Friday, July 21, 2006

The City Of Lost Shoes

Ever notice something, say a person on crutches or a redhead (for example), and then for the rest of the day, or the rest of the week, you keep noticing the same thing?

For me this is Lost Shoe Week. It started with a man's black brogue in the gutter near my house. Then the unusual sight of a pair of Adidas men's slides in another street in my neighbourhood. Unusual because the Lost Shoe seems to be normally a solitary beast. Yesterday it was a lavender coloured child's Croc clog in the gutter outside a pre-school near my house (since collected). Today it was a cheap multi-coloured lady's mule, sort of a summer sandal type thing, in a street near my work.

It would have made a good photo essay, all these Lost Shoes, but being such a reclusive creature they only seem to come out of hiding when I don't have my camera with me.

3 comments:

Miss Eudoxia said...

That is so true. I had a lost shoe week several weeks ago.....maybe the lost shoe fairy is slowly making its way south?
We also get runs in the clinic. A disease you don't see for ages suddenly appears 3x in a week, and it's not because you are looking out for it more.

Therin of Andor said...

My aunt used to take her three daughters, my Mum, my two brothers and I (all in her tiny car) to different Westfield shopping centres when we were kids during school holidays. One day, two workman holding a huge pane of glass walked by and I, being all of about nine years old said, quite nonchalantly, "Now there's something you don't see every day..."

Needless to add, every time we were out with my aunt - over many, many years - we'd inevitably spot two guys walking by with a pane or two, or at the very least a broken window, or a glass replacement truck, or something similar.

And one day soon, I'm gonna have to tell you my little-wizened-man-with-Coke-bottle-glasses anecdotes. It still chills me to remember him tap, tap, tapping in the dark.

As for lost shoes, there is the Dilemma of The Broken Thong. Someone's out walking, one thong strap breaks, so they step out of both and just keep walking - barefooted. But then, ultimately, the two thongs get separated; perhaps one goes sailing off down a flooded gutter and the other gets carried off by a kleptomaniac dog.

There is a certain irony that when your next thong strap breaks, the old thong (had you saved it) could have served as an emergency replacement. Except they're probably both left (or right) feet anyway.

Miss Wired said...

It's been a "banshee" themed weekend for me.