Go ahead Bob, revolt. We'll be waiting.
While in Omaha over the holiday, I went down to South Omaha, just north of where the big guy in Bellevue squats, to place a special order with a shoemaker of Italianate derivation; I'd heard he's pretty good, although he's pretty ancient.
Geppetto's so ancient--93 or something--that as a young lad, an apprentice cobbler, he actually made jackboots for
Il Duce back about 1940 or 1941.
I suppose they'd be cheaper bought already-made at some discount house, but as I fully intend to use them vigorously, I wanted to have a pair that's durable. The $500 price tag made me wince, but well, not everything we want in life can be cheap.
I expressed concern because I thought that at size ten-and-a-half, my own feet aren't large enough to do much damage, and I fully intend to do damage. He assured me I could do plenty with jackboots that size, but also that if I couldn't do the job, most other orders for jackboots have been in the size 12-13 range, so it's likely there'll be somebody around to finish up if I couldn't quite get it done.
