It's a great fucking word, isn't it? Mend. There's a real gentility comprised in it, it's one of those words that really captures what it's intended to. The tenderness and patience that's required to fix something (or perhaps someone).
Today, I'm sticking to something.
My boots. I love my boots. I think they're great fucking boots. I love the color and the feel. I've had them for many years now. But then, in this made-to-rip market, what doesn't count as "many"? Most of the stuff they're making is used up, destroyed and perfectly replaceable come next season. My boots aren't of the old, they-dont-make-them-like-they-used-to variety, but I love them nevertheless, and when they tore, I got pretty damn pissed.
They didn't completely tear. Just the inside of the heels. Even then, I wore them to blisters. Tried thicker socks, but that wasn't any good. So then, there came the obvious answer - maybe you should buy new ones. Except those wouldn't be my boots now, would they?
So I figured screw it, they're already pretty uncomfortable to wear, and anything over 500 m is probably gonna hurt my feet no matter how thick my socks are. So might as well get creative. Me, I love a good project. I like looking at numbers and thinking how much I'm saving by doing this or that.
Most of all, I like learning how to do something. I reckon you need to be self-sufficient and accustom yourself to doing things, mending things like boots or around the house. You know, because you might have to. There's a self-satisfaction, a sense of self-reliance that comes with every tiny new thing you learn to do. I try to apply that thought in everything from haircuts to medicine. Now obviously, I'm not going to be doing open heart surgery any time in the near future, but it's astounding to me how few people these days are interested in researching and understanding (at least on a very basic level) how certain chemicals or medicine work, how they can treat certain issues and so on.
There are so many things you need to know.
Now I know how to mend boots. It was mostly an improvised job. Scavenged some fabric glue at the nearest craft store. I used that to patch up as much as I could the interior lining that was coming apart.
Also had this brown-ish textile paint, so figured I'd touch up the cracks.
Then figured I'd give it some extra cushion (since some of the hard bits that make up the back of the shoe were either wonky or detached completely). Luckily, I dislike bra padding, so had some of those lovely things lying around (in case I or my tits suddenly changed our minds, I guess).
Sometimes, there's a use to keeping seemingly useless stuff around. And voila. I can wear my boots again. Not sure how long that's gonna last, but it seems sturdy enough for now, so I'm pretty freaking happy.
Besides, it felt so nice. I do various crafty things and projects throughout the year, but it doesn't seem to me like there's too much focus on that nowadays. I don't mean just arts and crafts type things, but building things. Assembling things. I've got some timbers in the cupboard that they used to package the new oven. Some future project, hopefully.
I think there's value in knowing you can do things with your hands, that you have that creative power (though we don't tend to think of this type of work as art, technically, and that's a shame). That you are able to make things of practical use, that you don't need to rely on someone else to make them for you.
Suppose I could've just bought new boots. But something in that mentality grates. So it breaks (or at the very least stops functioning optimally) and you run out and buy a new one? Where's the creativity in that? I wanna know I exhausted all avenues of repairing it. If there's a drop of functionality left in something, I'm gonna have it.
