Monday 20 November, 2006

Camp

I would like you to meet my new pair of Campers. I bought them on Saturday and the buying of them alerted me to a situation I feel the need to share: Camper addiction.

So, I bought one pair, and Virginia bought two, and that brings the total number of Campers that reside in this house to nineteen. 19. NINETEEN. Yes, that's right folks, one and nine. In the interest of partner confidentiality I will dwell on my own contribution to this shared problem.

It all began with these:

I bought them at Prime, in Brunswick St, four years ago. They are unisex, much loved and well worn. After I discovered them no other shoes felt so comfortable, or looked such a rich, yet natural chocolate brown. Almost every pair of shoes I have bought since, have been Campers. (Except these: )

These are my most comfortable Campers. I bought them in San Francisco in March. They caused marital tension because we had to race out of the shop because the parking meter was running out and then we couldn't find a second pair in any other Camper store or online. We do try not to double up, but it's not always possible. These sandles have the honor of being my grottiest pair of Campers as I bought them 3 years ago for a work trip to India when I wanted to look nice. It rained most of the time I was in Delhi and these toes are the result of that:

Now here we have the sole of my most-loved boots ever. I have worn them every day of the last two Winters, and some. I walked past them for a year at Prime as the price dropped from $400 to $200. (Being the largest size has its advantages. Not many people have feet as big as mine.) And here are my favorite boots with some friends. They are having a boot party. While I am less in love with my second pair of boots (also bought at the San Francisco Camper store) I do like them very much. Note the very delicate heel:

Here are the soles of my practical, black, least-loved Campers. And check out the toes of my least-worn, second most recently purchased Campers which I also bought because I thought that I needed some shoes that made a vague gesture to the fact I'm a woman. By which I mean a non-clunky shape, rather than the fact that the word Love is writ upon them. Bizarrely I only realized that fact when I took this photograph.

On which note, I present you with my girliest, (and, apparently, hardest to source Campers. That's according to Ebay. But I'm not sure my blue felties shown a few pics up aren't my rarest ones.)

As well as being my girliest, these are also my most stained pair of shoes. They are also very tight across the toes, so probably my least comfortable pair of Campers.