Buckle up back there

"Oh frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!" she chortled in her joy.  Ages ago, sufficiently ages that I can't remember exactly how many years it's been, the straps for the topmost buckles on my motorbike boots broke, and I couldn't get replacements.  Not from Infinity, not from W2, not even from the importer, who'd sort of shrugged their shoulders and muttered something about something that wasn't even worth the cost of the phone call.  And yet just the other day it occurred to me to try searching for some straps that merely looked compatible.  One thing led to another and, hey presto!, a pair of straps made by Gaerne, who are basically a more motocrossy, pukka version of W2. They're both Italian though so they probably use the same suppliers, and probably the same importer too.  Now the fun begins, to see if I have to adjust the gearlever on Fidra to compensate for the chunkier shape.

But that's not all: when getting ready to nip out to Longniddry last weekend, the exact moment I tried to pull on my other boots, the SIDIs that I've been using ever since I learned to ride mumbleteen years ago, one of the zip pull tabs broke off.  Not just any pull tab, special locking ones that make it impossible to undo the zip without lifting the hidden insidey lever thing.  I wasn't surprised by the breakage because only a few months ago, its counterpart had done the same.  I'd made a loop of cord as a new pull tab which actually has been working pretty well, but I'd used all the cord I had at the time and had no more that was thin enough.  So this time I bought some suitable yacht rope that is made of Dyneema, which is stronger than steel.  Actually, it's the same type of cord that the guyropes on my tent are made from.  And, hey presto!, I can do up and undo my boot again.

Flushed with success, I motorbiked into town to get a few Christmas cards, and then out of town to photograph some ships, and then outer of town to the supermarket to buy the yoghurt and icecream I completely forgot to buy yesterday.  The city bypass was rammed, so I had some fun filtering between the lanes for a couple of miles.

I think I need to spend as much time out of the house as possible.  I started coughing again almost as soon as I was through the door and sat down.  I don't care to repeat this morning's excessively red-coloured adventures that required the use of quite a lot of kitchen towel.