Differences

This shows you the differences between two versions of the page.

--- 199103 [2016/04/05 08:48] – tyreless
+++ 199103 [2016/04/05 12:21] – tyreless
@@ Line 129: / Line 129: @@
 If Michele now writes about some lazy summer trip Bob King led there one Christmas -- I don't want to read it!!
+=====No Boots At All.=====
-NO BOOTS AT,ALL
 by Jim Brown
-The Boot - has it fallen upon evil times9 Is it the symbol it used to be? Well, what sort of a symbol was it, anyway?
-have vague recollections that, during my early years at Primary School, say about 1925-6-7, I was regarded by some of my school-fellows as something of a "sissy" or wimp, because my parents had provided Me with shoes which didn't come up over my ankles. Shoes may be all right for girls, but all true men and boys wore BOOTS. Maybe my recolleCtions are amiss, but that's how I remember it.
+The Boot - has it fallen upon evil times? Is it the symbol it used to be? Well, what sort of a symbol was it, anyway?
-Certainly, at the beginning of the bush walker movement in and around Sydney at much the same time, boots appear to have been the accepted and acceptable footwear. As evidence, I'm
-almost sure that the badge of one of the long-established Clubs is a boot. And of the symbols with which we invest our incoming Presidents, the first one is "The Boot" - indicating that we esteem walking.-
+have vague recollections that, during my early years at Primary School, say about 1925-6-7, I was regarded by some of my school-fellows as something of a "sissy" or wimp, because my parents had provided me with shoes which didn't come up over my ankles. Shoes may be all right for girls, but all true men and boys wore BOOTS. Maybe my recollections are amiss, but that's how I remember it.
-These symbols are hung, like the Ancient Mariner's Albatross, around the new President's neck. Fortunately The Boot is on a fairly long chain, but by the time you get through 41The Map" and "The Flannel Flower" to "The Clasped Hands" (to signify friendship and social ,activities), the chain is so short that Presidents wearing spectacles are best advised to remove them, and one wonders sametimes if the clasped hands might ever separate and 'try to strangle the wearer.
- There were also several songs commonly, sung -around camp fires and at Reunions which gave, favourable publicity for boots - indeed, treated them as a vital part of the bush walking scene.. more about that later.
+Certainly, at the beginning of the bush walker movement in and around Sydney at much the same time, boots appear to have been the accepted and acceptable footwear. As evidence, I'm almost sure that the badge of one of the long-established Clubs is a boot. And of the symbols with which we invest our incoming Presidents, the first one is "The Boot" - indicating that we esteem walking.
-This thinking originated with the reading of an advance copy of Dot Butler's biography "The Barefoot Bush Walker", and coincidentally an article by Errol Sheedy in the January magazine telling how he was lured away from his original boots into sandshoes. This reading in turn revived some old memories including Dot travelling on the "Fish Express" one Friday evening in 1955 (yes, it was 1st April - All Fools Day) and we were going to Katoomba to take part in Geof Wagg's "85 Miler - Katoomba to Picton". From my seat opposite Dot in the same compartment on the train I noticed one of her sandshoes had ,a decided split in the sole, displaying either a bit of sock or;some foot. In horror I drew her attention, and was rewarded with "Oh, dear!"
-Dot insits she.added "Oh, well, it will let the Water out," (on the many crossings of the Cox
+These symbols are hung, like the Ancient Mariner's Albatross, around the new President's neck. Fortunately The Boot is on a fairly long chain, but by the time you get through "The Map" and "The Flannel Flower" to "The Clasped Hands" (to signify friendship and social activities), the chain is so short that Presidents wearing spectacles are best advised to remove them, and one wonders sometimes if the clasped hands might ever separate and try to strangle the wearer.
-River). I was so worried about it, this sensible attitude didn't register properly at the
-time
+There were also several songs commonly sung around camp fires and at Reunions which gave favourable publicity for boots - indeed, treated them as a vital part of the bush walking scene... more about that later.
-Another memory is my own conversion from boots in the 1946-49 period. Earlier, during a number of freelance pre-war. walks I had used sneakers - with rubber sole and leather uppers - but after being required to wear boots for about five years (in the army during World War II)
-and on finding they were standard footwear for most SBW Members in 1947, I submitted to the mode. Not for long. , The jolt that went up the shin when walking in hobnailed boots along sealed roads on the last leg into Katoomba, Blackheath or Kiama soon persuaded me "there must be a better way". '
+This thinking originated with the reading of an advance copy of Dot Butler's biography "The Barefoot Bush Walker", and coincidentally an article by Errol Sheedy in the January magazine telling how he was lured away from his original boots into sandshoes. This reading in turn revived some old memories including Dot travelling on the "Fish Express" one Friday evening in 1955 (yes, it was 1st April - All Fools Day) and we were going to Katoomba to take part in Geof Wagg's "85 Miler - Katoomba to Picton". From my seat opposite Dot in the same compartment on the train I noticed one of her sandshoes had a decided split in the sole, displaying either a bit of sock or some foot. In horror I drew her attention, and was rewarded with "Oh, dear!" Dot insits she added "Oh, well, it will let the water out," (on the many crossings of the Cox River). I was so worried about it, this sensible attitude didn't register properly at the time.
-Since the sneakers 'I'd worn earlier were no longer available, I tried sandshoes and quickly became convinced they were adequate in the easy conditions encountered in our Sydney- side bushland. I even made a few converts, including some of the most active of the new members and - almost to my surprise - the sandshoe suddenly "took off".
-Sinful pride urges me to believe that I had something to do With the widespread adoption of sandshoes for bush walking. Ordinary common-sense persuades me that it is likely other members of our Club and the members of other Clubs were probably moving towards the same conclusion about that time. By 1950 I had finally discarded boots, after a Tasmanian trip,
+Another memory is my own conversion from boots in the 1946-49 period. Earlier, during a number of freelance pre-war walks I had used sneakers - with rubber sole and leather uppers - but after being required to wear boots for about five years (in the army during World War II) and on finding they were standard footwear for most SBW Members in 1947, I submitted to the mode. Not for long. The jolt that went up the shin when walking in hobnailed boots along sealed roads on the last leg into Katoomba, Blackheath or Kiama soon persuaded me "there must be a better way".
-and that wimpish school-boy who had been derided for wearing shoes was doing a bit of gloating
-over the downfall of the dominant boot. (Out was there something else? Did something in my sub-conscious say to me, "You don't have to behave like an Army tank and trample everything
+Since the sneakers I'd worn earlier were no longer available, I tried sandshoes and quickly became convinced they were adequate in the easy conditions encountered in our Sydney-side bushland. I even made a few converts, including some of the most active of the new members and - almost to my surprise - the sandshoe suddenly "took off".
-down. You can tread softly, go around that prickly hakea, avoid squashing that tiny baronies
-You can make the Bush your friend, not something to be beaten down". All I can answer is - yes, for years, walking in my wimpish sandshoes, I always thought the bush was a friendly place, an ally, not an adversary to be defeated.)
+Sinful pride urges me to believe that I had something to do with the widespread adoption of sandshoes for bush walking. Ordinary common-sense persuades me that it is likely other members of our Club and the members of other Clubs were probably moving towards the same conclusion about that time. By 1950 I had finally discarded boots, after a Tasmanian trip, and that wimpish school-boy who had been derided for wearing shoes was doing a bit of gloating over the downfall of the dominant boot. (But was there something else? Did something in my sub-conscious say to me, "You don't have to behave like an Army tank and trample everything down. You can tread softly, go around that prickly hakea, avoid squashing that tiny baronia. You can make the Bush your friend, not something to be beaten down". All I can answer is - yes, for years, walking in my wimpish sandshoes, I always thought the bush was a friendly place, an ally, not an adversary to be defeated.)
-Page 8 00 0y0m0y,mwomway.4mv, Maroh 1991
-I think the final seal of approval - the apotheothis - came several years ago, when several young people were overdue on a Colo River walk, and Federation's Search and Rescue organisation took part in the search. Actually the young people walked out under their own steam a couple of days late, but in the meantime some worried parents had managed to reach the Rescue Headquarters organised by the Police out on the Culoul Range, and one mother sent a large donation to S &R, accompanied by a letter praising the devotion,
+I think the final seal of approval - the apotheothis - came several years ago, when several young people were overdue on a Colo River walk, and Federation's Search and Rescue organisation took part in the search. Actually the young people walked out under their own steam a couple of days late, but in the meantime some worried parents had managed to reach the Rescue Headquarters organised by the Police out on the Culoul Range, and one mother sent a large donation to S & R, accompanied by a letter praising the devotion, expertise and kindness of the people "wearing the dirty sandshoes" (the bush walkers). So, the sandshoe had become the mark of the bush walker!
-expertise and kindness Of the people "wearing the dirty sandshoes" (the bush walkers). So,
-the sandshoe had become the mark of the bush walker!
+Now, I'm well aware some walkers still prefer boots (but not the hob-nailed variety these days), and like Errol Sheedy, I can see they may have merits in some areas. The essential fact remains that in our fairly kindly local environment the sandshoe in its various forms is good footwear and is widely worn.
-Now, I'm well aware some walkers still prefer boots (but not the hob-nailed variety these
--mdays), and like Errol Sheedy, I can see they may have merits in some areas. The essential
+This has, of course, put paid to those old campfire songs - "For They Were Large Boots" and "No Boots At All". You just can't sing the same words and substitute "Volleys" or "Reeboks" or even "Sandshoes", because all of those words are of two syllables, where "boots" is only one syllable, so it just won't scan.
-fact remains that in our-fairly kindly local environment the sandshoe in its various forms is good footwear and is widely worn.
-This has, of course, put paid to those old campfire songs - "For They Were Large Boots"
+Is this a good thing? After all, I've discovered that the two "boots" songs I've mentioned both have rather smutty alternative words. One version of "No Boots" was sung by R.A.F. airmen operating in the Western Desert of North Africa in the 1940s, where pilots forced down sometimes fell into the hands of nomadic tribes who had a rather unpleasant way of showing their disapproval of the warring Europeans (whether British, Italian or German). It's to be hoped this isn't the practice in __all__ Desert Wars.
-and "No BOots At All". You just can't sing the same words and substitute "Volleys" or "Reeboks"
-or even "Sandshoes", because all of those words are of two syllables, where "boots" is only one
--
-syllable, so it just won't scan.
-Is this a good thing? After all, I've discovered that the two "boots" songs I've mentioned both have rather smutty alternative words. One version of "No Boots" was sung by R.A.F.. airmen operating in the Western Desert of North Africa in the 1940s, where pilots forced down sometimes fell into the hands of nomadic tribes who had a rather unpleasant way of showing their disapproval of the warring Europeans (whether British, Italian or German). It's to, be hoped this 'isn't the' practice in all Desert Wars.
 Meanwhile, if anyone can come up with a tolerable "one syllable" word for sandshoes in lieu of "boots", we should be able to sing those songs again.
-- it * St * -It
- 1111110.10.MP,
+=====Visiting California?=====
-VISITING CALIFORNIA?
-,7,,, (r,,, I *--, f \ , \
+====Why not climb Whitney?====
-/ 1 '-
-t  It
-  k \ kr
--... , x 1
-,,,,, , , 1 . i 1  p , 1.--,-
--,
-. -ct# ,-.-, i 1 ,r\ 1 I -: IL N
-`. \  t -'
- ,-11...   , s N j k .....
- \ A , i  -,
- ,..
-...,, ......' , . - ,----'''----s.... / . .., /...? , r "1. ,* N
-N. 'N''''. \ Vie\-- - - ...`"':.,'''.7' - " "I-, ,
---, -7.. --\ - , :. -......  ....
- --7).' - ,F,
-,, ,--.- , 1 G
-WHY NOT  CLIMB WHITNEY?.
 Situated in the John Muir Wilderness Area is Mt. Whitney. At 14,495ft (approx 4,830 M), it is one of the highest peaks in the USA.
-It can be done as a three-day or two-day trip. Two days would entail walking 64 miles (climbing 3645ft), from car park to base camp. Very early next morning, take a day pack with lunch for the final 44 miles and 2,500ft climb. Then back to camp to pack and return to the car park by dusk. If you're really feeling 'tigerish', do the whole thing as a one-day gallop! Interested? ' for full details write to:
-Eastern Sierra Visitor Centre, P.O. Box R Lone Pine, California 93545. (Ph. 619.876.4252)
+It can be done as a three-day or two-day trip. Two days would entail walking 6 1/2 miles (climbing 3645ft), from car park to base camp. Very early next morning, take a day pack with lunch for the final 4 1/2 miles and 2,500ft climb. Then back to camp to pack and return to the car park by dusk. If you're really feeling 'tigerish', do the whole thing as a one-day gallop! Interested?... for full details write to:
+Eastern Sierra Visitor Centre, P.O. Box 'R', Lone Pine, California 93545. (Ph. 619.876.4252)
 March 1991' The Sydney'Bushwalker Page 9
 WITHER-ED CONSERVATION? by MOrag Ryder