R.I.P. Sparkly Pink Thongs

Let me just say at the outset that “Thongs” in Australia are a type of sandals, usually rubber or leather, often referred to in other parts of the world as flip flops (Wikipedia says in the States they may be known as sandals, flip-flops, go-aheads, thongs, and zories!). In Mexico they are chanclas or chanclitas. So, I’m talking about footwear here – not a skimpy piece of underwear, which in Australia we also call a g-string! This definition confusion has caused many humourous misunderstandings in our travels, like the time I was telling some British friends about how my husband wears thongs to the beach. It took a while to work out why they were looking at me so incredulously. Having met my husband, they were having a hard time imagining the picture I had conjured up! He is definitely not the g-string type.

So, now that we’ve got that out of the way, Guerita has a pair of “sparkly pink thongs” we bought in Noosa about 18 months ago. They are her favourite shoes and are worn on all possible occasions. About the only footwear that can rival them are her ballet shoes, but they are reserved only for ballet class. Given the enormous amount of wear these shoes get, they have been looking decidedly sad of late and I have been bracing myself for their inevitable passing and Guerita’s inevitable devastation. Guerita has been in denial about the wearable state of the sparkly pink thongs despite the fact that they look like this

Not planning any more holidays to Noosa soon, I thought I should start looking for a replacement pair, to ease the pain. It’s not easy to replace a much loved item of clothing, you can never find the same thing, so I decided to focus on the important qualities – SPARKLY and PINK. In actual fact, Guerita would be happy with anything that is sparkly and pink, and that applies to everything, not just shoes. All part of the princess phase we are in, which I really hope doesn’t last too long. I was pretty happy today to discover her new favourite footwear

 
Sparkly Pink Court Shoes!

We were killing time after visiting my husband in the convention centre and checking out the snazzy Austrade booth his company is part of when we wandered into Zara in the Plaza de las Americas. I have steered clear of all shops here in Veracruz, being completely shopped out after the trip to the States, so I was wandering aimlessly through the shopping centre when I found them. Zara is not usually a shop I go to (when I happen to be somewhere there is a store); it’s one of those intimidating places where everything is overpriced and you feel like a leper walking in with 2 kids wearing no make-up and flat shoes and being larger than a size zero. I don’t get American sizes. How can you be a size zero? Does that mean, like my mother says, “there’s nothing of you”? Anyway, lo and behold, there they were, the perfect replacement.

Guerita’s response: “Thanks Mum, I love them!! You are the bestest Mum in the whole wide!!”

Sometimes they are easy to please, and it is nice being the bestest Mum in the whole wide, as long as it lasts.