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Wednesday 22 February 2012

Shoes - Sepia Saturday

I have never understood all the fuss about shoes (our theme for this week); they say you should put your best foot forward so I guess its a case of:

Yarm shop
This led to a bout of window shopping for shoes (female of course).

Buckles & Bows, Yarm
And the appropriately named -

The Shoe Box,Yarm
This shop is in a narrow wynd; its other window looks like this -

The Show Box window
The dress shop round the corner on the High Street sells shoes as well.

Shoe Stripes
These looked decidedly elegant compared with a shop in Stockton which was as empty as it looked.

Shoe Zone, Stockton
Not at all attracted to this I decided to look back in history and rejoiced in finding this 'gallant.'

Pepys & Lady Batten
By James Digman Winfield - 1861

The Diary of Samuel Pepys for Wednesday 15 November 1665 reads in part: "Up and all the morning at the office, busy, and at noon to the King’s Head taverne, where all the Trinity House dined to-day, to choose a new Master in the room of Hurlestone, that is dead, and Captain Crispe is chosen. But, Lord! to see how Sir W. Batten governs all and tramples upon Hurlestone, but I am confident the Company will grow the worse for that man’s death, for now Batten, and in him a lazy, corrupt, doating rogue, will have all the sway there. After dinner who comes in but my Lady Batten, and a troop of a dozen women almost, and expected, as I found afterward, to be made mighty much of, but nobody minded them; but the best jest was, that when they saw themselves not regarded, they would go away, and it was horrible foule weather; and my Lady Batten walking through the dirty lane with new spicke and span white shoes, she dropped one of her galoshes in the dirt, where it stuck, and she forced to go home without one, at which she was horribly vexed, and I led her; and after vexing her a little more in mirth, I parted..."

In Edwardian times there were other delights:

High Heels 1910-1917

By Jean Agelou (1878-1921) - source www.edwardian-delights.com


I'd better stop at this point before I develop a high (heeled) fetish and return to what I posted recently under Pairs. 

Spare pair of shoes up street lamp in Norwich, Norfolk
(by Keith Evans -- CC A-SA 2.0 license)
But my favourite shoes will always be these  that you've seen before.
Sam worn out by gardening
OK they may be boots but


So perhaps you should walk right over to Sepia Saturday 114 and choose some more shoes.

29 comments:

David Robinson said...

Great post, Bob, as ever.

Love the picture of Sam :o)

Jocelyn said...

Fabulous post. Love Sam sleeping. Wonder when razors were invented for the use of underarm hair? Yarm seems very picturesque. I read that shoes hanging on overhead wires were a signal that drugs were sold nearby ??!!? And that Samuel is a real wit ^_~

Elizabeth Perrigin said...

I like those striped high heeled low cut boots. They are so excentric :)

Christine H. said...

Some nice shoes there, but my favorite is the photo of Sam with boots.

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Bob .. great shop fronts .. and the Pepys story - what a great read. Cheers Hilary

Kristin said...

I heard the shoes over the line that somebody was killed. I suspect many are tossed up just because people want to see if they can toss them up there.

Little Nell said...

Nice bit of publicity for small businesses in Yarm - well done Bob! I enjoyed the Pepys story but you can post that photo of Sam as often as you like I’ll never tire of it.

Postcardy said...

My favorite is the picture of your dog with the boots. It reminds me of a former cat that I had that liked to "guard" my slippers and shoes.

Mike Brubaker said...

Another great medley, Bob. And I agree "Sam and boots" is a winner.

Tattered and Lost said...

I too have never really understood the fascination with shoes. If I find a pair that are comfortable I wear them until they fall apart. Style doesn't even come into play.

Very entertaining post, most especially Sam. I think he personifies the saying about feet, "My dogs are tired."

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy said...

Oh, my gosh, Bob ... another wonderful post! I love the Nancy Sinatra video too; that was one of the first songs that I learned by heart.

Happy Sepia Saturday,


Kathy M.

North County Film Club said...

all those lovely shops and then the Shoe Zone.
I'll have to re-read Pepys diary - great quote you found to go along with the shoe theme.
Nancy

Lavender and Vanilla Friends of the Gardens said...

Bob, wonderful, shoes galore and a fine story about new white shoes, any lady would be vexed having them stuck in the mud! I really enjoyed your post.

21 Wits said...

Of course you would post Nancy and all about her famous boots! Great song! What stunning photos, and the word Yarm, we don't use that at all.... I just enjoy seeing the little differences of other countries! Cool post Bob!

Linda said...

I do favor comfort over style these days, but those striped shoes looked very interesting.

Joy said...

Those striped shoes have been a hit with everyone, how luscious. We will all be heading to Yarm:-) I do love the Pepys quote of him vexing Lady Battaen some more with mirth. So funny.

FCEtier said...

The shoes on the light post reminded me of the movie, "Wag the Dog."

Enjoyed this article!

RJ Clarken said...

Ohmigosh! I love your pictures for this prompt! And I actually remember that Nancy Sinatra song (yeah...I was really young at the time, but still...) ;D

Oh wow! I just realized - the captcha's first word is eSOLEsti! How weird is that?!

Linda@VS said...

Okay, my heart has officially melted at the sight of your sweet dog cuddled up next to the boots. I love the "Boots" video, too, and came SO close to posting it myself.

Kat Mortensen said...

Poor Sam! What did you do to him? He's tuckered out!

You certainly have lots of shoe stores in the area. What's Yarm?

Unknown said...

I liked the striped shoes too. When I was in public relations I wore a lot of really nice shoes. But my favorites were the sensible ones I wore as a nurse. Still wear those kinds. Nice post. I loved the excerpt from the diary.
QMM

Bob Scotney said...

Thanks for all your comments folks.

Perhaps I should have made it clearer Yarm is the small town in North Yorkshire where I used to live until we moved to a small village 2 miles away.

Alan Burnett said...

That is quite a walk you take us on. There are some grand images there but my goodness doesn't that "Shoe Zone" one stand out due to its in-your-face, over-the-top lack of subtelty.

Jo said...

It looks like Yarm is a good place for shoe shopping, but I like the photo of Sam and the boots best :-)

Bob Scotney said...

@Alan - that Shoe Zone is yet another sign of a High Street (Stockton) dying on its feet!

Bruno Laliberté said...

You know those hanging shoes on the pole mean there's a street gang in the area dealing drugs and such?...
:/~
HUGZ

Bob Scotney said...

@Ticklebear - that's a practic I;ve not heard of in the UK.

Bruno Laliberté said...

Really?
That's common practice in North America.

Wendy said...

Another meaning of shoes hanging from wires -- drug dealer or gang member is dead (that is, murdered) so he won't be needing those shoes anymore. Anyway, don't shoe stores have clever names?!