Years ago, I was ‘tubing’ in the Maekhong, in Laos, enjoying the local greenery, and beer. At the end of a very exhausting day, possibly hallucinating a bit, I had to crawl back to my room at the hostel and get some shut eye before the evening’s entertainment.
I left my Teva jesus sandals at the bottom of the stairs, as was customary, and went to lie down.
A few hours later, I got up, and put on my sandals, but there was something wrong, they weren’t mine. They looked like mine, had the same pattern as mine, but they just weren’t. Initially I put it down to being stoned, but as the night progressed I became convinced that someone had stolen my sandals, and replaced them with these inferior ones.
Next day, returning to tubing, I was floating down river blazing away, when I went past fellow tuber, who was wearing very familiar sandals, at which point, I leaped forth from my tube, grabbed his feet and accused him of stealing my sandals.
Hadn’t really looked at the size or build of the young man, or the fact that his feet were similar size, or indeed he was in fact my neighbour.
The case of the stolen sandals was solved, and I left feeling a bit sheepish, but vindicated at the same time.
