A Load of Cobblers

[Ticktock]

Dune

That explains it. They need to be MDF to resist the desert heat and avoid attracting worms.

[Martin Scroatman]

Where did you buy them from so we know who to avoid?

Dune

[LondonManc]

Where did you buy them from so we know who to avoid?

[Martin Scroatman]

The reason that the heels of a pair of leather boots I bought less than one year ago had started to disintegrate was, according to the cobbler who has just made a thoroughly professional job of fixing them, because they are made from MDF.

MDF?? Why would you make shoes out of MDF?

(I don't know if this is an urban myth - perhaps somebody can confirm - but the received wisdom back in the days I was in the CCF was that the DMS boots in which we pounded the parade ground were, in fact, made from compressed cardboard - something I never believed but after today's experience, nothing would surprise me)

By the way - all credit to my little back street cobbler - he was a proper wizened old man with half moon specs - a cobbler from central casting, if you like. He even offered me a chair and a cup of tea while I waited! Contrast this with any one of a number of high street chains purporting to do shoe repairs that wouldn't touch mine with a bargepole.