A chapter ends

By christopherbadman, May 1, 2013

Anybody who knows me also knows that, as well as having a passion for travel, I have a slightly disturbing passion for shoes. Namely of the Adidas brand.

It all goes back to my secondary schooling days when I purchased a pair of Adidas Country II’s from the American online store Eastbay. These shoes were great, and from that moment I sold my soul to the Adidas corporation and vowed to never support Nike. Since that moment I’ve only purchased and worn Adidas as my shoe, with the exception of cricket shoes.

In fact, I still possessed around five pairs of these shoes when I left Australia and they were still in solid condition despite all the years. This was the time to dispose of them however, so into the bin they went. This left me with one last pair.

The Country II’s that began it all are no longer available on Eastbay, so I was sporting my mid-highs that I had owned for about two years prior. I loved my mid-highs. I would proudly tuck my jeans under my foot so that the entire shoe could be visible as I walked down the street. The tongue on those things was huge, and it sported the Adidas Classic tri-leaf on the front, so I loved showing it off. Other people weren’t so keen with my fashion choice, but that was what I enjoyed, so I was happy to continue proudly displaying them.

Sadly however, the years began to affect them. Tiny tears started to show along the edge of the base and I knew it wouldn’t be long before these opened up. It was irreparable. The days of the mid-highs were fading.

Still in Australia at the time, I wasn’t sure if I had enough time to order and have the shoes delivered from the US before I departed, and purchasing them at the store was just too expensive. I decided I would hold out, bring them to Europe and find a well valued pair here.

Not so easy. Paris proved to be too expensive, and so I thought Lille was the answer. But, just as in Australia, the big brands attract the big prices, and so Lille’s options also proved to be too expensive for my liking.

I was starting to run out of time. Those tiny tears had since opened to become large openings, a result of the extensive walking that I had done around Paris and Lille. So it was in Amsterdam with a heavy heart that I said a final farewell to my beloved mid-highs. They had, pardon the pun, been with me every step of the way.

They unfortunately didn’t manage to share much of my European journey with me but they were there from the start in Australia, when the plans all began to materialise.

For the record, the new pair are of course Adidas, and I managed to get them for a steal at fifty euros. They don’t have the same flair as the mid-highs, but they will be perfect for the warm summer weeks in the south of France. They will forge their own history in time, but I write this article as a tribute to the former pair.

So thank you, mid-tops. You will be missed.