I want some new boots

I have got to the stage where I want a new pair of boots again. Every now and again I get the need for new boots, even though I probably have enough pairs. The last few times this has happened, it's been fairly easy for me to get a new pair.

Last year, when I found out about the Lonsdale Jab boxing boots, it was a few days before I developed an urge to buy them. I just felt that I really needed those boots. I'm glad I bought them because they are amazing to wear.

The year before, I felt the need to buy a new pair of wellies. Although I love my le Chameau boots, I really wanted a pair of black wellies too. I couldn't find black so I ended up with the dark blue wellies instead. I like them, but I would prefer a taller pair.

A few years before, back when I was at university, I wanted a tall pair of boxing boots. I looked around on-line before I bought the Adidas Box Champ. I wore them nearly all the time, until they fell apart.

Now I feel the need for a tall, knee length, snug fitting pair of boots. Riding boots would be great, but they need to have a zip. I don't want anything which takes ages to put on and take off.

The boots I want come from Derby House They are leather, knee length, and have a zip. All I need now is a chance to go and buy them without my girlfriend finding out.

Wellies in the snow

The best thing about snowy weather is wearing wellies in public.

I put my wellies on and went for a walk into town.

There were very few other blokes wearing wellies. I saw a few workmen and a few old men but that was it. There were quite a lot of people in town, just not many wellies being worn.

Summary of 2009

Ok, so 2009 is over. I was successful in wearing boots for some part of every day. There were a few days when I nearly went boot-free but I always managed to slip on a pair of boots for at least a few minutes of each day.

The most popular boots were my Vans Sk8-hi (worn for 110 days) and my Doc Martens (worn for 81 days). This is the same way round as after 6 months.

Next in popularity were my Adidas boxing boots (62 days), closely followed by Le Chameau wellies and Gola boxing boots (joint 57 days). At the 6 month point, the order was Gola,Wellies, with Adidas tying with my Levi's tall converse.

Running order after 6 months:

1. Vans Sk8-hi
2. Doc Martens
3. Gola boxing boots
4. Le Chameau wellies
5. (joint) Adidas boxing boots & Levi's boots
6. B&W Converse
7. Blue Wellies
8. Other Converse

After 12 months:

1. Vans Sk8-hi
2. Doc Martens
3. Adidas Boxing boots
4. (joint) Le Chameau Wellies & Gola boxing boots
5. (joint) B&W Converse, Levi's & Lonsdale boxing boots (new entry)
6. Blue Wellies
7. Other Converse

I only bought the Lonsdale boxing boots in October but I wore them at least once every week so they did quite well after only a few weeks.

I wore my different types of boots roughly equally. Low boots includes Vans and Converse. Boxing boots includes my Levi's 'tall converse style' boots. Knee length includes Doc Martens and Wellies.

As expected, I wore low boots mostly in the spring and summer. Knee length boots were mostly worn in autumn and winter, being worn less during summer. I wasn't expecting boxing boots to be mostly an autumn thing.

The numbers vary because I would have worn more than one pair of boots for some days, so each would count towards the total.

After 6 months, my Blue Wellies were my newest pair. They cost £20 and I had worn them fewer than 20 times, which worked out as over £1 per wearing. By the end of 2009, I had worn them 31 times. I actually bought the boots in the autumn of 2008, so I had already worn them a few times before I started keeping count. They are probably down to 50p per wearing by now. They are starting to look a bit battered since I was wearing them when I was painting the house, so I might get around to replacing them sometime this year.

Welly Happy New Year (a day late)

I was hoping to wear my wellies at new year but unfortunately it didn't snow so I didn't get the chance to wear them. Instead, I was wearing my Adidas boxing boots. 2009 ended like it began - wearing boots. I was wearing my Vans Sk8-hi at the stroke of midnight 2008/9 so at least the year started and ended with me wearing boots.

In the next few days I will post a summary of my years boot wearing. I successfully wore boots for every day of 2009.

I might not have been wearing my wellies at the new year but at least I've had a chance to wear them today. I put my Le Chameau boots on when I walked to the shops to buy a newspaper. I'll take them off in a couple of minutes when I go through to the living room to read the paper but since I love wearing wellies, I'll keep them on for a while longer.

I won't be keeping exact record of my boot wearing for 2010 but I'll keep wearing boots as much as possible.

Week 52 (extended week)

Since it will seem a bit strange to have more than 52 weeks in a year, this final week will be a few days longer, to take us up to January 1st. Week 1 was a bit short so this will even out in the end.

I wore my doc martens for the last couple of days in work.

I didn't get any boots for Christmas but I spent Christmas Day wearing my boxing boots so it wasn't too bad.

I wore my green Le Chameau wellies a lot - mainly in the garden. Most of the rest of the time I wore my Vans sk8-hi.

I was wearing my Adidas boxing boots when 2009 ended.

Happy Boxing (boots) Day

I have been wearing my adidas boxing boots for all evening on Christmas day. It is now just past midnight, I am still wearing them, so I would like to wish everyone a Happy Boxing Boots day.

Week 51: busy in boots

Monday: Wore my Doc Martens in work. Changed into my green wellies when I got home. I went out to the shed to retrieve my blue wellies, which I put on the radiator to warm up. When I put them on later, they were lovely and warm. After wearing the blue wellies all evening, I changed into my Lonsdale boxing boots for about an hour.

Tuesday: Green wellies first, when I went outside to empty the bin. Then changed into my Doc Martens (trousers tucked inside the boots) to go to work. Trousers outside the boots when I got to work. When I got home I changed into my blue wellies. Later on, a couple of hours wearing my Lonsdale boxing boots.

On wednesday I started the day wearing my blue wellies, before briefly changing into my green wellies to go outside. After returning the blue wellies to the shed, I changed into my Doc Martens (trousers tucked inside the boots) for my journey to work. As with yesterday, I returned trousers to outside of boots when I got to work. In the evening I changed into my Lonsdale boxing boots again. My girlfriend was away so I decided to sleep in my boots again.

On thursday I decided to keep my Lonsdale boxing boots on and wear them all day

Friday I wore my Doc Martens all day.

At the weekend I wore my green wellies again. I only wore them briefly on saturday but I wore them a bit longer on sunday, when I put them on to go out to the shops.

This was another week when I only wore tall boots. The shortest boots I wore were my Lonsdale boxing boots, which at 13 inches, are still pretty tall.

Week 50: no short boots

I had a week of mostly wearing boxing boots. I had 4 days of wearing my Adidas boxing boots, and 2 days of wearing my doc martens. Today I wore my lonsdale boxing boots for a while, and briefly wore my green wellies too.

Week 49: Another week of Doc Martens

It's been another week of wearing my Doc Martens in work. I wore them for 4 days, and my Gola boxing boots for one day.

At the weekend I spent some time in the garden so I wore my green wellies. Back in the house, I wore my Lonsdale boxing boots for a while.

November Boot Inches

My November boot wearing data gathering is over. I'm not sure what to make of all the numbers I collected. I'll start with a few summaries:

I wore boots for 261 hours, out of a total of 720 hours in the month. I wore lo-tops for only 74 hours, leaving 385 hours when I wore no shoes.

My most-worn boots (in decreasing order):

• Doc Martens (139 hours)
• Adidas/Gola boxing boots (combined total 59¼ hours)
• Vans Sk8-hi (45 hours)
• Lonsdale boxing boots (8½ hours)
• Wellies (6½ hours combined for both pairs)

For my overall calculations, I counted lo-tops as zero and no shoes as -2 inches. This meant if I only wore short boots (eg. Converse or Vans) then I would have to be careful to avoid a negative score. Since I wore my Doc Martens and boxing boots so much, there was no danger of that happening.

My total for the month was: 1414 boot-inch-hours. This was equivalent to wearing Converse hi-tops non-stop for 628.5 hours.

The longest continuous period of boot-wearing was 13 hours, which happened on 2 days. Both occasions involved wearing my Doc Martens. The least amount of boot-wearing was 15 minutes. This was one sunday when I didn't leave the house. I briefly wore my Lonsdale boxing boots while I was using my computer, just to avoid having a boot-free day.

I might try the experiment again in the summer. The final total will be lower since I won't be wearing my Doc Martens as much.

Week 48: More Doc Martens

I've been wearing my Doc Martens a lot again. Wore them in work 4 days, and wore my Adidas boxing boots for one day. At the weekend I mainly wore my Vans. I wore my Lonsdale boxing boots a few times in the evening. I'm wearing them at the moment - trousers tucked inside.

Week 47: Doc Martens

It has been cold and/or wet this week so I spent most of the week wearing my doc marten boots. I wore my gola boxing boots for work on the monday but the DMs for the rest of the week. In the evening I briefly wore my Lonsdale boxing boots a couple of times. Since these boots live under my desk at home, I often slip them on while I'm using the computer.

On saturday I did a bit of work in the garden so I wore my green Le Chameau wellies for a while. On sunday I wore my Vans hi-tops for most of the day.

Week 46: Decorating in my wellies

In work, I've been mainly wearing my boxing boots and doc martens.

I have been spending a lot of time up ladders, doing some decorating. I have been wearing a variety of boots to do this: I wore my blue wellies one day, and my 'fake converse' and my lonsdale boxing boots on other days.

week 45: more Doc Martens

It's getting more like winter so that means wearing my Doc Martens more often. I wore my boxing boots for work most days, wearing my DMs a couple of days and also at the weekend. I have decided to wear my Gola boxing boots more often so I have left them in my office and I change into them when I get to work. They still aren't as comfortable as the Adidas Tygun, despite looking like they are based on the same basic shoe. I'll see if they soften up after I've worn them a bit more.

Week 44: boxing boots and wellies.

On monday I wore my Adidas boxing boots in work, and changed into my Lonsdale boots as soon as I got home. I tucked my trousers into the boots and laced them up all the way. Well, nearly all the way. I didn't lace up the top-most eyelet. Either the laces aren't long enough or my legs are a bit too fat. I can lace them up all the way if I don't tuck my trousers into the boots.

On tuesday morning I put my green wellies on to go into the garden, then changed into my new boxing boots, ready to go to work. When I got home I put my blue (indoor) wellies on and wore them for the rest of the evening. The rest of the week followed a similar pattern - Lonsdale boxing boots during the day and wellies in the evening, occasionally wearing my green wellies if I needed to go into the garden.

At the weekend I alternated between wearing my doc martens, blue wellies and boxing boots around the house - trousers tucked into the boots of course.