Boots

Yesterday I realised that my boots felt a bit strange. I looked at them and found that there was metal poking through the sole just at the point where my foot touches the ground in front of my heels. I thought that this would mean new shoes ASAP, which would not be a terribly good thing in terms of either money or time just now - at least, if I want shoes that are comfortable*.

However, I took them to local shoe repair shop at lunchtime, and the nice shoe repair guy hummed over them for a bit then said that they were repairable. Not only that, he explained exactly what was wrong and what he was going to do. Apparently the way I sit at my office chair (which apparently has legs made of titanium sandpaper or something - I've never seen anything like this and nor has he) wears my soles in unusual places. At the same time, the shank, which is the metal bar that lifts the sole up to meet the heel and keeps everything attached, is working loose - probably due to the extraordinary wear just at the point where it meets the bottom of the shoe. One of them has become completely detached from the heel and there isn't very much holding my boot together. He also showed me shanks from a shoe with a lower heel and a shoe with a stiletto heel, so that I could see the difference, and explained how it all fits together. I like it when I get to learn things.

Also: the price of a new shank and a new sole for both shoes is sixteen quid, which is a good deal less than a new pair. I can drop them off tomorrow lunchtime and pick them up on Friday, which is a good deal less exhausting than shoe shopping. Hooray!

*My feet seem to be less foot-shaped than other peoples'. And they're not too small, either.