The List by John Horn
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Gumboots: for the love of style, function, history and hilarity
Gumboots have somehow, over the last few years, sneakily sloshed their way into my life. A mere three years ago, my 
life was gumbootless … and like text messaging, my electric toothbrush and Facebook … I now wonder how I could have ever lived without them.
life was gumbootless … and like text messaging, my electric toothbrush and Facebook … I now wonder how I could have ever lived without them.There are a lot of great things to say about gumboots, so with no further ado, here are the top five reasons why gumboots may in fact be my favorite type of shoe and community … and should probably be yours too:
1. I don’t think any other type of shoe has so many hilarious names: Wellingtons, rubbers, wellies, topboots, barnboots, muckboots, rainboots, blucher boots and of course, gumboots. This wide array of names is pretty hilarious on it’s own (muckboots!), but also speaks to the diversity of those who wear these footwear phenoms: those who tread in muck, barns, rain, and, um, uppity English courtyards are all connected by this fabulous boot.
2. Gumboots have, in some odd, inextricable way, become the theme for my upcoming wedding and thus a symbol for love and happiness! From invitations to optional attire to event signage to table decorations to photographs, these bad boys will be left, right and centre at the big event. The big question is … do you know why? Take this super-secret wedding website quiz and see how well you know your Gumboot (of the Daily variety) correspondents and editors, and how well you remember information from posts past (there may or may not be an extra wedding invitation on the table for the first person who guesses correctly*)
Loading ...3. Gumboots defy barriers and bridge generations, classes and worlds! From mischievous three year olds running around jumping in puddles to a worker wearing wellies with reinforced toes in an industrial mine to a farmer in the field to a fashionable city girl wearing shiny red gumboots to complete her outfit, gumboots create a common ground (figuratively and literally) whereby unlike individuals become more like, creating an opportunity for .. you guessed it … community to be fostered and grown.
Gumboot Dancers in South Africa
4. Gumboots are rich in history and have permeated the cultural fabric of communities around the world. Check out this article for a fascinating look at how gumboots have become a part of the cultural landscape worldwide. One of my favorite stories: In South Africa, the sound of people dancing in gumboots is often incorporated into semi-traditional popular music, known as “gumboot zydeco”. This dance began as a form of communication in the late 19th century in the gold mines of South Africa. Because miners were forbidden to speak to one another, they communicated using their work attire (which included gumboots) and native tribal rhythms. This story is just one among many – from Australia to Canada to Russia to Scandinavia, Gumboots have their own unique histories and cultural significance.
5. Gumboots are the perfect balance of style and function. Whether you need protection from rain, muck, concrete, or dangerous chemicals, gumboots can serve your needs – and keep you looking stylish all the while!
So there it is. In my humble opinion, individuals should be exposed to gumboots on a daily basis – and since it’s a little silly to be wearing gumboots in the summer (except at a wedding, that is), I suggest you get your dose by tuning it to The Daily Gumboot, where you’ll find the same caliber of hilarity, history, style, functionality, and world-bridging community as you’d find in a regular ol’ Wellie.
*Sadly, friends, there are not extra wedding invitations to be given out. But hey, that’s not to say you can’t make your way up to Merville and lurk in the nearby bushes (you may need gumboots for this) to take in the festivities!
The Last Olympic Neighbourhood – Merville
As a key media outlet for the 2010 Olympics, the Daily Gumboot is excited to bring you our “Olympics Neighbourhoods” series. Here’s how it works: each week, Managing Editor, Kurt Heinrich, and Editor-in-Chief, John will profile a different Vancouver neighbourhood with a specific focus on things that might interest out-of-town visitors who arrive in The Couve for the Olympics. We will do this between now and the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver and the story will be told be the Gumboot’s editors asking and answering the five questions below. These are the straight goods that you can’t get from VANOC, the Ministry of Tourism or the City of Vancouver. Let’s get to it!
1. Where is this neighbourhood exactly, and how do I get there?
JOHN: Merville is a mysterious and secret neighbourhood that exists between the West End and Stanley Park. Few Vancouverites have ever truly found this hidden gem of a community. Unfortunately, it is unreachable by public transit, although a quick hike or bike ride through some of Merville’s amazing trails will get you into the community’s heart in no time at all!
KURT: If you want a real answer, I’d suggest typing in Courtenay, BC into Google maps. Then go a little into the bush and presto, you’re there.
2. Why should a tourist/traveler be interested in it?
KURT: My favorite part about Merville is the streams. I can remember several happy occasions where I had the opportunity to A) float down them and B) dive underneath the rocks and through carved holes in the riverbed. No, I’m not on acid. There is such a place and its called Nymph Falls.
JOHN: The Merville General Store is probably one of the coolest, most eclectic places in Vancouver. Colourful local characters who never, ever leave this hidden community pull up a bar stool and engage as many tourists and newcomers as possible in conversations that run the gamut from inspiring to downright weird. Merville also yields spectacular beeches, lush pastures and forests, as well as one of the most diverse mushroom populations in Coastal British Columbia. Finally, it’s the gumboot capital of Canada, which may or may not have inspired a couple of editors back at the beginning of this project.
3. What good and/or unique things are there to eat?
JOHN: As I said before, there are mushrooms galore! But if fungus isn’t for you, I recommend sampling some other amazing treats from the 100% local bounty of Merville. A lot of people here live off the grid (and some don’t like strangers shooting film on their porches, apparently), so their diet consists of truly local beef (we saw two or three cows during our trip), chickens and other fowl, pigs, goats, sheep, small-to-medium-sized-rodents, shellfish and non-shellfish, and a wide variety of roots, tubers and berries. The culinary highlight was probably stumbling across a gentleman who was harvesting some winter squash that he was planning to serve with heaping portions of rabbit stew. Yum yum!
KURT: Another great place to check out is the Atlas. Make sure you order their chicken focaccia sandwich. And also make sure you bring an appetite. John once finished second in an international hot dog eating contest (at least that’s what he tells me) and he still has trouble eating the whole sandwich.
4. What can I do for fun in this neighbourhood.
JOHN: Merville has one of the weirdest community traditions I’ve ever seen in my travels – which include history books, television shows and face-to-face adventures around the world. The locals love to rock fight. I don’t know how to explain it more simply, other than to write this: find someone else in the ‘hood and throw rocks at that person. Typically, the first rock is a warning shot and might not actually hit the person. After that, it’s game on! Like I said, it’s weird.
5. What are your three favourite things about Merville?
1) It’s a real place. If you’re only in town for a few more days, forget the Olympics and try to find Merville. This unique, hidden and quaint little community has a lot to offer and is a once-in-a-lifetime place to visit. In exchange for my telling you the community’s location I would accept hockey tickets. It’s worth it. Trust me.
2) Adventure. Whether it’s getting in a rock fight, evading curmudgeony locals or careening through a breathtaking forest, Merville has all sorts of spectacular outdoor sights to experience in a myriad of different ways.
3) Olympic Spirit. Did you know that 100% of Mervillians support the Olympics? Also, Canadian Hockey Defenseman, Brent Seabrook is actually from the tiny Stanley Park hamlet of Merville! True story. Before moving to Delta/Tswwassen, Mr. Seabrook honed his hockey skills by shooting rocks against trees with his grandfather’s hockey stick.
Zombies for an Olympic Cause
Calvin and Hobbes - best comic ever by Bill Watterson
I live in Vancouver, British Columbia — home and soon to be host of the 2010 Olympic winter games. And can you believe it — the other day, I suggested we get cable to watch the games.
In a little under four weeks, my city will be turned inside out for the event. Not that we haven’t been turned inside out already. Transport officials have already warned us that public transportation will look a lot like it does during the Celebration of Light, an event that spreads over four nights and manages hundreds of thousands of people on public transportation over the span of about 6 hours. So basically, we’ve been told it will be like that, only 2 to 4 weeks long. Hip, hip.
I live on Commercial Drive, which will be turned into a semi-military zone with an ice rink that will host Olympic hockey team practices. I have friends who are dancing, acting, singing, and filming in the opening and closing ceremonies as well as in events throughout the entire length of the games. And I have no doubt Vancouver’s anti-games community will be represented across the city in it’s designated protest spots as well as outside of them. And then there’s me, right-smack in the middle of it all, on the phone, trying to negotiate a basic cable package.
It’s not like I’m a zombie who just sits and watches television all day. But like most people in the city, I will not be one of the privileged few actually sitting and cheering on our athletes in our host city venues. It doesn’t really leave me too many options. I can join the crowds and huddle in front of the jumbo screens they’re placing throughout the city and watch the ceremonies. Honestly, that’s not really my style.
While Vancouver’s top brass prepares for this once-in-a-lifetime event and the world descends upon Vancouver, the flame, so-to-speak, that is the spirit of this fascinating and beautiful city is left in the hands of those who traverse it’s streets everyday — Vancouverites, of which I am one. With this in mind, I’m strongly thinking about ditching the cable package and venturing out , yellow gumboots on and marching forward, in search of… what? If I’m lucky, I won’t find the Olympics, but rather the small moments that build the community that makes the city that’s part of the country that belongs to this planet that hosts this world event every four years.
Who’s with me?
Christmas is a Gumboot
Christmas is a Gumboot.
What can I say about Christmas and it’s spirit of community that hasn’t already been said? It’s a tough nut to crack, even for a season that provides so many Nutcracker suites. So I thought I’d share with you — our blogger community — a few family traditions that pre-date the gumboot, blogs, even the web, as we know it.
All through the house, not a creature was stirring… except the raging pizza party and the sound of Bill Murray in “Scrooged” on in the background…
Christmas Eve is very important in my family – just as important as Christmas day. It’s a night that belongs to pizza, movies, friends, a present or two (usually pajamas) and the 1923 edition of my father’s “The Night Before Christmas.”
This year will be the first time I don’t spend Christmas Eve with my mum and dad (although, I’ll see them Christmas Day). I’ve been welcomed into a new community – editor, Kurt Heinrich’s family. With this community comes a new collection of traditions, just as old and as important as my own. It will feel strange but I can’t help but be thankful that I have so many open doors and warm fires to sit by on this very special evening.
The differences between this Christmas and past seasons have been building for weeks now. I realize I’ve slowly been making my own traditions and, so far, some of my favourite moments of the holiday have been spent with friends. More specifically, the editorial staff of the Gumboot over good food and drink.
My dad was a newspaper columnist and every Christmas Eve he would publish a new Christmas story. I can see why he looked forward to it every year. Christmas, I’m learning, is a time of year to take stock of community and it’s stories. It consistently balances old and new traditions. Like the people and friends we encounter in our life, we let go of what we no longer have room for, and welcome what and who we need in our community.
A tradition I’m slowly leaving behind me is one I will miss the most. When I was little, we had a rule in my home: no one was allowed to sneak our of their room and peak at stockings or presents under the tree until we heard the “Hallelujah” Chorus at full volume coming from the living room. I still feel this knot of excitement in my stomach everytime I hear Handel’s “Messiah.”
I know I speak on behalf of everyone here at the Daily gumboot when I say today – Christmas Eve Day – we wish you warmth of spirit and generosity. Take stock and consider your own personal community – what you’ve said goodbye to in your life– who you’ve welcomed into it – and ask yourself, are there gumboots in your world.
Merry Christmas.
Your Photo of the Week
Courtesy of John Horn, while he was visiting Merville on Vancouver Island