Everyone is blogging this... but I love the first paragraph

Stolen from Hard News

Mike's doing it too...

Where Women Are real Men from the NZ Herald.

"Whose truth is this? New Zealanders love the land. They love being in it, doing things on it. New Zealanders go barefoot or in jandals because they want to be as close to the land as possible. They love the outdoors so much that when they invite you into their house they immediately take you outside again. They like to run on the streets."

Isn't that just beautiful? And so true. I'm not even a real Kiwi, but I lead guests in through the front door & right out the back...

I'm not going to bother with wondering what this says about genders in NZ. I'm gonna talk about my feet.

I'm too much of a puny wuss to go barefoot (never did toughen them up), but one of my biggest regrets of the last few years is that I munted my feet a while back (trying to lift a railway sleeper by myself & carry it across the section - a few days later, walking became something of a difficulty), and I have to wear orthotic implants (just another thing to start to fall off in my 40s...).

I used to have these really cool Reef sandals, that I bought in Nice, and later found replacements for right hear in New Zild. I travelled the world in these. I had permanently striped feet year round. Life was good. I was close to the land.

I can no longer wear those Reefs. To guarantee my ability to perambulate, I am restricted to sensible shoes with inserts (and by god, those inserts were uncomfortable for the first few weeks - invasive, almost) for the rest of my life... I managed to find some reasonably orthotic sandals in Melbourne a year or so ago, so I can lose the shoes & inserts for a few hours before it gets too agonising.

My wife says they make me look like a hobbit. Mind you, she was never keen on the Reefs either.

BTW: the Reef website is worth an ogle...