(no subject)

Another one for the life milestones file: first time I got a pair of shoes re-soled.

(First time I had a pair of shoes that was worth getting re-soled, really. Most of my life has been spent in shoes that could be bought new for the price of getting them re-soled, and by the time the soles were an issue the rest of the shoe wasn't worth keeping either.)

To hear the shoe repairer tell it, it turned into a small epic: first they'd run out of the material, and had to wait for it to come in, then it turned out that this pair of shoes was very solidly constructed - which is a good thing, of course, but meant they ended up having to order in new heavy-duty tools as well, because the standard ones weren't making a dent.

I figure I'll give them a week to recover before I mention the other pair of shoes (different colour, but same make and model) that also need re-soling...

(no subject)

I gave my next project speech at yesterday's Toastmasters meeting.

I tend to struggle with my project speeches. Actually getting up and giving them, the thing that supposedly more people fear than death itself, isn't so much of a problem for me (the stage background helps there). The problem is writing the things -- or, usually, thinking of something to write them about. "Write about anything you like" has always been my least favourite creative-writing instruction; I never know where to start.

The last few project speeches, in the absence of any other inspiration, I've done as On This Day In History things. My last project speech was titled "An Anniversary Worth Digging Up"; I managed to refrain from titling my new one "An Anniversary Not To Turn A Blind Eye To".

Both of them have been well-received, actually, so I may be on to a good thing here. I might even, next time, go out on a limb and talk about a historical event that didn't happen on the same day as the meeting.