First frost of that autumn, on the grass and on the shoe both — that's the notebook's wording and it wants no improving. Right brogue, black, leather sole, laces tied in a bow, on the verge at Hade Edge by the junction for Dunford Road.
A tied lace is always worth recording. Untied is the general condition of a lone shoe; tied means the lace never came undone or somebody fastened it after it last held a foot, and either way it's a detail the register wants. Tied in a bow, mind — a proper bow, done properly. I photographed the bow on its own as well as the shoe entire, and both are in the envelope.
Flask conditions are down as excellent, which is the top of the scale and not given lightly, and there's a line at the end of the entry I remember writing: that I thought on the drive home it had been a steady sort of year. It had been, to that point. What I didn't know, sat in the car at Hade Edge with the frost going off the verge, were that the layby were a fortnight away. The register keeps its order and I'll keep mine, so that business is set out under number 198, where it belongs.
Written up August 2026, from the notebook.