The gahden pahty

Nomad Papa is a professor at the University of Oxford, and as such, he is also a fellow at an Oxford College. (Note: all of that should be pronounced with as posh an accent as possible.) I’d be terrified to go to events there except that all of the faculty at his college are like him – incredibly smart and socially a bit awkward.

In fact, I LOVE to go to events at the college. And so does Nomad Papa. Cheap, excellent food and wine, adult conversation that does not revolve around our children, and an intellectual-enough atmosphere to make us feel just a bit smarter for having been there.

However, I recently hit a bump in my road to intellectual superiority – the gaaahhhden paaahhhhty.

Here is the problem with a British gaaahhhden paaahhhhty. It rains here. A lot. But to keep from going insane, everyone pretends like it doesn’t. So a gaaahhhden paaahhhhty can never be rained out or moved indoors. The only concession that the locals are willing to make is in footwear. Wellies are a must-have item.

I did not have a pair of wellies. Wait, correction, I have one pair of wellies that is so hideously atrocious that Nomad Papa refuses to associate with me when I wear them. This is useful when I want to shop alone in Italy, but not so great when it is a much needed date night.

I went to every store near my office. Twice. I could not find wellies. I was well and truly stuck. I had to suck it up and wear loafers. Do you have any idea how hard it is to be the poorly dressed person in a group of academics? Gawd.

So I’ve been on the lookout for some great wellies. I want something classy with a bit of spunky fun personality thrown in for good measure. And I think I’ve found them. Check these babies out:

I found them over at Wellytique.co.uk. Wellytique is a new online store that sells, you guessed it, wellies. Tons of them. If you can’t find a pair there that you love, you clearly have something wrong with you. And they ship everywhere! So even you Americans out there can get a hold of some true English wellington boots.

I am going to order them. I’ll post a photo when they come in. I can’t wait. But just so we’re clear, I’m not pitching the old ones. I’ll be saving them for Christmas ski trip in Italy. I gotta have something to run interference between me and Nomad Papa when shopping is involved.

(Disclosure: I got paid to write this post. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t love wellytique. I do. I just wanted a little help in affording a pair of wellies. Don’t hate me.)