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Thursday, March 14, 2013

An Adventure in Shopping

I feel like things are starting to change in Nunavut ...

It brighter  , warmer and there is more snow! We have had two blizzards in the past week .... so not cool but it does mean that spring is coming to the Arctic! I can't wait to see what spring is like in the North. I came in May so technically they were heading into Summer then.... or so people tell me I still think that last summer didn't happen and with all the fog we had we skipped it.


With all the nice weather in the forefront of my mind I began to think about new clothes (hey a girl can dream about wearing nice summery clothes) and one of the ultimate things I have wanted ....a pair of riding boots... Not ones for actually riding but the tall calf hugging looks awesome with legging kind.

This was the realm of impossibility for me as I have quite large calf's ( approx 21 inches in circumference) most boots are not made for people with larger calf's or if they are you have to have a size 13 foot to wear them. So I took to the Internet searching for not just extra wide calf boots but super wide calf boots. During the process I came across a site from the UK called duoboots.com The boots were so beautiful and they had my foot and calf size. So order away I did for a beautiful pair of black leather riding boots.

The email came ..... they had been shipped....by DHL.. not very cool since there is no DHL depot here in the North ( let alone Kimmirut) once the boots made it to Ottawa I saw in the tracking that they were waiting to be picked up by recipient AKA Me. Ummm Hello DHL I am not any where near Ottawa. A frantic telephone call to the DHL ppl and I confirmed that my boots would be picked up by a third party carrier and delivered to me here in the frozen tundra by Canadian North.

Canadian North is the other major airline that serves the North... it does not fly to Kimmirut another frantic phone call goes into Canadian North cargo people in Iqaluit who are very nice in giving me the waybill number and telling me I have to talk to First Air cargo since Canadian North does not service Kimmirut.

At this point I am dreading that IF I can ever get the damn boots here they will probably not fit. So I make the call to First Air cargo ( who ROCK by the way) and the guy tells me yup they have them there. Being impatient I ask ... When I can I expect to receive them ? How about 1:30 pm today... Sounds good to me! Gotta love Freighters!


My boss was going to the plane and as it was my day off I asked her to pick up the boots for me and then I would go get them from the store. I practically bolted from my house when I heard the plane take off zipping my parka on the way out I raced to the store and picked up the bag containing my coveted boots.

Sitting in my living room I opened the box.....they were beautiful black and classic looking I put them on and started to zip and then I hit a road block....They Did Not Fit!

I could have cried ..... I do believe a small tear was shed ....my perfect boots did not fit. What could I do I could return them but that is such a hassle since I am not near a DHL spot I would have to pay for the cargo to ship them back. It was only a few measly inches that stopped me from zipping my dream boots.

Googling how to stretch boots and all sorts of things came up .... then I came across a website called bootbands.com... A woman who , like me had large calf's and couldn't find boots to fit these boot bands come in all sorts of styles and zip into the "gap" area of the boots. So I took the measurements and ordered up a pair.... not wanting to give up on these boots.

I got the boot bands today and zipped them in and they are perfect!!!!! I had to get the middle size so they don't hug my calf's as skin tight as I had originally wanted but they are so awesome. I am so happy I can now be the girl who wears leggings with awesome boots . The great thing about the boot bands is that you can use them in many different boots because they zip in and zip out!

Now all  I need is the snow to go away so I can wear them!



5 comments:

  1. Ohhhh post pictures please!!!!
    How much did they charge you for shipping?

    I want awesome boots to look good with leggings tooooooooo!!

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  2. LOL. Great story, as always. Miss you.
    Brenda

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  3. I admire your spunk. I would never have thought to go to all that trouble for a pair of boots. Good for you. Love the blogs. Keep them coming. Happy St. Patrick's Day. Spring IS just around the corner.

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  4. ...LOVE this story...because I too suffer from 'muscular' calves! I want to check out that site... to see what I can order! :) glad that you finally got them all figured out, and now that they fit!

    Yahoo for blogging again!! Keep your stories coming! :)

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