I am Australian and I wear rubber thongs as my most regular source of footwear. I have been wearing the same pair of Havaiana rubber thongs for the last 4 years. Well I had been until yesterday when I had a “thong blowout.

That’s right: walking across the road to the bakery there was a tragedy. My left foot hit the gutter, my thong got caught and the “centre mast” of the thong was ripped out of the rubber. After I got up off the ground I tried to repair it and I tried walking with it but to no avail: my Havaianas were no more.

I told the story of my Havaiana blow out at a party I was at last night and most considered the story to be hilarious but I will genuinely miss those thongs. They had been worn so much they were almost like wearing a second skin. They fitted my thong notch perfectly.

Interestingly I also got to the thinking about all of the events in my life that those thongs have been with me through. Times spent with my family, times spent with good friends and times spent either watching or talking about sport.

So I will miss those pieces of rubber that were so perfectly formed to my feet. I, of course, gave them a deserved memorial and threw them in the bin coupled with a large tranche of profanity.

And now begins the search for my next pair of rubber thongs: one can only hope that they will give me as much joy as the pair now on the way to the Ferny Grove rubbish tip. Farewell faithful friends: you served me well!