Thrifty Parents
My parents were thrifty. My mother had a sewing machine, and made all our school trousers. Whilst other kids had their arses covered with the latest Farrah's, mine was feeling the static energy of handmade crimpolene's.

Anyway, a particular favourite was savings in the footwear department. And my school shoes were bought from "Dave's Discount Shoe Store" in the town - Purveyors of all kinds of obscure, unbranded foot related tat.

Now Dave didn't sell Doc Martens, he sold Majordomo's which were kind of the same, but a fraction of the price of the real thing. And yes, they did have a square toe that I find useful now as I can get closer to the bar, but aged 13 was enough to ensure the piss taking was fast and furious.

Instead of having a patented Air Sole, MajorDomo's had a layer of Rubberised Cheese that connected foot with pavement.

A standing joke in the town was that at the first sign of snow the sole from a pair of Dave's D Shoes would fall off. It was true. I had wet feet for many, many, many winters. So wet in fact, my toes became webbed (but that's just athletes foot bubbles and not a swimming aid).

Dave's D Shoes is no longer there in the town. Neither are there any Podiatrists any more. Funny that.

Just before I started work, my dad bought me a pair of proper Doc Marten shoes. They were Aceness in Shoe Form and lasted me into my late 20's.

Length: Probably size 38 at 13, but now I'm a 42 (or 8 in old money)
Width: Who knows. Couldn't afford Clarks!
( Piper Alpha is being a grumpy northerm bastard on:, Fri 4 Jan 2008, 12:00, 1 reply)

awww the first pair of doc martens
..my mum wasn't too keen on buying me a pair because she saw a tv Documentary where they showed some punks and skinheads wearing them.
so i got the Burgundy "8 holes" because she thought they were "cooler" than the black ones.
( olivier8 (euroloon), Fri 4 Jan 2008, 21:22, closed)