Boys get infatuated. They get addicted, obsessed and fanatical about stuff. They are all fan-boys in one way or another.  

(Ok, I know girls get slightly obsessed over things – I own 6 silver eyeliner type things and bought yet another new one on Saturday, but not in the way boys do)

From cars to computer games to comics, operating systems to football statistics, from 4sq to geocaching i’ve never met a bloke without his own quirky obsession. The last ex was VW campervans, the one before that Star Wars; deep in the past we also had one that was addicted to a porn star that looked a lot like me and the other who love alcohol and/or illegal drugs more than me too. Men love to geek it up.

The Boy’s obsession is shoes.

Yes, this is normally a girls hobby (and one I am healthily also developing I must add). From Paul Smith to Clarks Originals,  B has more pairs of shoes right now than I have ever owned in 31 years, actually make that more shoes that I could ever own in my entire life.

The top of the Boy’s shoe tree has to be Adidas. Adidas addiction is well known amongst men (there are even support groups set up for this), the trainers are very collectable and real originals can cost as much as a Louboutin (why I really do not understand).

 In particular the addiction is strongest when it comes to Adidas Originals (either 1970s/80s shoes or replicas of said shoes). These shoes are bought, treasured and get this – never worn.

“I keep them locked away in the drawer most of the time now, they are one of the dead stock designs you can’t get anymore”

 So you can imagine the excitement when Size announced that they were re-releasing their ‘city pack series’ – trainers named after cities – Stockholm, Berlin, Manchester and most importantly London. The Boy already owns a pair of Adidas Londons. They, despite looking exactly-the-same have slight differences. Not that I can see them.But that’s not the point. These are one of 500 limited edition, trainers to keep in a box and never ever wear type trainers.  

He started hitting refresh on the Size shop at midnight last night. 12 hours later they finally became available and as the site crashed and he frantically tried to add in his credit card details they sold out. I was there with him, a pair in my basket on my computer, but no…

It was not to be.

I was on the other end of the phone, sharing his disappointment, the F-ing and blinding and his “at least I have one pair”.

But I am a tenacious bugger. Thanks to the power of twitter I was able to see that this was not just us that who had experienced this.  So I kept pressing submit on my order. SUMBIT SUBMIT SUBMIT. And then by a miracle, it did. The payment screen popped up, my card was accepted. The once in a life time trainers were his.

Of course there are no guarantees we have them until they turn up on my doorstep, but oh the surprised joy in the Boy’s voice when he received the confirmation email sent directly to his address… and then I received this text message

“you will become a legend if we get them! Everyone will want to hear the story of the day you successfully acquired Adidas Londons”

…The End

P.s what shall I ask as my payment for services rendered? Do you have/know a man with such an obsession?

Posted on Monday, March 22, 2010 · 6 Comments 

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