Or perhaps Golden Shoe Covers would be better. Doesn’t quite have the
same ring to it though, does it?
Anybody out there ever hear of a chap named Harvey Kennedy, G.B. He
was an inventor and he invented the shoelace. Nobody knows when.
Nobody knows how. But here’s the thing of it: We do know that he made
$2,500,000 on his little doo-dad. And though we don’t know when… we
can surmise it was way back when… when two and a half mil was two
and a half mil. Today two and a half mil is barely worth ten bucks.
Maybe twenty. In any case… I’m pretty sure you can’t gas up your
car with it.
Which brings us via some arcane and mysteriously impenetrable thought
processes to ancient India where it was once decided by some arcane
and mysteriously impenetrable mind that it would be pretty neat to
have a pair of golden shoe covers. This of course was extravagance in
its ultimate form. It’s the kind of thinking that nearly brought the
royal treasury of the Maharajahs to the point of total exhaustion.
For those interested as to how the coffers were almost instantly
replenished… I offer the following solution: It was well know that
back then–unlike today-- when the world was corrupt… that
government functionaries took the people for all they had. And so a
proclamation was made by the Royal Court that all functionaries had
better return to the court all sums they had gleaned from the
populace for the last ten years… or else. They royal coffers were
back in full bloat within a month. And for a while at least… all
who wanted golden shoe covers could have them… assuming they were
of the right lineage. This last sentence is an extrapolation on my
part and the manufacturers may well not have been so selective.
Want some little lore on shoes? Before tossing a bouquet of flowers
over her head… the bride used to toss one of her shoes for a
bridesmaid to catch. Woe upon she who missed and had the shoe land
upon her pate. Only crooks and cheats and swindlers wear showy and
expensive shoes. We’ll be selling some smudge around the corner for
those of you who care to travel incognito.
So… how many of you out there are dying to see a pair of golden
shoe covers? Better than solving riddles… eh wot?
For those of you who are new to this thing called Tidbits…may I
direct you to my home page at www.tyler-adam.com where you will
scroll down the left side menu till you get to the area that says
Current Tidbits… and you’ll see those golden covers made in
Northern India in the early part of the 20th century.
And there ya have it.
That’s it for this week folks.
Catch you all next week.
Benjamin Mark