment:

Kathleen Taylor said...

We aren't plagued so much with wet (though the mud in the spring is terrible), so I don't need rubber boots, but even here you can find really cool ones. However, I've had the same pair of men's Sorell snow boots for over 20 years. They still keep my feet nice and warm, but they're not exactly cute. Maybe I should look for a new, warm pair. (not that I need an excuse for procrastination, but I'll take 'em where I find 'em).