Hickies

I have Hickies.
I love my Hickies!

Calm down, before you get all excited, the Hickies I refer to have absolutely nothing to do with love bites or love marks. There is nothing in my life that can come even remotely close to those kind of hickies, or love trophies as we used to call them in High School.

Nope, my Hickies are made of silicon, and they are one of the best new and weird things I have stumbled across in the past months. These peculiar little worm-like thingamabobs have revolutionised the concept of tying shoelaces, since they replace the laces altogether and transform the cumbersome sports or walking shoes into slip-ons. No more stopping in the middle of a game or a run to bend down and tie your laces.

The concept takes some getting used to, and initially I missed the nostalgia of laces. But I have reached an age where I need to think practically. Convenience trumps nostalgia once you pass the 50-year-old threshold. I am not old enough yet to need someone to tie my shoes for me, but I do find it a pain to constantly bend down and tie them. Double knots? Ugly and uglier. No thank you.

We live in the silicon age, and by that I don’t mean Silicon Valley. It started with the simple breast enhancement jobs, and deteriorated from there. I had trouble handling the silicon baking moulds, still do, but the ice trays are not that bad, and neither are the oven gloves. But when the laces came out, I had to wonder what will the product designers come up with next. How much convenience do we really need in life? Where does it all end?

My Hickies are here to stay. I can’t report on the durability thus far, but I do not tread lightly, and do tend to push my shoes and laces to the limit. They come in different colours, so my purple trainers are happy, and I am able to maintain the monochrome equilibrium.