Wellington Boots

Today it rained. A lot. All day. My leather boots couldn't cut it, and were soaked within minutes. Tomorrow I'm going to my first British outdoor music festival and it might rain again. So in preparation, I've finally become a true UK resident and bought my very first pair of Wellies (see picture, right). It's taken three years, but now that I have them I'm completely converted. I can walk down Oxford Street at rush hour and cheerfully bypass the crowds trying to avoid puddles. In my new waterproof boots I can smile as I splash into opaque pools of smog-infused water. And when I attend this festival tomorrow, I will laugh in the face of mud, now that I am appropriately armed.

You can see why the British are so fond of these boots, why they're so fashionable, why they abbreviate the name to 'Wellies' and sound so affectionate when they talk about them. Wellington Boots are an English icon. The modest rubber footwear has seen them through many a muddy field, flooded streets, waterlogged trenches in two world wars, and rain-drenched summer festivals which would otherwise be unbearable. They are everyday heroes.

For you North Americans who have never heard of Wellies, here's a little background from Wikipedia:

The Wellington boot, also known as a wellie, a topboot, a gumboot, or a rubber boot, is a type of boot based upon Hessian boots. It was worn and popularised by Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington and fashionable among the British aristocracy in the early 19th century. Read full article.