Up From The Grave, He Arose!

I'll bet you all thought I was dead? Well, just to prove you wrong Dear Reader, here I am as large as life, and twice as ugly! (Even though I have slimmed down a tiny touch since you last saw me.) 

After the longest 20 months of my life, we're on our way back to our sorely missed home in the fabulous city of Luxor. Insh'Allah, we'll be there on October the 30th, via a Tui flight from Newcastle to Hurghada and a trip across the scorching Eastern Desert. 

Obviously, we're booked into the ageing and slowly dilapidating Winter Palace for the first few days while we get our forlorn properties sorted out. How much sand will have accumulated? Will we have any non-paying and unwelcome guests with more than 2 legs? Will someone have stolen our telephone number, or our water or electric meter? Will the solar panel and pump for our lovely little fountain have given up the ghost after being left out in the sun for 20 months? We'll have all these worrying questions answered within 3 weeks, are you excited for us? The very thought of it all has me worn out before we even finish getting the cases packed, I can tell you!

It's been a momentous year and a half here in Windy Nook, family illnesses and the death of my dearly loved brother have played a major part in our lives these past months, but I won't load you with all of our woes! How about one of my casual observances, instead?

As you may remember, I'm a big fan of Car Boot Sales. 

I'm also strangely interested if people's footwear, and Boot Sales tend to bring out some queer shoes,/boots etc. for some reason. I went to our local one this morning, just to have a nose around and see if there was anything I fancied. (There's usually a bloke there who sells Tesco Chocolate Digestives and/or Chocolate Oaties at 3 packs for £1! Well in date and everything.) I noticed the welly-wearers were out in force! Hunter/Barbour style seem to be well out of favour just now, and have been replaced by mainly bigger and more showy and industrial looking things. Like these:

Or perhaps these:

Tops rolled over, like the Navvies used to wear whilst working on the roads when I was young. Then there are the pseudo country gents:

This pair are in a similar vein as the Barbour or Hunter with the belt adjustment at the top, but they're more substantial and have a zip fastener up the outside with a (waterproof?) flap thingy. I also came across a bloke wearing (what looked like) girl's wellies, shiny, with a nice decorative buckle on the outer side, below the ankle. Sadly, I didn't manage an all encompassing shot though! What do you think?

Now then, just before you get to thinking that I've got some sort of Wellington boot fetish, I'll just slip this in; When I was at the same boot sale the other week, I came across some which we used to call "Scammell Handyman Wellies"! They looked to be brand new, if old stock, and had the (once very common) NCB logo on the leg. (NCB being the National Coal Board, which was the publicly owned coal industry in Great Britain, before it was closed down.)

Here's a picture of a pair the same:

And here's a Scammell Handyman, after which they were first Christened by the famous John O'Sullivan of Thailand. You'll readily see the similarity, I'm sure.

Now wasn't that just fascinating? (Answers on a postcard, please, sent to "The Nearest Looney Bin")

Well, it's been lovely to share my deepest thoughts with you all again, and I hope that you're now well versed, via this precis, of the main thrust of my upcoming book, "Wellington Boot Fashions In The Early 21st Century"

But you never know, Dear Reader, I may even get around to writing something about Luxor in my next Blog. Keep watching this space. (No, not the one between my ears!!)

Goodnight.