City Desk

I went to the shoe-repair shop around the corner, which is one of those establishments, almost all small, which still have signs that are icons of what happens within: hanging eyeglasses for an optician; a neon needle and thread for the tailor in a dry-cleaning place; a neon bowl of noodles for a Chinese restaurant. The icon of shoe repair is a neon message written in the print of a sole: “HEELS IN 5 MINS” it promises, “SOLES IN 15 MINS.” The shop is still called “JOHN’S” after the Greek former owner, though it is now owned by Ariel, his Colombian successor. The boots I had left were almost ready, needing only to be shined. Why didn’t I put them on and sit down, the owner suggested, to make it easier?

I let my shoes and boots get dull; my wife says so, and she is right. I don’t shine them myself, and I take them in when the heels or soles give out, which is less often than they should be shined, but more often, in New York with its hard pavements and hard strides, than they would be taken in elsewhere. So this was a rare occasion for getting worked over.

I went to the shoe-repair shop around the corner, which is one of those establishments, almost all small, which still have signs that are icons of what happens within: hanging eyeglasses for an optician; a neon needle and thread for the tailor in a dry-cleaning place; a neon bowl of noodles for a Chinese restaurant. The icon of shoe repair is a neon message written in the print of a sole: “HEELS IN 5 MINS” it promises, “SOLES IN 15 MINS.” The shop is still called “JOHN’S” after the Greek former owner, though it is now owned by Ariel, his Colombian successor. The boots I had left were almost ready, needing only to be shined. Why didn’t I put them on and sit down, the owner suggested, to make it easier?

I let my shoes and boots get dull; my wife says so, and she is right. I don’t shine them myself, and I take them in when the heels or soles give out, which is less often than they should be shined, but more often, in New York with its hard pavements and hard strides, than they would be taken in elsewhere. So this was a rare occasion for getting worked over.