Riding Boots: not farewell yet.

So today was supposed to be the day when I got rid of my riding boots in favour of my new country boots. After wearing the riding boots around the house all day yesterday, I just couldn't do it. I'm wearing them again today. I just love the feel of the boots around my knees too much. I know I can't keep them much longer and due to a change in circumstances, soon I'll run out of daytime boot wearing opportunities for good. Just one more week. Then I'll get rid of them.

Last month I said I was going to make a note of how much knee length boot wearing I was doing. I recorded the first 4 days of a week of full time boot wearing. I never got around to writing about the rest of the week. On day 5 I did a full 24 hours, with 10 hours each of wellies/countrty boots  and riding boots, with 4 hours of knee length converse. I didn't record how much boot wearing I did in the rest of the month. All I can remember is that I wore my normal converse hi-tops pretty much non-stop for the bank holiday weekend.

Week of Knee Length: Day 4

I slept in my country boots last night and they were comfortable to wear overnight. I wore my riding boots all day, to give my country boots chance to rest before wearing them again tonight. The only bits of the day when I didn't wear my riding boots were when I went to the shops (and wore my knee length converse as usual) and when I went into the garden (when I wore my wellies).
I put my country boots back on to sleep in again tonight.

Week of Knee Length: Day 3

I woke up in my riding boots again. Since I enjoy sleeping in them and enjoyed sitting wearing them watching TV last night, I decided to wear them around the house for a few hours in the morning. They aren't as comfortable as my country boots but they do feel better around the leg/knee since they are taller and a closer fit. One of these days I will find a pair which gives me the best of both worlds but until then I'll have to compromise.
I didn't go into the garden today so I didn't wear my wellies but I wore my knee length converse for a few hours in both the morning and afternoon.
It occurred to me that I haven't slept in my new country boots so I'm going to go to bed wearing them tonight. I wore my riding boots for a few more hours this evening before changing back into my other boots for the night.

Week of Knee Length: Day 2

Another day, another 24 hours of wearing knee length boots. I slept in my riding boots again and wore my country boots around the house. I went out for a walk this morning, wearing my knee length converse. It was a warm day and there was no-one else in tall boots.
When I got home I decided to change into my shorts because my legs were a bit warm. I had to put the buckle on the country boots on the smallest setting otherwise the boots were a bit flappy around my knees. I don't think the country boots work as well with short trousers, they are much better being worn over long trousers.

Week of Knee Length: Day 1

So it's been over 24 hours since I started my knee-length boot-athon. The longest time in a one pair of boots has been 11 hours for wearing my riding boots overnight. I have fallen back in love with the riding boots again, after complaining that they were possibly a bit too tall earlier this year.
I'm wearing my country boots at the moment. I was wearing my wellies earlier this morning when I went into the garden to check on the vegetable patch. My wellies are slightly (50g per boot) heavier than my country boots but they actually feel slightly lighter to wear. This is possibly because they are softer and bendier in the leg. When I was walking around the garden wearing them, I remembered how comfortable they are and how much I enjoy wearing them.

A week of knee length boots

I have decided to spend all of this week wearing knee length boots non-stop. I have my 4 pairs and have decided to wear my riding boots and country boots indoors, my wellies in the garden and my knee length converse outside.
I started off this morning wearing my riding boots for a few hours before changing into my converse to walk to the shops. I am now back in the house wearing my country boots. My plan is to wear each pair of boots for as long as possible so I will be wearing my riding boots overnight.
I will try to keep rough track of how many inch-hours I achieve. Since everything is roughly knee-length, I should get some good results.

Shopping in my new boots

I left the house wearing my new boots for the first time today. It was raining so I wore them to walk to the shops. They were comfortable and didn't rub, which is a good start. They were nice and snug around the knee (I had the width adjustment straps on the second narrowest setting). The tops of my calf muscles got a bit warm but they are winter boots so that's probably expected when you wear them in the middle of summer.

New leather boots

My new boots arrived this morning. Now why on earth did I buy a new pair of knee length leather boots in the middle of a heatwave?

 The boots have a zip up the back for quick on and off, and a buckle at the side to adjust the width. If I have the buckle at the widest setting, the boots are a bit like my wellies where I can put them on and pull them off without bothering with the zip.

 So far I have only worn the boots for a couple of hours but they seem to be reasonably comfortable. Of course in this weather they are a bit too warm so I'll probably only wear them occasionally until the autumn when I should be able to spend a bit more time in them.

The boots are about the same height as my wellies, possibly a fraction of an inch taller, and are shorter than my black riding boots. I look forward to getting a chance to wear them for a whole day.

It's that time again...

when I feel the need to buy a new pair of boots. I mentioned quite a while ago that I would like a pair of leather 'welly style' country boots. I've been thinking about them a lot recently and have decided that I really want a pair.
I don't really have room for another pair of knee length boots so I'll probably have to get rid of my riding boots when I buy them so I probably won't buy them for a few weeks so I can get a bit more use out of my riding boots. The only real disadvantage of the country boots is that they are only 'welly height' and not full riding boot height. Even so, they'll probably be a snug leg-hugging fit and should be fun to wear.

Lots more riding boots time

I've been wearing my riding boots rather a lot these days, part of nearly every day. I've also been wearing my wellies for part of most days, usually when I go out into the garden.
Anyway my main point is that I've started to think that the riding boots are actually too tall. Now I usually feel that where boots are concerned, the taller the better. Now that I've been wearing them for several hours a day, I think they are slightly too tall. I used to love the way they would press into the backs of my knees but now they have started to rub a bit.
At some point I will probably get rid of them but I want to get as much wear as possible out of them before the weather gets too warm and they make my legs too sweaty.

Spending time in my Converse

I have decided to retire by riding boots for a while. I mentioned last month that I was getting a bit fed up with them but after wearing them for a few more days I fell in love with them again. My reason for retiring them this time is that they have been squeaking a lot when I walk and it has been annoying me quite a bit. They are still lovely comfortable boots to wear around the house but they are much less comfortable for walking in now.

Yesterday I was wearing my knee length Converse xx-hi and I found that they were starting to rub my leg a bit so I switched to my shorter grey Converse x-hi and I've been wearing those again today. I think for the next few weeks I'll be concentrating on my x-hi because I've been neglecting them a bit in favour of knee length boots.

October Boot Wearing

During October I decided to keep track of which boots I wore and for how long. I tried to wear boots as much as possible, and wear taller boots whenever I could. I did my usual 'inch-hours' measurements where I took lo-tops as the zero-point and multiplied the height of the boot with how long I wore them for. If taller boots are better than shorter boots, then the higher the inch-hours score the better.

I managed to wear most of my boots, from my normal converse hi-tops, all the way up to my riding boots. I wore boots for a total of 272 hours, and lo-tops for only 43 hours. The boots I wore the longest were:
Converse XX-Hi: 87 hours (worn on 14 days out of 31. I even slept in these boots one night, which I enjoyed doing.)
Lonsdale Boxing boots: 58 hours (worn on 11 days)
Converse Hi-tops: 54 hours (worn on 8 days)
Adidas Boxing boots and Riding boots: both worn for 22 hours each.

I also wore my wellies on 15 days during the month, mainly in the garden, but managed to wear them for a total of 12 hours.

My total tally was 2,800 inch-hours if I ignored any times when I didn't wear anything. If I counted nothing as -2 inches, then the total was 1,940 inch-hours, which was equivalent to wearing Converse hi-tops for 864 hours, or 36 days straight. This was also equivalent to wearing my wellies for 139 hours, or  5.8 days.

By subtracting time spend wearing no shoes, I have to wear boots for a minimum length of time to avoid being in negative inch-hours. Since normal Converse are just over 2 inches taller than lo-tops, I need to wear them for just under 12 hours per day to break even. Alternatively I need to wear my wellies for only 3 hours a day to break even.

Blogging in my Riding Boots

Well last week I said I was getting a bit fed up with my riding boots but I have been wearing them again today and I have decided that I still love them and want to wear them more often. I have been looking on-line for a replacement pair and I have found a couple of pairs which look good but they are both around £100 so I think I'll keep my current pair for now.

I have decided that I want to make sure that I always have a pair of riding boots so that whenever the need takes me, I can put them on and admire the snug leg-hugging fit.

Riding Boot Fatigue

I am starting to get a bit fed up with my riding boots. I love wearing them and especially enjoy the snug feel of the boots below my knees and the look of the shaft of the boot, and the fairly stiff leg-hugging nature of them. Sadly they are too much of a struggle to put on and take off. They also aren't very comfortable for walking in, even short distances around the house.

I have been wearing them occasionally in the last week and I feel that I really could do with a better pair. I can't really justify replacing them though, since I only recently bought my extra tall Converse XX-Hi. I expect after this week the riding boots will go back into storage for another few months before I start to get the urge to wear them again.

Converse Close-ups

Yesterday was a nice varied boot-wearing day. I started off wearing my riding boots then wore a succession of black and white hi-top boots, starting with my lonsdale boxing boots, my new Converse hi-tops, my adidas boxing boots and finally tonight I wore my old pair of converse hi-tops. In the middle of all that I briefly wore my wellies when I went into the garden.

I am back in work now and wearing my new tall  Converse hi-tops, laced all the way to the top of course.

These are the hi-tops folded down, showing the star pattern on the inner lining. I quite like the star pattern but since I prefer tall boots I will be wearing them 'up' more often. I will only wear them folded down if I am wearing shorts.

This is a close-up of the ankle patch. It is a printed disk which appears to be sewn onto the inner lining of the boot. It appears to be positioned slightly too high though because with the top folded down and fixed using the studs, the top of the patch sticks slightly over the top of the boot.

The ankle patch on the outside of the boot isn't as good - it is just a plain printed disk which appears to be glued to the side. It is a pity this is lower quality to the other disk since this is the one which will be visible most of the time while I'm wearing them.

Boots and shops

Today has been another 'trousers tucked inside boots' day, with a slight emphasis on shopping with boots on display. I started off wearing my adidas boxing boots laced up with trousers tucked inside. I drove to the supermarket, got some petrol, then walked round the shop.

Later on I did a bit of gardening, wearing my Le Chameau wellies. When I got inside I changed into my riding boots.

This afternoon I walked to one of the local shops, about a mile each way, still wearing my riding boots. This is the furthest I've walked wearing them, and the first time I've risked wearing them in public in my street. I decided I didn't care what the neighbours thought - I was going to wear the boots and have them on show.

The left boot rubbed slightly just below knee, where the top of the boot is a bit tight, but otherwise they were ok. It got quite warm while I was out and the boots have softened up really nicely. I think I got at admiring glance from a young lady who looked at the boots and smiled as she walked past, otherwise nobody seemed to notice or care that I was wearing them.

Another fun boot day

This morning I went for a walk in the countryside. I decided to put my wellies on, which was a good idea because it had rained a lot in the week and the ground was quite muddy.
When I got home I changed into my riding boots. I haven't worn these for a few months and had been looking forward to wearing them again. I was still wearing my jeans and the boots were a very snug fit, quite difficult to pull on. I really should remember to wear thinner trousers with these boots. I first noticed this back in May when I bought them.

Riding Boots again

I've been wearing my riding boots again today. I've been thinking about them a lot and have missed the feeling of wearing a snug boot around my knee.
I put the boots on earlier this evening and I'd forgotten quite how snug they are. It's a very warm day again so I don't think I will be wearing them overnight again.

At the start of June, I mentioned that I was going to measure my boot-inch-hours for the month. I was too busy and only managed to record the details for the first half of the month. The days between the 9th and the 17th were exceptional because they included me wearing my riding boots a lot, including one day where I wore them non-stop for 24 hours. This gives a daily score of 372 boot-inch-hours. I wore my DMs or lonsdale boxing boots in work so every day was well over 100 boot-inch-hours.

The following week was probably more representative. I mostly wore my converse hi-tops, so the days scored 20-30. I wore my adidas boxing boots in work one day, which scored 50.

The scores are (inches above the ankle x hours worn) - (time not wearing boots x 2). The '2' comes from the ankle to sole of foot distance, so this sets a minimum wearing time to avoid getting a negative score.

Waking up in boots

I slept in my riding boots again last night. I was wearing them in the evening but was enjoying them so much I thought I would sleep in them one more time.

When I bought the boots, I had no idea how much better than wellies they would be. Each of my knee length rubber boots has different advantages and disadvantages so I think I still need to keep all 3 pairs. I was originally going to throw away my old pair of blue wellies because they aren't as comfortable as my others but I have decided to keep them.

My green wellies are the best all-round pair. They are the most comfortable for walking in and are my main general purpose pair. My blue wellies are slightly too big so they aren't very good for walking. Their best feature is actually their loose fit. I can simply step into them, making them the quickest pair to put on and take off. Although I prefer a boot which fits snugly around the leg, it is actually good to have a pair which can be changed into quickly and easily.

My riding boots are the best for sitting around the house. They aren't great for walking - the foot is a bit too long and they rub when I walk, but that doesn't matter if I'm wearing them watching tv. What I really love about them is the snug fit around the leg and the height. When my leg is straight, the boots seem to stop about an inch below my knee but when I bend my knee the boot gently presses into the back of the knee, which is a really pleasant feeling - it is a wonderful constant reminder that I am wearing knee length boots.

8 days a week of boots

For the past week, including today the past 8 days, I've only been wearing tall boots. Most of my time has been spent wearing knee length boots - either my riding boots, wellies or Doc Martens. The shortest boots I've been wearing have been my Lonsdale boxing boots.

I have been sleeping in my boots quite a lot recently. Last saturday I decided to wear my new riding boots for the whole day. I put them on friday evening and slept in them overnight, then wore them for all of saturday. I took them off at midnight.

I have been wearing my Doc Martens in work if it's been raining, otherwise I've been wearing my boxing boots. Every evening I changed into my riding boots when I got home. I like wearing riding boots - I think the close fitting shaft of the boot looks great as it reaches up towards the knee. When I'm watching TV or reading a book, I find myself looking at the boots and enjoying the way they fit.

On thursday night I slept in my riding boots again. When I woke up on friday morning I changed into my boxing boots to go to work. I wore my wellies for a while before changing into my riding boots for the evening. When I went to bed I changed into my boxing boots and slept in those.

It is now the 2nd saturday of this 8 day week of tall boots. I plan to wear my boxing boots for most of the day - the weather looks like it might be warm so boxing boots and shorts might be good to wear. I intend to change into my riding boots this evening and sleep in them for one last time before I return to my more normal boot wearing routine.