If you’ve read my previous blogs you’ll know how much I like trees. Well, today I decided to write about them, or rather, specifically about bamboo. No, scrap that, I’m writing about socks, not bamboo. But, I have to tell you that bamboo seems to be taking over my life. . . in the form of socks.
So, here goes. . . today, I’m writing about SOCKS! Hooray for socks!
It’s turning autumnal as it so often does in August. And my feet are cold! So blogging about socks seems justifiable. I’ve been waiting a while to write this one but it just didn’t feel right back in May and June when the weather was glorious. And then I went away on holiday. . . and then my sister came to stay for a week. . . excuses, excuses, but I’m back in the zone, so here is the reason I’m writing about socks.
Around a year-and-a-half ago, the letter box went Bam! Bam! (Well actually it was more like Thuck!)
A white envelope, addressed to me, flopped onto our doormat. Intrigued, I tore it open and found a letter with a thin paper catalogue and a pair of black and grey striped socks with fox-coloured heels, toes and cuffs. The letter was from the company Bam, who make clothing from bamboo fibres. It invited me to enjoy the socks (and use a 15% discount to try more of their clothing). I did the former but not the latter. The socks are great. They have cushioned heels and toes and are cool in summer and cosy in winter. (Yes, you’re right, Bam really should employ me to advertise their products.) I enjoyed the socks for around three months when, one day, all of a sudden, the letter box went Bam! (No, it didn’t, it went thuck!) I was excited to see another white envelope. “This looks familiar,” I said to my family, and when I tore it open, there was a pair of socks just the same as the first: black, grey and foxy orange. Okay, not the same, how could they be? I hear my dad’s voice echoing back at me from childhood. ‘They can’t possibly be the same socks when they are not those actual socks; they’re similar, ya duckegg.’ But with two similar pairs, I now owned a total of four individual Bam socks. “You might never need to buy socks again,” my husband joked.
I can’t remember the actual timeline but I may have waited around three to six months for my next package to arrive. The letterbox went Bam! (Thuck!) and the white envelope (paper: very eco) sat on the mat. (If we’d had a cat I’m sure it would have been right there too, wearing a hat.) My name was on the envelope but this time the socks were different. Stripes again, but in two shades of blue. Cushioned heels and toes, in a creamy-stone colour. Certainly cosy. I wondered if there was some sort of admin error in the marketing office of Bam. Were other people receiving intermittent parcels containing socks? I was starting to feel as if I ought to use the 15% discount and buy, say, a plain tee-shirt from the catalogue but I didn’t need anything and I hadn’t actually requested these socks. They are nice though.
When the fourth packet arrived with a duh on the doormat, a seed of guilt was growing in me but it was soon swamped by the delicious surprise I got when I saw the ‘new’ design. Not stripy but royal blue with pale blue love hearts all over and cushioned heels and toes in nicely contrasting navy.
“I should really phone them and let them know they keep sending me free socks,” I said. I didn’t get round to it.
In the middle of coronavirus lockdown my fifth pair arrived. (Bam!/Thuck!/Whatever!) I’ve been waiting to write this blog before removing them from the cardboard label. Stripes again but wider and with pale teal heels and toes. And I can’t tell you how excited I am about trying them on. In fact I’ll do it now!
I’m still in a quandary, though. Do Bam just like me? Do they think I deserve new socks? Perhaps someone has secretly arranged this because they think I have smelly feet. Is this a normal part of the company’s marketing strategy. . . keep sending socks until they cave in and buy something and get so hooked on bamboo that they can’t get enough of it? I have to admit, I am developing a slight bamboo habit. How could I not with all these lovely free socks? My family and I are intrigued to see how long my free sock supply can be sustained but my moral compass is swinging ever closer to that phone call. My husband went online to request a catalogue thinking they might send him a free pair of socks. What madness! They certainly sent him a catalogue. . . but no socks were supplied!
I’ll keep listening out for Bam! Bam! at the door but I suspect my run of free socks may have ceased. No matter. I’ll finish off by saying hooray for trees! Hooray for bamboo! And hooray for socks!
And, err, thank you Bam!
Photo credits:
Bamboo trees: Photo by Emre Orkun KESKIN from Pexels
Close up of fresh bamboo canes: Photo by icon0.com from Pexels
Fabulous!
Where are mine?
Love socks, love bamboo, love, blue (all shades) and love stripes!
Where, oh where are mine?
How funny?!
And intriguing…
I have some bamboo socks myself but they are not as funky as yours.
Made me smile anyway x
What a strange, funny, fascinating story!