Doctor Marten & Rudyard Kipling

The other day I was getting dressed ready to go and whimper at the Doc's yet again when I thought of wearing my DMs, something which I had passed on for some time now. This was not unassisted by my friend Jon having declared them a total style disaster some years ago. Admittedly the boots are considered more the thing than my buckled shoes but one has to admit that they are exceedingly comfortable, which I do not think may necessarily be the case for the sweet young lady in her boots to the above right.

But I like words and wearing my Docs to the Doc's seemed a good idea and the comfort, which I had tended to forget, will ensure that I wear them again, inelegant or not.

And of course I thought of Kipling and "boots - boots - boots, moving up and down again". Which I do not really think to be his best poem; but then, I rate "Stalky & Co" far above "Kim" or the "Jungle Books". I am convinced that "Tom Brown's Schooldays", or even that boring prig "Eric" (horrible wimp that he was) cannot hold a candle to Stalky and his pals, and it is one book (like all of E.F.Benson's) that I return to regularly.