I can get it for you wholesale!

Anything for a discount, right? Right. Why pay full price when you can pay half the price? Suddenly spending R999 on another pair of waterproof Columbia hiking boots doesn’t seem like a stretch. Even less so when it comes with a different lacing technique (think ice skates) making my complaints about how long it took me to get into my previous pair a thing of the past.

I also love the elegance of the leather (amazingly this pair is as light as the synthetic fabric pair)  but they got seriously scuffed after just one mountain outing.

I consider the Kogelberg MY mountain and try to walk on it every day that I’m in Pringle Bay but it has lots of sharply jagged edges and small rocks and stones that make the wearing of regular shoes not a comfortable option. The best part about these boots is they have the kind of traction on rocks that let’s me pretend I’m a klipspringer. Mind you don’t expect the same traction on a tiled surface through, I almost went flying walking on a wet kitchen floor while wearing them.

A new favourite store is Kingsley Heath, also at Canal Walk where I bought the Columbia boots. I first discovered them when they used to be in De Waterkant but at that time I was too fat to fit into anything there. Their interior is all Colonial Adventurer Club meets African luxury and what I love most is the huge and comfortable changing rooms and brilliant service. I bought a 100% cotton shirt with button-down tags to neatly roll up the sleeves also at half price and they also had golf shirts vastly reduced.

A huge thrill for me is to ask the sales attendant for a smaller size. A big change from having to embarrass myself every time I got onto an aeroplane and had to ask for a seat-belt extender.