Mondayitis – Sole, food – for thought

Saint-Severin and a glimpse of the wonderful Tour Solidor. There on the beach my theory of life was proved yet again!

I have been attempting, in my 45 years or so of existence to concentrate the meaning of life into one, simple all-encompassing principle. Some wonderful aphorism that distils the basic truth of life from the boiling, seething mass of contradictions and confusions that seems to be out daily grind.

I thought I had it a year ago and discussed the principle with many learned scholars (well my friend “The Doctor”) and it went like this…

“All that matters is clothes, and how to wear them.”

This deep insight into the most vital parts of existence was, I felt, perfectly expressed and gave one a clear and worthy ambition for life.

My friend, The Doctor, though applauding the noble sentiment, remained unconvinced.

While hesitant to dispose of such a super-excellent leitmotif I was obliged to reassess my views and have at last identified the great truism that underpins all of our existence…

There is always a shoe!

I thought it was just me that had noticed this phenomenon but I was delighted to recently discover on the superlative Cee’s Odd-ball photo challenge http://ceenphotography.com/2015/06/14/cees-odd-ball-photo-challenge-2015-week-24/ a reference by another brilliant blogger to the incontrovertible fact that, no matter where you go, sooner or later, there will always be a single shoe lying on the side of the road. At last I had the proof I needed to proclaim my theory to the world!

This, That and the Other Thing has a wonderful article on the subject https://sustainabilitea.wordpress.com/2013/09/04/oh-shoo/#comment-30909 and extensive comments from other observant readers of this worldwide phenomenon.

Here on this beach in Brittany lay a single shoe? Who put it there and why? Where did the other shoe go? One of the greatest of life’s many mysteries!

Now that you have been made aware of this, the one constant element in an ever changing world, I defy you to not see a shoe on your way to or from work or, if you are a Gentleman or Lady of Leisure to your plein-air painting destination.

How reassuring it is to know that somewhere on the globe, for reasons that only the Gods themselves know, someone is hurling a single shoe on the roadside. No matter what trials and tribulations cruel fate may hurl at us, we rest safe in the knowledge that there will always be a shoe. The wonderful speculation of what prompted the appearance of these partnerless reminders of our earthbound natures ensures that we will never be left without wonder in this prosaic world.

If anyone out there can adequately explain this strange, international phenomenon then we would be delighted to be enlightened.