Viagra-Wet Beach Towels-R.M. Williams

Man-I’ve never been happier to be back at Casa Minimus. I’m not a nervous flyer but the weather yesterday was dodgy and the air was thick. I had a bumpy ride all the way back to DC and I’m not a nervous flyer in the least. I crossed the moat and into the house a bit after one in the morning. I remain tucked into bed with strong coffee and three Chips Ahoy cookies to prime the pump before ambling over to the office. No need to rush this morning and the grip of my down featherbed has me nicely swaddled.

Toad insisted early on that I drop the code word verification thing on the comments page and I readily saw the merit in doing so. I don’t mind too much having to type in said code when commenting on posts but it is nice when one doesn’t have to do it. However, I’ve been getting scores of junk comments over the last few weeks-all of them offer great deals on Viagra. This my friends, makes me paranoid. I remember getting junk emails before spam filters and firewalls were so effective and they were all the same things-erectile solutions-credit score improvements and lower interest rate refi offers. I used to think….”damn…they must be mind readers”!

So here’s my deal. I’m not going to implement the code word thingy. I’ll just keep deleting the comments when the spammers send them. As for Viagra-The day I can no longer pass the wet beach towel test, I’ll gladly line up for the amazing interventions that the pharmaceutical industry offers mankind.

I think it was about ten years ago. Walking in Gotham I spotted a great pair of boots in the window of some shop that specializes in Australian goods. The boots are obviously made for all types of weather but the thing that caught my eye was that they looked streamlined enough to wear with dress clothes in bad weather. I’d been searching for something like that. My closet at that time housed Red Wing boots and various versions of our Trad standard-the L.L. Bean blucher. To me though, these really didn’t fit the bill for a foul weather “dressier boot”.

So I’m talking to the guy that runs the shop and he’s spreading Crocodile Dundee lore thick. “You can’t get these boots anywhere else mate. Made by R. M. Williams-single piece of leather-unique to the antipodean realm. As a matter of fact, I don’t even think I’m gonna sell you a pair. And if I do decide to allow procurement-they are four hundred dollars”. This guy was good.

Now I wanted the boots. And in this rare instance, I could almost rationalize needing them. Four hundred bucks is a lot of dough today and was certainly a fair amount a decade ago. My appetite for the boots waned in a nanosecond. E-commerce was evolving at a fair pace ten years ago-even pre Google I was able to find a place called the Stitching Horse Bootery in Australia that sells R.M. Williams boots. The dollar was really strong at the time and long story short-I was able to get the boots for less than two hundred bucks. 

I also picked up a d-ring kangaroo belt at the same time. When I wear it I’m jumpy as hell.

I’d say that the R.M. Williams boots have been one of my all time best purchases. Still holding up well albeit with a few character building nicks here and there. They saw me off to Indianapolis this week-accompanying my J. Press crewneck Fair Isle sweater vest and moleskin trousers. I probably couldn’t have picked better togs for the dodgy weather manifest this week. I snapped this pic at five thirty the other morning before heading to the airport. Not sure what you look like at five thirty so be gentle in your observations. Shut up.

Meg over at Pigtown asked me if mine were Blundstones. Indeed they are not. Now I’m not knocking Blunnies but the R. M. Williams boot is less clunky-a bit more streamlined and it’s the little details that usually sway me. See the difference?

I had some time when I landed at the airport in Indy-which by the way sports a nice new terminal that was almost like a ghost town. Indy-very beige city. It’s a Camry. Ok, I know you are starting to drift a bit-my Adderall hasn’t quite kicked in yet. My R.M. shoddings were in need of a shine so I had one of the Indy airport shinemeisters work a number on ‘em. I wear suede shoes 99% of the time so the proverbial shine stand doesn’t see too much of me.

Guess the airport carpet and you win ten bucks. The Flusser three-two…notch lapel…open pleated patch pockets is a winter time fave. As LFG would say-“It’s cuddly”. Sounds a bit twee but it really is sort of like a blanket. I think every trad wardrobe should include hair of the camel.

Ok…I’ve gotta end this sleep-in sartorial drivel and head to the shower.

Onward-with antipodean kicks.

ADG