My sister, who I love and respect, celebrated her one year wedding anniversary St Patrick's Day weekend this year, and at that time I was still shrouded by a shoe shopping terror. For months before the big day, I spent most of my time looking for bridesmaids shoes, which ultimately ended in a tragedy of ill fitting and footwear casualties.
Admittedly, I have never been an enthusiastic shoe shopper, more to do with the fact my feet are like garden spades - rectangular, long and equally wide, and the kicker, (excuse the pun) my big toe has lost out to my second and third toes in the competition to be the longest toes on my feet. Yeah sure, freaky generic quirk, ah well what're ye going do!
Any which way, my brief was fairly straight forward, I needed a midheel court shoe with or without a strap.
But for someone who generally takes an armful of shoes to the cash desk, and would be lucky for the assistant to return with two pairs, and these are usually too narrow or a half a size too small, my shoe brief was a mammoth task.
I normally buy shoes from on the sale rack, the well stretched larger sizes that come in whatever colour didn't sell, so even though I had the option to cover the shoes, shape, heel and fit were still obstacles.
My shoe buying routine usually starts with a ray of optimism "today's the day, I'll find a perfect pair of shoes", and this positivity can last through trying them on and even to the exchange of cash for goods. But once I put them on the clock starts ticking and by about 2/3 hours I am found staring longingly at slippers in shoe shop windows, vowing that I will choose my next pair of shoes more carefully.
I did find a pair of shoes for my sister's wedding, which were reasonably comfortable (for me this is defined by a tolerance of up to 4 hours, then discomfort until I take them off) and the day was a blast.
I do however have some new additions to my ill fitting shoe collection. A beautiful faun suede shoes - I can only stand in; magnificent long patent boots - I don't know what I was thinking that day; and the 4 hour pair that I had covered but cannot be worn again. Ah well walk on....
