Now here's some interesting shit for ye. Steel Toe Capped Boots. Worn them, exclusively, for years now. Gum boots. Because I, daily, step in deep, wet shit. And I'm in a small pen, with about a ton of happy and skippy Rosie horse, twice a day!
Well, yesterday, I bought a new pair. I'd managed to puncture the instep of one of my original pair. And I was shocked and stunned to see how worn the heels and soles had got anyway.
Now, here I have to digress. See, we don't have Poll Tax here. I don't want to get bogged down in that distraction. I only mention it because I need to also point out that I thus have to pay directly to have my rubbish carted off and dumped for me. Bear with me .....
And, because I live in the back of beyond, way down a long and twisting track, the refuse collection outfit, understandably, doesn't want to send their fucking great truck on a fucking great detour. Just to see if I have anything for them
Nor, understandingly, to they expect me to drag a fucking wheelie bin full of shit all the way up to the road for them. No. They let people like me buy specially printed refuse sacks, in town. These I can then fill, to 20 Kg and somehow get them up to the roadside, to be taken away.
Well, this is how it all comes together, see? Because I've just been putting together a sack. I keep a paper, horse meal, sack for my 'Bin'. And, once that's full of what ever I can't compost or burn, I add the Dog shit bags I've amassed since last I put a sack out. Topping the weight to the limit with shit.
See how weight matters? And, now, I have this pair of old, steel toe capped gum boots to chuck out too. It struck me how toe end heavy they appeared. And that's when I thought;
" Why? Why was I throwing what amounted to two lumps of fucking steel into my weight conscious bin bag?! Steel I can put aside until anyone wants to take it away to sell as scrap metal. "
So, I got my Stanley knife and got to work on my old boots. That's when the inspiration for this piece was born. I've never actually seen a steel toe cap before. Figured many of you haven't.
Must admit; I was amazed at how thin and light it actually was. Mine were actually 'mucky' too. Because of where moisture and shit had seeped through to them, down the years.
Anyway; I found it all most interesting. Here's an actual steel toe cap then:
Jack Hargreaves; Eat ye fuckin' heart out!
" Cheerio ..... "
Once made a little melting pot for making lead fishing weights out of a pair of old steel toe caps! I was working in a garage at the time, doing an apprentiship as a trainee panelbeater. Boots were knackered, one toecap actually fell out of the gaping big hole that hours of kneeling down had made in one of them! I then managed to wangle the other one out of a simalar sized hole in the other boot, and for some strange reason decided to weld them together with the mig. One of my work mates pointed out that if I formed a little spout and welded a handle on the side, it would have been perfect size for making small batches of lead weights. So that's what I did. Used to use it on the coal fire at my old place, and it worked well.
ReplyDelete:D I love that! What a great little thing to have. Something with character and a story behind it.
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