Thought Experiments : The Blog

Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Nige and eBay

I am growing concerned about my friend Nige's addiction to eBay. He once bought a suit there so cheap that I assumed he was in danger of perishing in a raging plastic inferno if he ever went near a naked flame. Now, this latest from him:

"Well I've just won a pair of shoes (clown-size natch)on eBay for £14.50.
Brand new, really rather nice, but saddled with the embarrassing brand name Hotter Comfort Concept. 'The most comfortable shoe you'll ever wear' - I'll be the judge of that, Mr Hotter..."

It is alarming to observe that mighty mind engaged in nothing higher than bargain hunting. And I don't like the sound of this Hotter.

# posted by Bryan Appleyard : 7:46 AM  

18 Comments:

  • At May 31, 2006 9:16 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Pah! Wait till you see the brand new linen, cashmere and silk suit I bought last week - £30! And I wld remind you that you have yrself extended grudging admiration to the legendary Nicole Fahri reversible overcoat (£60 if memory serves). I am lost, there is no saving me now. Anyway, as Dr Johnson said, A man is seldom so innocently employed as when he is browsing on eBay.
    NigeTM (a division of eBay.com)

     

  • At May 31, 2006 9:32 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    In an idle moment, I find myself pondering the moniker itself. eBay. Electronic bay. A bay, to my mind, is usually situated on some idyllic Greek isle, about as far from electronics as it is possible to get. Certainly nothing to do with shopping. Hmm.
    Yours, Dr Hugo Z Hackenbush
    PS Mock ye not Big Nige's eBay acquired wardrobe. I have seen it myself and can testify to its dapperness.

     

  • At May 31, 2006 9:39 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    See! And that's a doctor writing. Mind you, I still feel ill. But that's another story...
    N

     

  • At May 31, 2006 11:32 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    As I think the great Dr Johnson also remarked, 'A man who is tired of eBay, is tired of life'. He was, indeed, astonishingly ahead of his time.
    Dr Hugo Z Hackenbush

     

  • At May 31, 2006 12:11 PM, Anonymous David said…

    Oi!

    I've got a pair of these too!

    And look at the label - MADE IN ENGLAND! Who cares if it's comfortable or not eh?

     

  • At May 31, 2006 4:21 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Oh, what a shame. In that case it seems that Big Nige should refrain from getting too excited about his footwear purchase. If they're made in England they'll probably fall apart while he's trying them on for the first time. As Dr Johnson once famously said, 'Oh, cobblers!'.
    Yours, Dr Hugo Z Hackenbush

     

  • At May 31, 2006 9:42 PM, Anonymous David said…

    Hugo...

    Hmmm, somehow I think this is not your realname. What are you hiding in your wardrobe?

    However, now shoes have been admitted, what I really wanted to ask is:

    Did the irresistible (almost exclusively male) urge to kick stones predate shoes? Or did our neandertal ancestors constantly nurse stubbed toes?

     

  • At June 01, 2006 10:01 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I have the shoes! They are indeed well named - they cld not be more comfortable if they were designed by Professor Comfort and his crack team at the University of Comfortville - as they very probably were. Another eBay triumph.
    By the way, as you might know, I once broke two toes kicking a newel post, but the experience taught me nothing. The urge to kick is indeed primal...
    N

     

  • At June 01, 2006 10:04 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    David. I believe it is customary to store at least a couple of skeletons in one's closet (as our American friends would call it), and I am not one to break with tradition. As for my name - to quote our friend Dr Johnson once more: "It is indeed not easy for any man to write? so as not to make himself known to those with whom he familiarly converses, and who are acquainted with his? favourite topicks, his peculiar notions, and his habitual phrases." Boom boom.
    Yours, Dr Hugo Z Hackenbush

     

  • At June 01, 2006 6:00 PM, Anonymous David said…

    N: Were the toes on the same foot?

    Hugo: again, the much misquoted Dr Johnson: 'mankind would do better without your words, than without my shoes'.

    I am a bit sensitive about my shoes, having paid full wack for them.

    I know my wife buys shoes on looks alone, and never mind the comfort, but I can't imagine buying shoes at a distance. Socks maybe.

     

  • At June 02, 2006 9:28 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    David - The toes were indeed on the same foot - my good left foot. The big or 'great' toe and its neighbour. They never fully recover...
    And, to all interested parties, my eBay message for the day is this: I have the suit! The suit is on, attracting universal admiration bordering on swooning and public disorder. And it's a joy to wear - I mean - linen, cashmere and silk, you can't go wrong... That's a lot of whistle for 30 sovs is it not squire?
    N

     

  • At June 02, 2006 12:59 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Ah, The Whistle Has Landed. That explains the traffic chaos in Kensington today.
    Yours, Dr Hugo Z Hackenbush

     

  • At June 02, 2006 3:23 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    A thought, Mr A - It occurs to me that you could be feeling slightly flat - your bid to broaden the collective mind of the web-surfing generation by encouraging stimulating intellectual and/or philosophical debate online, admirable as it is, seems to have proved that, in the end, all we are really keen to discuss is clothes shopping. D'oh! A virtual hand of consolation reaches out?
    Yours, Dr Hugo Z Hackenbush

     

  • At June 02, 2006 3:31 PM, Blogger Bryan Appleyard said…

    Well thanks indeed, Dr H. I had been thinking of wearily bowing to the evident autonomy of this sub-blog and turning it into a full-blooded, free-stander. Nige's Wardrobe: The Blog, something like that. This would leave the blog proper free to return to its more erudite concerns. But I am loathe to encourage you madmen.

     

  • At June 02, 2006 5:08 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Well, Mr A, perhaps it is time for myself, Big Nige and that chap Dave to boldly venture forth into some other subject field... You certainly do sound weary - I prescribe a wee snifter. Or perhaps two. It's that time of the week, after all. Bottoms up.
    Yours, Dr Hugo Z Hackenbush

     

  • At June 04, 2006 10:10 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    One last word, Doc and Dave - These Hotter shoes turn out to be appreciably cooler than any of their build I've ever worn. It was surely for just such occasions as this that the Good Lord gave us the word 'paradoxically'...
    Comfort Concept Nige

     

  • At June 13, 2006 8:48 PM, Anonymous David said…

    Sorry - been away. However the conjunction of coolness (I assume you mean temperature) and suits and todays report on BBC website ...
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/5076634.stm

    ... are you ready for Everest?

     

  • At October 19, 2009 11:48 AM, Anonymous Ugg Boots said…

    The ugg knightsbridge world is a comedy to those who thinks, a tragedy to those ugg classic cardy who feels.Look not mournfully into the ugg boots past, it comes not back again. Wisely improve the present, it is ugg lo pro button thine. Go forth to meet the shadowy future, without fear, and with a manly ugg bailey button heart.

     

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