I envied him his shoes

When I was at university, I briefly shared a flat with a friend, Andrew. There was one thing about Andrew that I really rather envied. I envied him his shoes.

I am not by nature a jealous person, there are only a few examples in my life, where I have envied something that someone else has, but then, I envied him his shoes.

He had some proper leather shoes, brogues, or somesuch with leather soles.

Your shoes last such a long time, that once bought they are with you for a very long time. I cannot remember what shoes I did have, I suspect trainers, and polyveldts, etc, which I had had bought for me before I left home. But these shoes looked like proper grown up shoes, shoes that an adult would wear. Shoes that someone respectable would wear. Shoes that you might see Steed of the Avengers in.

So I determined to buy proper leather shoes, and since then, I have. It must be more than twenty years now.

On Thursday I bought myself a pair of new leather brogues, by Loakes, with commando soles. Normally I get shoes with a leather sole, and then have them rehealed, with quartersoles, (rubber heels with metal reinforcement in the corner) and a fresh rubber sole with a metal toe. However my new office has so many tiled floors, it is like doing a tap dance walking about, so I decided probably best to protect the grade A listed floors, and shift onto commando soles.

I enjoy the labour involved in proper shoes, you have to clean and polish them, you have to keep them re-souled periodically. I like that I can wear out a metal heel quite quickly. I like that you have to find a decent shoe repairer, and visiting them regularly you get to know them, carrying on the same conversations over years.

I like the perversity and awkwardness, that when you can buy a pair of shoes for a few pounds, I spend a lot on a good pair, and then pay even more to maintain them over the years.

I like that the shoes are so tough and stiff when you buy them, that you always blister until you break them in.

I like that there is nothing more personal to you, than an old shoe.

I now deliberately keep the same number of shoes, so that if a new pair appears, then I can guilt free get rid of an old pair.

• two pairs of black shoes
• two pairs of brown shoes
• one pair of trainers
• one pair of good hiking boots
• one pair of really clapped out hiking boots, that are fine for gardening

Apparently the shoes I bought were part of a small batch of 50, that the shoe shop had especially commissioned from Loakes as they did not make anything similar, and they had proved exceptionally popular, with me getting one of the last pairs! In addition to sticking to the same type of shoes, I also like to stick to the same shoe shops, nothing flashy, just plain old fashioned shoes.