Don’t @ me: I’ve had enough of wearing winter boots

Spring cannot come fast enough

OpinionsGabriela Vasquez-Rondon — Published February 27, 2022 2 minutes

These past few days, the city has seen a surge in cold weather and snowstorms so intense that walking around in winter boots has been more of a necessity now, than back in January. 

Dragging my heavy boots through the dusty white landscape that is Montreal right now, I am reminded of all the reasons I can´t wait for spring to finally settle in.

Wearing heavy footwear for hours on end means accepting an assured wave of stinkiness as soon as I take them off. More often than not, the tip of my toes will be wet, the sole of my boots soaked all the way through.

And all this by wearing boots too. Montreal hosts a wide demographic of individuals bold enough to go out in nothing but their kicks, relying on nothing but their God-given right to go out in the streets, pretending they do not notice the snow slowly seeping into the sole of their shoes.

I have never seen more confident people than those wearing air forces in the middle of February. They could be ankles deep in a snowbank and simply not care. This was a conscious decision, and they are well aware of that.

My beaten up chucks with holes in them will never support my outdoors endeavors, which is why I’m stuck wearing some heavy brown stompers. I could try and wear other shoes, and risk getting my socks wet, but unfortunately most of my shoes are mainly made of canvas or have holes in them as well. Maybe I just need to buy new footwear, but spending the day walking around in squeaky moist kicks is not a sacrifice I am ready to make just yet. 

Practicality aside, winter boots are simply ugly. They´re heavy, and clunky to walk in. Having an already hefty bag full of textbooks, dread, and broken dreams, I don’t want to drag my booted feet from the main floor of the Hall building to the 10th.

For now, I´ll have to patiently wait for spring to show up so I can finally have my stinkers out and about in some chunky sandals, or at least, my worn in and much familiar pair of chucks.