Not so long ago I read Mrs Dubai’s post on ‘Shoes we keep but never wear’ (being a bit clueless on how to hyperlink on WordPress, I have pasted the link to this post below). Apart from envying Mrs Dubai’s fantastic sounding shoe collection as well as admiring the strength it must have taken to discard her babies, errm, I mean her beloved shoes, her post got me thinking about how my shoes could possibly tell a story about my life.

Before Work Life – Being a creature of comfort and all things comfortable, I was never happier than when I was wearing my trainers, Doc Martens, Birkenstocks etc. This time of my life involved a lot of footwork. It seems I was on the go all the time; cycling to friends, running to catch buses and trains to make my way to Uni, walking around 400 year old cobbles at Uni, hours of waitressing to fund my studies, and even more hours dancing the night away!

Don’t get me wrong. I have always had an appreciation for shoes; I have always loved beautiful shoes, and back in the day I even possessed a few ‘special occasion’ pairs. Unfortunately, apart from the odd Uni ball, I had little opportunity to give them an outing, and they spent most of their fashionable lives avoiding dust in shoeboxes stored at the bottom of my wardrobe.

Worklife – My City worklife ushered in the dizzying and varied heights of fancy footwear. The life of a professional demanded an upgrade to accompany the smart business attire. Enter heels in every colour, style, and height. In my mind, the right shoes made an outfit, even if you couldn’t always see them under the floor sweeping, tailored trousers. Heels were beautiful, empowering, and just plain gorgeous.

Don’t get me wrong, walking too far in the lush discomfort was never an option for me! The walk to work along London’s Thames river called for my old reliable comfy trainers until I reached the office. A work out with one pair and work with the next!

Mummy Life – Well, it didn’t even take the arrival of my munchkins to make me reach for my trusty friends. 6 months pregnant with twins, I purchased a trendy (at least that is what I hoped they were!) pair of Doc Martens! Oh gosh…they were so comfy. Still walking to work along London’s riverbank, I stopped changing my shoes once I reached the office! I continued to wear my feet friendly companions around the office and on my walk home again.

I think it was only weddings and the very rare date nights of two very sleep deprived first time parents that forced me to up my game by 3 inches!! Even then, I am sure I kicked them off under the table after a few minutes and dreaded putting them back on to face the walk to the car/home!!

Fully Fledged Mummy Life – Well, now that we have been living in the desert that is Dubai, for the majority of my babies’ lives, shoe life has become more about what they want as opposed to what I would like! Glued to flip flops, I barely know what a ‘heel’ is these days! School run? Flip Flops. Shopping? Flip Flops. Afterschool Activities? Flip Flops.

I never thought that children would steal my shoe shopping time for themselves; cheeky beggars! Standing in my flip flops, I reviewed last year’s life in shoes:

– 3 pairs of sensible, black school shoes
– a lot of pairs and solo flip flops
– 3 pairs of Birkenstocks
– 5 pairs of smelly trainers
– 8 pairs of football boots….3 more and I can supply a football team
– 1 pair of skateboarding trainers
– 1 pair of Go Kart racing shoes
– 2 pairs of slippers
– 1 pair of high tops
– 1 pair of espadrilles
– numerous pairs of unworn hand-me-down shoes
– 1 pair of gold, sparkly unworn ‘dancing with the stars’ type shoes……(shunned in favour of rugby boots!)

Not quite in the same league of Mrs Dubai’s ‘to-die-for’ collection……but still pretty special all the same!

http://mrsdubai.wordpress.com/2014/10/14/on-shoes-we-keep-but-never-wear/