I recently broke down and bought myself new shoes to replace the old Sketchers that I thought I could gamely patch with hot-glue. That patch did do the trick, but then other parts of the shoe started to fail, splitting apart so much that I could see my socks peeking out when I walked. Thankfully I have not had to ford a lot of slush this past winter or deal with any ponding water now that spring is here, but now that spring is here, it was only going to be a matter of time before I would be truly sorry, with soggy feet.

While out shopping for shoes for Scott we ended up stopping at a Famous Footwear shop in the local mall. As Scott is so fond of saying, I apparently have a thing about shoe shopping. He says it’s a thing, I notice a little bit but perhaps it’s more than just a little to an outside observer. That day Scott didn’t find any shoes to replace his sorry kicks but I did. I always have issues with buying shoes because I have big wide feet and so a lot of popular shoe manufacturers are just out of the question. UnderArmour, Nike, Adidas, the sportier brands just can’t cut it. They cater to little precious narrow little baby-man feet, not these clod-hoppers at the end of my ankles. I was just buzzing around, not really seriously looking for anything in particular but came across a nice pair of leather shoes and I spotted the soles, which bore the distinctive characteristics of Dr. Marten. So, what about English shoes that are made in Vietnam? Well, the english bits are pure marketing hokum, but we don’t pay any attention that they were shipped here on a slow boat from Asia. Anyhow, these new shoes fit surprisingly well and were very easy on my feet. As usual new shoes radically correct the pronation in my feet and so my balance is shot for a few days while I re-acclimate to a proper foot geometry. These particular ones bear the model name of “Sussex” and the more I wear them, the more I like them. Apparently, and I don’t know if this is a real kind of shoe or just some goofy name that the Dr. Marten’s company has invented for these shoes, but they apparently are “chukkas” and they are not as low as sneakers, not as high as high-tops, have very few eyelets for the laces, but have a very comfortable footpad which makes walking quite enjoyable on my feet. They are made of a really nice leather and I was reading around on how to best care for them so they don’t crack and wear-out faster than they should and every pointer suggested cleaning and sealing the leather with baby oil. Frankly that idea worked out tremendously well. It darkened the leather just a little bit, but it also waterproofed the leather which is kind of nice to see when you accidentally tromp through a puddle and your shoes resist every single drop. Anyhow, ever since I bought them and wore them I’ve been very happy with them. My shoes no longer squeak, leak, or look like they’ve been run over by a lawnmower.

So if you’re looking for shoes, I can heartily recommend these. I’ve just about had enough with Sketchers as they don’t really last as long as I think they should and how they fall apart is kind of pitiful. I’ve kept them because while they aren’t really good shoes any longer, they’ll do quite nicely when I have to mow the lawn or do gardening. It will be very interesting to see just how long these Doc Martens last. I’m rough on shoes, my pronation is rather, and it’ll be a real challenge to see if I warp and wear these shoes down or if they are as durable as the marketing staff at Doc Martens says they are. We shall see. Due to a pricetag goofup at the shoe store I got these for about $60, when the list is $90. Even still, I think these shoes would have been a steal at market prices even, but I am glad for the accidental deep discount.