These Boots Were Made for Gawking
Jan 24th, 2008 by Marilyn
It’s always an eye-opener when your shoes – no, your boots – are more popular than you are.
What? Had to read that twice? Me too.
Here’s the thing – I ordered a pair of Hunter boots – “Wellingtons” in the United Kingdom, where they are beloved for gardening, fly fishing, hunting – all the things I do (not). But I’m a little unhinged devoted to all things English, and there’s a heap of cold snow outside, so I turned to the traditional waterproof wellies. I even got the warm, fleecy liner socks that let you turn them into all-weather wellies.
They shipped them to me using the special crazy person Anglophile rate.
wellies by the door – the photo that started it all
The Queen wears wellies. She wears them in nice boring green, like me, though I do not carry a matching bag and hat. Helen Mirren wore them in The Queen, every time she almost shot a deer or romped with her corgis.
Let me be clear: I LOVE my wellingtons, and have forsaken all other boots. Love ‘em.
And…so do a lot of other people.
In a giddy rush of pleasure – just opening the Hunter “By Appointment to her Majesty the Queen, blah blah blah” box nearly made me expire – I snapped a few photos of my boots. I uploaded them to my Flickr photostream, because in this odd, post-blog era, I think nothing of posting pictures of my walls, my signs, my dog, what I had for breakfast…or my boots.
A very few people look at my Flickr photos. My parents, my in-laws, my daughter…a tiny but dedicated number of readers, bless them…and perhaps my mailman, after I told him he should be reading my blog. A nice tidy few normal people. And then: the boots.
The viewing stats on those innocent pics went from 1-2 views to something like 72 views. Overnight.
What was it? Well, turns out that people love them some British boots. I mean love wellies and like looking at them and are probably looking at them right now.
Members of the well-meaning Flickr “Wellington community” – and if they are some kind of shoe cult, should I back away slowly, or join up and get first news on sales? – posted comments. They kept clicking. People from far-flung countries kept looking at my boots. The numbers were going up, and up.
Who are these people, and why are they staring at my wellies?
To be honest, the UK sizing was too big on my absurdly small feet, and I tried to get Josie, whose feet are officially bigger than mine, to take the boots. But she made a face. The green rubber boots were uncool.
“But Queen Elizabeth wears them,” I told her, “when she’s at Windsor.” Bad move. “Kate Moss wears them…she looks completely hot in them. They are cool boots. Cool hot Kate Moss boots from happening London.”
Josie told me I was no Kate Moss.
Oh, snap! Ouch! But it’s true. I’m about as tall as one of her legs.
So now I’m wearing the wellies anyway. They’re warm, they’re dry, they’ve got traction…and frankly, I don’t want to leave the house without them on. I wear them in the snow, in the slush, to the store, out to dinner, to Elle photo shoots, drinks with Madonna – you know.
So what if Kate wears hers with nothing but short shorts and I wear mine with a full body parka. My boots are being stalked on Flickr. Maybe they’re just looking at the stairs?
