You never know what a work day at the paper will bring - or what shoes you will need to get through it. Sometimes I think I should have a whole wardrobe of them in my vehicle.

Last Thursday, my day started with First Lady Patsy Riley's visit to Greenville.

If you're going to meet the First Lady, you feel you ought to gussie things  up a bit.

So I accessorized with one of my few fall and winter dress hats (the brown felt with the leather trim), my leopard print moleskin jacket and my cute little brown mules with the gold embroidery.

Well, the outfit worked out just fine - Miss Patsy said she loved the hat - and things were off to a good start.

 Later in the morning I got a call the city road crews were finishing their paving projects. It was the grand finale, the last day to get a shot of their work in progress. Austin was still home sick, Kevin was out on assignment, and that left yours truly.

So I grabbed my camera and headed over to New Searcy Road. My cute little brown mules are fine on city sidewalks and grassy lawns. They are not so good hop-scotching hot tar and gravel along the roadside. Allen Powell, the project foreman, apologized for the &#8220rough terrain.” Hey, it's all in a day's work, right?

Friday afternoon Kevin and I traipsed over to the movie shoot next to Dunklin's Hardware downtown. My feet were beginning to hurt a little at that point, but I was too enthralled with watching the actors and crew at work to particularly notice.

Maggie (Renzi, the producer) called me onto the set for a few minutes. I got a close-up look at the track laid down, allowing the camera to glide smoothly back and forth. The clapper loader held up the board noting the film name and scene number and it was &#8220action!”  Danny Glover's fedora took off in one of the wind gusts. &#8220Cut!”

&#8220Danny, you can work that into the scene if you want to if it takes off again,” Director John Sayles told the actor.

I watched Glover's scene with Charles Dutton, YaYa DeCosta and other actors straight through, waiting to take a photo. &#8220Your camera makes the tiniest of noises, so wait for them to call ‘cut,'” Maggie advised me (after all, they do ask for &#8220quiet on the set”).

Several of us from the office got our photos taken with the film's star, Danny Glover, which was fun. My feet felt (almost) no pain as we walked back to the office.

When I headed home that cold night, I stopped at my mother's house. When I came back out, my Jeep refused to crank. I kept trying. It kept refusing.

It was cold, I was tired. My phone was busy - Benny on the computer, no doubt - and there seemed no remedy but to put my pitifully thin jacket on and hike to the house.

Those mules weren't nearly so cute at that point. Every rock and pebble on that red clay road of ours pressed into my now swollen feet.

When I got home, I happily kicked off my tar-bottomed shoes and put my feet up for a while.

Of course, that darned Jeep turned over like a dream for Benny later that night, drat him!

Obviously, I need to not only go out with reporter pad, pen and camera. I also needed to be armed with a pair of thick-soled, tar-proof, comfy old shoes for just such an emergency. You never know what a work day will bring.

Angie Long is Lifestyles reporter for The Greenville Advocate. She can be reached at 382-3111 ext. 132 or via email at angie.long@greenvilleadvocate.com.