13/09/2016
This summer I happened up on a pair of Grenson “Masterpiece” brogues, well used and going for a song. The leather sole and heel were pretty worn down, but the careful owner had taken wonderful care of the upper, they were polished to a deep, gleaming lustre and looked pretty great. So, given my preference for some proper rubber under…
11/09/2016
Part one covered my experiences the first half of the week, which was spent in Edinburgh. In this part we pack up the car and head North. Attempting to get an understanding of Scotland by staying a week in Edinburgh is obviously a futile exercise, so we had decided that this would be a half and half holiday, kind of…
10/09/2016
The British shoe industry has a long and glorious tradition behind it. Most of the well known names have been producing quality traditional shoes for 150 years or more, and do a splendid job as well. Goodyear welts, intricate brogue patterns, sublime craftsmanship and basically doing things as they have always been done. Hardly surprising really, as human feet are…
09/09/2016
While in Edinburgh this summer I happened to stop by Harvey Nichols and found their sale was on. I scored a cracking deal on a pair of Red Wing boots, and found an interesting shirt as well. The shirt is green, in a slightly military cut, and made from “Tencel“. This grabbed my attention, as I’d not come across it before.…
04/09/2016
So, I know you’ve been waiting for me to report on the second half of my Summer holidays. My trip to Barcelona (really Sitges) can be read here, here and here. In stark contrast to the sunny excess of Spain, the second week saw us head off to Scotland, home of the brave and eternal rain. Or so we were…
28/08/2016
One of the aspects I enjoy most about being a blogger is getting to know interesting people and this week I had a long chat with the chap behind new label “Lane Fortyfive“. The chat, as it turned out, was very much a coming together of minds, as Tan is ticking a huge number of checkboxes when it comes to…
13/08/2016
Remember back when you were a kid? There was no Internet and the closest you got to the wisdom of Google was your dad? When information came by way of newspapers or TV and libraries were awesome, though not so much on the sort of important breaking news that was the lifeblood of being a hip teenager? Today we’re so utterly…
11/08/2016
Combining features has long been a way for products to innovate. The Germans do the Kinder Eggs, promising three distinct joys for a single purchase. The Swiss army have, by way of Victorinox, Wenger or whatever, introduced the world to the sheer joy of combining an increasing number of tools in one (now barely) hand held piece. I’ll not hotly…
09/08/2016
A number of years ago I took up running. I came to it late in life, and until then I’d quite frankly avoided it, so I was more surprised than anyone that I ended up rather enjoying it. Very much more so than most other forms of exercise that I’ve tried. If you’d like to know how I got started, I…
07/08/2016
We’ve all been there. Squeezed up against the window in some public transport or other, jammed solidly in place, no possible means of dignified escape. It’s not the physical restraint that is the main issue, more a matter of olfactory lockdown, if you get my drift. We’re talking about the terror of a woman of advanced age (and no, I’m…