|
You know how sometimes, you feel that you shouldn't do something, then you do it anyway, and realise that you were right all along about feeling that you shouldn't have done it?
Today was one of those days for me.
One of the items on my list of things to do here was to buy new shoes. My favourite Nikes are now seriously long on tooth, and while they fit me like they were moulded on my feet (and in many ways, they were), one begins to notice the look in the eyes of people who see you walk in with them, as they grope in their pockets for some loose change. (Some people don't recognise history when they see it - when I started buying these shoes on September 11th, 2001, the Twin Trade Center buildings were still standing in New York. When I paid for the shoes, the buildings were gone)
So today was the day that I was to set out and go buy the shoes.
But I woke up this morning with the feeling of "avoid this at all costs!". Just a gut feel, but then I have a big gut, so lots of feel, and when my gutfeel tries to tell me something, it is usually like an amplifier with the volume set to 11 - you tend to not miss it.
I heard, but I didn't listen - I set out, mom in tow, to buy new shoes. And it was a disaster.
Every pair I tried was either too large or too small, too tight or too loose, too plain or too "jhang", too cheap or too expensive. I wear European size 46 (that's what my current Nikes are), and naturally I looked around for those. But they were all too big! So I looked for something smaller, like 45 or 44. 44 was about right, but 45 was too big. Apart from that - everything I saw was (to use a hacker term) "fugly".
I finally found something that I liked (looks-wise), and guess what? They had it in size 43, size 45 ... but not in size 44.
Bah!
So we went off to the sports shoe section, where they have the branded stuff. Tried a size 44 - and couldn't even get my feet in!
Hey!
Tried 45 - and still too tight!
Tried 46, and it was too loose!
Are Nike, Adidas and Reebok trying to mess with my mind?
Luckily you get half sizes as well in sportshoes, so settled on 45.5. Even found shoes I liked the looks off. Tried them on and...
...none of the shoes I tried had a heel space deep enough to grip my heel, resulting in my heel coming out of the shoe while walking, even with the laces tied. I had the same problem in India: for some reason, Nike, Adidas, Reebok and others make all their shoes with low heel space designs. While my existing shoes grip my heels comfortably, these new shoes without fail did not.
So I gave up. I wasn't going to spend money on a pair of shoes that feel like bathroom slippers (no heel grip). Especially because I can get the exact same shoes, by the same companies, in India for 40% lower prices.
As I returned all the shoes to the racks where they came from, my second phone beeped - I had received an SMS. (When I travel internationally, I always carry two phones, one with my regular roaming Airtel SIM in it, the other with a prepaid SIM card for the place where I would be). This was my "Berlin" phone beeping. I checked the SMS, and it said that I have only 2 euros left in my prepaid phone account.
What the hell? I had just topped up 15 euros worth yesterday! And haven't made any phone calls!
On a hunch, checked my call logs. Sure enough, several long calls to my brother-in-law's mobile number in Seattle. About 15 euros worth! I guess Abhijeet now has about lots of voice mail, where he can listen to me bending down tying my shoelaces many times over.
Note to self: on Nokia phones, it is Menu-* to lock the phone keypad.
We came home, after stopping for dinner on the way, where I demolished a Sauerkraut Teller to make myself feel better about this disaster day.
Bottomline: I spent enough money on this outing (voluntarily and involuntarily) to buy a new pair of shoes.
Except that I don't have a new pair of shoes.
| 
Mobile
RSS Feed
