*Sniffle*

Today I bade farewell to my favoritest ever pair of footwear: my beloved trail shoes, which I purchased nine years ago on a trip to the States. I hadn't put nearly enough miles on them — partly because forever would not have been too long to wear these trail shoes, and partly because I don't go hiking as much as I want to (for a variety of reasons).

Here is a photo (taken by Steve Cliffe on today's four-hour* hike around Mount Kembla Ring Track) of me, aided by my friend Alanna, trying (in vain) to tape my trail shoes up. By the end of the walk they were nothing but tape, and the soles still ended up completely detaching from both shoes.

Sigh. Sic transit gloria mundi. Or caligarum.

On the plus side, the weather was phenomenally wonderful, about the best we've had in months. And I did the hike in the company of many SES friends and my daughter Margaret. And I didn't get any leeches on me at ALL!! (I did find one that I flicked off my moribund boot in time to keep it — the leech, not the boot — from fastening onto my flesh.)

*There may be those among you who have done the Mount Kembla Ring Track, and may even now be squawking, "Four hours? It doesn't take four hours to do Kembla Ring Track!" You hike it your way, I'll hike it my way.