102 Bangkok

The man who repaired and cleaned my boots - half inside and half outside the pub - scrubbed, polished, squatted and sat on the sidewalk with his few belongings and a wooden basket for his polishes and glue.

It was fascinating and absorbing for me watching him do the soles, do the shine sitting in his own world. No team, no boss, no work mates - alone maybe. So very thin and quite small.

He even trimmed the laces and did a bit of melting the ends.

In all it came to 200THB, which is around a fiver.

I reckon those boots have been to more distant places in the five years I've worn them than the shoe shine man has been in his whole life.



.