This entry matters more than it knew. Left boot, tan, on the spillway side by the railings at Butterley. Laces in, one snapped. A decent find on its own terms, but the notebook also records, in passing, the first outing for the new stool — folds flat, goes in the bag. That stool has been on every walk where I've had a feeling about it from that day to this. Same stool. The canvas has gone at one corner now but the legs are sound.
I'd been sitting on walls and damp grass for the best part of seven years before that, and it were Our Linda who moved things along, having views on the state of my trousers. The camping shop in town sorted me out. Reading the entry back, I sat with the boot half an hour, which the stool made straightforward.
Weather were bright, flask conditions very good, and two photographs came out, so everything worked that day, including the new equipment. Butterley comes up again later in the year for a bigger occasion, but I've a quiet fondness for this entry. Some days the register records a shoe. This one recorded a shoe and an improvement in the practice.
Written up August 2026, from the notebook.