Crocs

I’ve been enjoying doing very little today. I sat on the deck for a while, played my ukulele, read the paper, and enjoyed an iced chai latte. Ah the life of the lazy. At one point I looked down at my feet. I had on one of my two pairs of Crocs. When Crocs first came out I thought they were the stupidest looking footwear I had ever seen and I didn’t think I’d be caught dead in them. As you can probably tell by the fact that I own two pairs, I’ve changed my mind on that one.

I don’t remember when I got my first pair nor do I remember what made me change my mind about them. I know I had them in 2009 because I remember wandering among the construction materials when we were building the shop and having one of the workers suggest that if I was going to be out there, I should probably put on a more protective pair of shoes. I know I took them on the Chilkoot Pass hike in 2013. They are light to carry; you can get them wet and they dry quickly; they feel good and have pretty good air circulation when you take your feet out of hiking boots at the end of the day.

I’m pretty sure I bought my second pair in 2014 because the first ones were starting to look a bit worse for wear. I was going on a solo trip to London, England, and I wanted a pair I could wear around airports that I would easily slip off and on while I was on the flight. Another reason for acquiring a second pair is the first pair I bought was baby blue. I suspect that was the only colour I could get that fit me. This time I got black ones. Much less likely to attract attention.

Since I got my first pair, crocs have accompanied me on all our camping trips, all our cycling trips, and all of our plane flights. My black pair came to Australia and NZ with me and they have been to the Arctic as many times as we have. I also use them at home. I keep one pair at the front door and one pair at the back door so I can slip into them if I need to make a quick trip out to grab the mail or put out the garbage. I even slip them on sometimes in the winter if the snow isn’t too deep.

Today, as I looked at my feet, I realized how grubby they were looking so I hit a few YouTube channels to see what the recommended way to clean them up was. I headed for the shop sink, magic eraser, toothbrush, and dish soap in hand. The black ones looked pretty good after just a wash and a brush. The blue ones took a bit more elbow grease. There was also a recommendation to use baking soda but I couldn’t be bothered with that. I remember the last time I cleaned them I gave them a coat of Armor All. While I was smart enough not to do the soles, I did do the insides and made a mental note not to do that again. It’s better to have your feet more or less stay put in your shoes than doing their own private version of sliding around a curling rink.

Both pairs of Crocs are now ready for action once again. I don’t know how much longer the blue ones will last. They have several cuts and abrasions and I had to replace one of the side buttons last year. Rather than consign them to the landfill though, I think I can cut them up and use them to pad various parts of ukuleles during construction. I’ll probably get another year or so out of them before that.

In the meantime the black ones will definitely come on holidays with me this year.