my favouritest shoes

there they are:


aren't these the best looking shoes ever? elegant, sporty and comfy at the same time. geez, i love you, Ecco Catch Slippers!

i found them by chance a couple of years ago in a small store in downtown Warnemünde (yepp, i was in tourist mode). seagulls all over the place, attacking people with yucky baked fish in their hands, trying to actually eat it. okay, i admit it, i was one of them but after one bite i gladly left it for the hungry birds to finish. an experience i don't have to make again.

so, there i was, a shopping grump, forced by my girlfriend to enter each and every shop along the whole bloody tourist strip. i was not happy, jen! so, after a bit of moping and standing around and staring, i decided i should at least use some of this wasted time and look around for a new pair of shoes. i needed one anyway. and you never know, you might actually find the perfect fit with the perfect look in a spot as desolate as Warnemünde.

I DID! and the best thing: it was ON SALE! i should have known then that this was my last chance to hoard as many of these shoes as possible but my account at the time was in a constant state of malnourishment. even this one pair almost meant bread and water for the rest of the month... i know, drama. that's the fabric of life... big sigh.

anyhow, i never regretted having spent my last penny on them. they were a part of me and my feet for the longest time. they still are BUT i forgot them in berlin the other day. next visit in four weeks. what a desaster! all of a sudden, i was shoeless. well, not exactly but i suddenly realised that these shoes were the only ones comfortable and still good-looking enough to go to work with and meet new clients... in the end, i had to dig out old shoes and wear them. result: sore feet and a feeling of self-consciousness.

hmmm, so far, so good. what do you do in this kind of situation? yes, you get on the net and order a new pair online. was about time anyway... so i did, only to find out that there is NOT ONE pair left in my size on the whole bloody planet! BUGGERINSKI! i was ready to actually spend a good bit of money just to have the same pair of shoes one or two or three more times!!!

so what now? i did the next best thing: i wrote a letter to the manufacturer begging them to reintegrate my all-time favouritest shoe in the new collection... yes, that's how desperate i was... i am...

two days later i ordered a pair of the current collection. not on sale. not the same. i'm devastated.

but wait! maybe that's my calling: make my own shoes! become a shoemaker!

call me MICHAEL! and buy me a helmet! HA!