Diversions Manifold

I wrote in my post concerning socks the other day that I didn't like my Sealskinz waterproof socks one little bit. Today, when I ended up taking my daughter and her friend sledding this afternoon, having thought and written about those Sealskinz recently, I thought I might try them out again. Lo and behold - they were fine. The secret this time was to wear a pair of summer ankle socks underneath; quite why I didn't come up with that idea before I don't know, but it helped no end to 'normalise' the Sealskinz to something akin to socks. And the sledding was great fun, of course! (I also notice that the Sealskinz sock range has been refined somewhat since I bought mine all those years ago... worth another shot?)

Like so much in life, there's not, superficially, much to say about socks. They, by and large - and not wishing to denigrate their designers or manufacturers - simply are . We notice them only when there's something not quite right about them, something that makes them stand out, something that takes us out of our comfort zone, and into a state of alertness, like wearing a watch on the wrong hand. Mine, as you might now expect, have been bothering me lately - but in a way that only socks can. It's not that they are uncomfortable; far from it. From experiences both good and bad throughout my sock-buying life I know what I want and have settled on one main source: whenever I'm back in the UK, I stock up on socks from Next. I know that they fit, they're decent quality and - well, they just work. So, what does a sock have to do to work? Well, first and foremost, a sock can't work unless it's one of a pair. Certainly, odd socks can be and often are worn