Size 9 (40) booties. End of winter down under. Rain proof. Bad Venn diagram.

My husband was hopeful we could find me some cute booties for going out to dinner in the evenings + keeping feet dry. 

And after looking at the Ugg website last night at dinner, I was hopeful too.

Not known for practical shoes of any kind, I could imagine me prancing about New Zealand in some cute heeled booties, warm and dry.

“Fa-la-la…Springtime! How you goin’?”

“Clementine-on-the-go”, has accepted that finding shoes in a size 9 on demand is akin to fixing Apollo 13. For evening, I planned black tights plus platform sandals that are the pinnacle of Spring and Fall fashion. Easy to transition from sweltering Houston in summer to winter in New Zealand to early fall in China.

Very Anglo-Asian Vogue, cool girl, the platform sandal has replaced the ballet flat. Especially when paired with the 2015 opaque to semi-sheer skirt.

Maybe I should overdarken my brows, superfluff my hair, put on pink eye shadow and stare blankly whilst holding my ribcage..

Wait. no.

And for sloshy days, my plastic bright blue, anime’ type bootie covers underneath my technical trekking Lucy REI pants should be fine.

Not so fashion-forward but practical.

“I can’t believe you BROUGHT those (blue shoe covers).” he said glaring at the plastic pop of colour amist all clothes black and small in my carry-on.

To be fair, they’re not exactly day-to-evening but they didn’t take up any room in my bag.

The stylish booties are no longer in stores. They are all on the ladies’ feet walking around Auckland. And you can bet they are already sold out in the US.

I’m half tempted to stop some women on the street and offer cash.

That didn’t come out right…

Two stores had some booties I liked that I had not seen for a million seasons (all black, stacked heel for $500 US-yawn and no way!) or didn’t already own, but were out of my size. “That’s a really popular size. We run out of it very quickly.” (Yes, so do all the shops in the Northern Hemisphere – you have to buy winter boots in August- see “bootpocalypse” post of last year.)

Here I would have had to buy them at the end of summer- January.

I’m so confused….

I reassured my husband, “Well, my Lucy pants will cover the boots- you’ll only see a tiny bit of blue sticking out at the bottom when we get to Hobbiton if it’s raining. Promise.”

“Ok, but promise me you’ll leave them here.”

Done.

I’m sure there will be a Kiwi girl who would LOVE a free pair of 9s.