Return to Northlands

Last Monday I drove over to Northlands to look for some new waterproof walking shoes. I'd been looking around town for some New Balance 965s (or the newer 966s) but hadn't seen any. I even tried the New Balance outlet store in Hornby, but without success. I bought the New Balance 748s I wore when we walked the Nakasendo at The Athlete's Foot in Northlands (I walked there on that occasion as part of my training), so I figured I'd go back there. But when I went in and enquired I was told that New Balance had reduced their lineup of walking shoes in New Zealand to just two models, and the 965 wasn't one of them.

Dispirited, I wondered through the mall, stopping at the Ticketek outlet to pick up a ticket to the Tomasz Stańko gig on 7 March. I passed a Front Runner, and decided to go in to see what they had. I was about to try on some Merrells when I spotted what looked like some 965s in the sale section. They turned out to be women's 965s, but the shop assistant reckoned they should fit me (I have small feet and often have trouble getting men's shoes in my size). They felt pretty comfortable. Plus I think they look nicer than the men's version. I actually tried on a pair of 964s (an earlier model of the same shoe) a couple of years ago and they felt stiff compared to my 748s, which put me off buying them. Although they have the exact same soles as the 748s, the uppers are made of a waterproof leather so they're not as flexible (the 748 uppers are a combination of leather and a synthetic mesh material). But the 965s weren't stiff at all, so I bought them. At $100, they were less than half the original price.

Then, as if that wasn't enough shopping for one day, as I was heading back to the car I saw a box set of season 1 of The Wire on DVD for $34.99 and snapped it up. I already have season 5 on DVD. I'm not sure if I'll get the other three seasons (which I've seen anyway, courtesy of Grant). I see a box set of all five seasons is out in the US, and selling on Amazon for US$135. That's $255 in our money, plus there'd be some hefty postage on top of that. With the NZ dollar so weak I've been holding back on Amazon purchases lately. My Wish List is growing, although I was able to cross off one item yesterday when I bought Keith Jarrett's latest release from the iTunes Store for $17.99, saving at least five dollars!

I've since worn the 965s a couple of times to the supermarket and back and so far they seem OK. I'm waiting for some decent rain so I can test them in the wet.