Tales From The Simulation: Part Four - These Boots Are Made For Walking (Revisited)

I originally wrote the story below, in two parts, back in July 2023. 

At the time, a series of unlikely coincidences happened.

Here’s the story — part one.

About a month ago, I was out walking when a thought came to me that I really needed a new pair of walking boots. My old walking boots, more of a walking shoe really, had seen better days. The sole was beginning to show wear and tear, damaged from years of pounding the pavements and walking country paths.

I had put in the mileage on my footwear, and it was time for a new pair.

But I knew that a new pair of walking boots would not be cheap. A good quality walking boot, with a decent hard-wearing sole, is always likely to be expensive. The cheaper ones with softer tread on the sole never last that long. Over the years, I have had many, and they tend not to last. I must be a heavy walker. I certainly walk fast, which apparently is good for you but not so good for the boots.

The cheaper boots often look good, but as the saying goes, you get what you pay for, and I do like a bargain. Not so easy in these days with the rising cost of living. Mind you, I’ve always lived a fairly frugal life, and when it comes to footwear, I’ve usually managed to find a bargain — eventually. Typically, from a charity shop or a car boot sale (flea market in the USA), but I couldn’t rely on that happening this time.

Would my old walking boots endure until I found a bargain? The need for a new pair of boots was definitely on my mind.

And then something strange happened. Really strange.

A week or so later, I was on a trek to an appointment I had to keep. I had made the four-mile journey many times and could take several routes. In the end, I chose a route but then changed my mind when I was halfway there. A little further on I changed my mind again, deciding to take a scenic walk through open fields, finally reaching a road that I had not walked for many years.

It was there that I had my out-of-the-ordinary, strange experience.

I approached a bend in the road, and there on the grass verge was a pair of walking boots just lying there. They were about eight feet apart as if they had been thrown from a passing car. I picked them up expecting them to be worn down, tatty, old, and falling apart. That wasn’t the case. In fact, they seemed as good as new, just a little dusty. It was the kind of dust that boots pick up on a building site. They were in far better condition than the boots I was wearing.

I decided to take them with me. I would decide what to do with them after my appointment.

Meeting over, I walked home via a different route. On the way, I found a bench to sit on and decided to check out the boots. They were a good make, The North Face, and were in excellent condition. They didn’t even look as if they had been worn before. I put them on, not expecting them to fit, but remarkably, they were exactly my size. I walked the rest of the way home in them, about three miles.

They were the most comfortable walking boots that I had ever worn.

I later checked to find out how much they would have cost new. The price range for similar boots was around £100. I knew they were good quality, as the sole was of a harder tread. The type of boot that would last years.

It was as if they had been left in the road just for me.

As the saying goes, I had got lucky in my find, but perhaps it was something more.

Another coincidence that happened around that time was that I found a book in a local charity shop, titled The Secret, which had been very popular with those who believed in the idea of the law of attraction.

And then there was another coincidence.

These Boots Are Made For Walking: Including a Secret Book Review

I wrote a couple of posts a while back about finding an almost new pair of walking boots. I needed a new pair, and there they were, lying at the side of the road, just waiting for me to find them. Furthermore, I contemplated the mystery of how lucky I had been to just find a decent pair of boots. It was as if I had manifested them to appear from nowhere. I should be so lucky! 

There then followed more strange boot-related events.

A few weeks later, I was shopping in a charity shop, looking for books. I've written a couple of posts about this shop, as it regularly has a five-books-for-a-pound-2000s offer. When writing about the boots, I had mentioned the Law of Attraction. Now, I can't say I'm a believer in it, but I'm intrigued by strange coincidences that life often throws up. Another one was about to present itself.  

As I was looking through the books on offer, one that caught my attention was The Secret by Rhonda Byrne.  Now, this is a charity shop with a relatively small selection of books on offer, yet here was a copy of the Law of Attraction bestseller that was very popular in the mid 2000s.  I can remember being at a friend's house back then, and the Law of Attraction was being discussed on the Oprah Winfrey show. Oprah was really into it.  So, as it was now so cheap, I had to buy it.

I have now read it. It is an easy read, in part made up of quotes from Law of Attraction practitioners. It's all very positive and destiny-in-your-own-hands kind of stuff, but the idea that it is science-based I have never found convincing. More spiritual than science. One of the chapters tells us how we are responsible for any medical condition that we may have, which I am tempted to say is hogwash. 

The overall impression is that to succeed with the Law of Attraction, you have to believe.  Any questioning or deviation in believing will be the reason you fail. It's also quite religious and Christian-based. What if you are not religious?

My series of coincidences continued in that same charity shop visit, as another book that I picked up that day was Happy, by Derren Brown. Brown is an English entertainer, magician, mentalist, illusionist, and writer.  Happy is his attempt to address the question that we all ask at some point in life, perhaps often: what makes us happy? 

Little did I know when I bought Happy that chapter two would question the Law of Attraction and The Secret.  Needless to say, Brown is sceptical about the claims made in The Secret. I have not read the whole book yet; it is 528 pages long, quite an effort from someone who does not claim to be an expert on the subject. So far, I have found it to be a good read. So did many others, as it became Sunday Times bestseller. 

Like The Secret, Happy found a market, although I doubt that Brown spent too much time trying to manifest sales.

But what about those boots?  I do wear them, and they are a perfect fit. There is certainly something unusual about them, a magical quality.  I was wearing them the other day on a long trek when I looked down at the ground, and there was a £2 coin looking for a new home. I obliged. 

I wonder what the next mysterious coincidence will be?

 

 

Charity Shop Book Haul: More Cheap Books From the Charity Shop That Keeps on Giving

Another day, another charity shop trek to find cheap books.

I ended up at the charity shop that has the special offer of five books for a pound sale.  This is what I bought this time.

1) Pause by Daniella Marchant. How to press pause before life does it for you.  Has a 3.79 rating on Goodreads.

2) The Secret by Rhonda Byrne.  Has a 3.73 rating on Goodreads. I don't really buy all this Law of Attraction stuff, but I thought that given how it cost twenty pence, I would finally read the book. It also has something to do with a pair of boots I found recently.

3) Happy by Derren Brown.  Has a 4.06 rating on Goodreads.  I see a trend here.  Three self-help type books in a row.  Interesting.

4) The Meaning of Sport by Simon Barnes.  Has a 3.78 rating on Goodreads. I like sport, so for 20 pence this was an easy pick.  We will see.

5) A field Full of Butterflies — Memories of a Romany Childhood, by Rosemary Penfold.  Has a 3.67 rating on Goodreads. The lowest Goodreads rating here. Having written a memoir myself, (well, the only book I've written) it is a genre that I like, a real life story. 

So, plenty more to read and all five for a pound.  

These Boots Are Made For Walking... Something Wild and the Law of Attraction — Part two

A few days after I found my “new” walking boots, I was searching my book collection for something to read. I say ‘collection’; it’s not that large, perhaps two to three hundred books. They are the ones that have survived the years. Books that I have read, or am unlikely to read, I often give to charity shops.

Books can take up a lot of space.

When I was a young boy, a neighbour of mine had a large book collection, all in book cases that covered the walls of their house. They could have opened a bookshop. I wondered if I would ever have the same — not a bookshop, but a house with a room or a study with lots of books.

The answer has turned out to be no. The books I have are housed in different places, some on show, some stored away. Truth is, they are often neglected, but just occasionally, I would remember to pick one to read.

This time I settled for one that had been sitting in a pile of books, hidden away for so long they were gathering dust. It was in used condition, probably picked up at a charity shop or a car boot sale. It was a book that I had looked at many times and put down, never quite being in the mood to read it.

It was a book by the author Cheryl Strayed called Wild.

Part memoir and part travel adventure, it tells of her journey to walk the Pacific Coast Trail. I thought, It’s about time I read this, or at least a few chapters, to see if it is worth reading. I enjoy reading books by people who have faced a major challenge in life and done something different. The risk of adventure, taking a chance, the not knowing of what will happen next, and the trust that you have to believe that everything will turn out alright.

I settled down to read the book.

It begins with a prologue, something that you don’t see that often in books these days. A few pages long, but it stood out straight away. A prologue is written with the intention of telling part of the story that pulls the reader in.

A cliffhanger, so to speak.

Wild recalls a story of how she loses one of her walking boots over a cliff edge. In frustration, she then throws the other one away. The Pacific Coast walk is a long one, and with both boots gone, you are drawn into the story to see how she coped walking barefoot, or did she? I would have to read on to find out.

A cliffhanger in more ways than one.

But as I read the prologue, I also realised that of all the books I could have selected to read, I had picked one that, in the first pages, writes of a lost pair of boots.

Having just found a pair of walking boots that looked like they had been thrown away, I couldn’t help but think how strange life can be.

 

 

Edited and updated, June 2026.

These Boots Are Made For Walking…and The Law of Attraction — Part One

 

About a month ago, I was out walking when a thought came to me that I really needed a new pair of walking boots. My old walking boots, more of a walking shoe really, had seen better days. The sole was beginning to show wear and tear, damaged from years of pounding the pavements and walking country paths.

I had put in the mileage on my footwear, and it was time for a new pair.

But I knew that a new pair of walking boots would not be cheap. A good quality walking boot, with a decent hard-wearing sole, is always likely to be expensive. The cheaper ones with softer tread on the sole never last that long. Over the years, I have had many, and they tend not to last. I must be a heavy walker. I certainly walk fast, which apparently is good for you but not so good for the boots.

The cheaper boots often look good, but as the saying goes, you get what you pay for, and I do like a bargain. Not so easy in these days with the rising cost of living. Mind you, I’ve always lived a fairly frugal life, and when it comes to footwear, I’ve usually managed to find a bargain—eventually. Typically, from a charity shop or a car boot sale (flea market in the USA), but I couldn’t rely on that happening this time.

Would my old walking boots endure until I found a bargain? The need for a new pair of boots was definitely on my mind.

And then something strange happened. Really strange.

A week or so later, I was on a trek to an appointment I had to keep. I had made the four-mile journey many times and could take several routes. In the end, I chose a route but then changed my mind when I was halfway there. A little further on I changed my mind again, deciding to take a scenic walk through open fields, finally reaching a road that I had not walked for many years.

It was there that I had my out-of-the-ordinary, strange experience.

I approached a bend in the road, and there on the grass verge was a pair of walking boots just lying there. They were about eight feet apart as if they had been thrown from a passing car. I picked them up expecting them to be worn down, tatty, old, and falling apart. That wasn’t the case. In fact, they seemed as good as new, just a little dusty. It was the kind of dust that boots pick up on a building site. They were in far better condition than the boots I was wearing.

I decided to take them with me. I would decide what to do with them after my appointment.

Meeting over, I walked home via a different route. On the way, I found a bench to sit on and decided to check out the boots. They were a good make, The North Face, and were in excellent condition. They didn’t even look as if they had been worn before. I put them on, not expecting them to fit, but remarkably, they were exactly my size. I walked the rest of the way home in them, about three miles.

They were the most comfortable walking boots that I had ever worn.

I later checked to find out how much they would have cost new. The price range for similar boots was around £100. I knew they were good quality, as the sole was of a harder tread. The type of boot that would last years.

It was as if they had been left in the road just for me.

As the saying goes, I had got lucky in my find, but perhaps it was something more.

 

 

 

Edited and updated, June 2026.