Slippers

The three pairs of slippers system

The role of the slipper in Christmas is not sufficiently celebrated. Think of Cinderella, whose dropped slipper of squirrel (vair) was notoriously mistranslated - or misheard in oral transmission -  in the original French, as of glass (verre). I have given and received slippers at Christmas, including this Christmas. Three pairs of slippers are required for my domestic system. I have at any one time a pair of cotton towelling slippers; a pair of fleece slippers and a pair of whole foot slippers (illustrated). The way the system works is: I wear one pair into the bathroom. When I get out of the bath, I put on either the fleece or the towelling slippers, which are both waterproof. One of this pair is now wet, so I put on whichever is the remaining pair to slope off in to get my breakfast. The pair I wore into the bathroom and the wet pair are now airing/drying to be used the next day.

A Christmas reader competition: the first reader to find a Moffat Book Events blog with no reference to, or connection with, books wins a copy of my Sitka spruce booklet and a £25 book token. Winner will be announced on Jan 7 2013. Editor's decision is final. Good reading!