I — ’ave — marched — six — weeks in ’Ell an’ certify

It — is — not — fire — devils, dark, or anything,

But boots — boots — boots — boots . . .

Also shoes, skirts, dresses, blouses, lingerie, jeans, and sportswear. Jewelry, too; fine leather and luggage; housewares and home furnishings. Kipling’s soldier didn’t know the ’alf — sorry, half — of it.

We had been visiting with friends in upstate New York. Now we were driving home. The first hundred miles was delightful: lovely scenery, clear empty roads under bright skies. Then the landscape flattened out somewhat, traffic thickened

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