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"[Vimes] learned something new: the very very rich could afford to be poor. Sybil Rankin lived in the kind of poverty that was only available to the very rich, a poverty approached form the other side. Women who were merely well-off saved up and bought dresses made of silk edged with lace and pearls, but Lady Ramkin was so rich she could afford to stomp around the place in rubber boots and a tweed skirt that had belonged to her mother. She was so rich she could afford to live on biscuits and cheese sandwiches. She was so rich she lived in three rooms in a thirty-four roomed mansion; the rest of them were full of very expensive and very old furniture, covered in dust sheets.
The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money.
Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles.
But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that'd still be keeping his feet dry in ten years' time, while a poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.
This was the Captain Samuel Vimes 'Boots' theory of socio-economic unfairness."
On a related note - my new boots have arrived. First impressions are that they're comfy and robust.
I'm also dead impressed with the customer service I got from Polimil. (http://www.polimil.co.uk/)
They phoned me the day after I ordered, to say they were out of stock.
They suggested an alternative that they could dispatch immediately (One I had been considering, so it was a good alternative).
And then they gave me an indication of lead time to get new stock - 5-7 working days.
I chose to wait, and was quite impressed to see them dispatch Thursday (so more like 4 working days) to arrive Friday.
It's easy to get used to 'very average' customer service, so I was quite pleased with my shopping experience - I'll be remembering them for next time.
The boots come well reviewed - who couldn't like (from the site)
"I have been wearing this excellent boot for the last five years and nothing else comes close. Some trainer wearers will think it's too rigid but the extra support lends it to the more demanding user. I've hopped over high security spiked steel fencing, trudged through broken glass and needles, even got dragged a quarter mile by a stolen car. Let me tell you, when you are lying on your back at 40mph with only your boots between you and the Tarmac, these bad boys are what you need. I won't wear anything else."
The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money.
Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles.
But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that'd still be keeping his feet dry in ten years' time, while a poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.
This was the Captain Samuel Vimes 'Boots' theory of socio-economic unfairness."
On a related note - my new boots have arrived. First impressions are that they're comfy and robust.
I'm also dead impressed with the customer service I got from Polimil. (http://www.polimil.co.uk/)
They phoned me the day after I ordered, to say they were out of stock.
They suggested an alternative that they could dispatch immediately (One I had been considering, so it was a good alternative).
And then they gave me an indication of lead time to get new stock - 5-7 working days.
I chose to wait, and was quite impressed to see them dispatch Thursday (so more like 4 working days) to arrive Friday.
It's easy to get used to 'very average' customer service, so I was quite pleased with my shopping experience - I'll be remembering them for next time.
The boots come well reviewed - who couldn't like (from the site)
"I have been wearing this excellent boot for the last five years and nothing else comes close. Some trainer wearers will think it's too rigid but the extra support lends it to the more demanding user. I've hopped over high security spiked steel fencing, trudged through broken glass and needles, even got dragged a quarter mile by a stolen car. Let me tell you, when you are lying on your back at 40mph with only your boots between you and the Tarmac, these bad boys are what you need. I won't wear anything else."
