Shoe Shops.

[poliphilo]

When I was a kid they used to have x-ray machines in shoe shops. They were big wooden boxes with a slot at the bottom where you inserted your foot and a screen at the top where you could look down into the sickly green glow and watch your toe-bones wiggle about.  At some stage the boffins realised it was unhealthy to have all that radiation washing around- and the machines disappeared. They were fun.

My mother taught me that you don't skimp on shoes. Especially not with children. I used to buy my kids the most expensive shoes that money could buy, even when I couldn't really afford it. Ailz likes to remind me of the time- very early in our courtship- it may even have been our second date- when I took her to Clarkes in Bolton to kit the kids out for the new school year- and we had to wait an hour for their little feet to be measured and fussed over-  and Mike and Joe rolled around on the floor and were loud and annoying. She says she must have been very keen to be with me not to have turned on her heel and walked away.

We were in Wyndsors yesterday. Wyndsors is very cheap. All the windows are papered over with bright green posters announcing just how cheap they are. The shoes are on racks and you help yourself. Ailz's dad bought slippers and Aiz got a pair of sandals that cost her all of £2.00.

Comments

[shullie.livejournal.com]

same her... we spent a fortune of shoes.. to make sure there feet grew well... and coats... didn't matter how broke we were 9 at time we were on the breadline) but they all had new coats and new shoes... especially important for the Winter.

I still have good feet, as they are smallish and broad... I still only buy good shoes that actually fit me - I don't do shoes that pinch! As a kid I had to wear boys Tuff shoes; my feet mine were too 'broad' (fat) for girls shoes in the 60's...as I was a 'tom boy' I didn't mind to much. My small and pretty sister had her feet dressed/squashed into the most delightful red/ black/ shiney/patent fashion shoes.. which damaged her feet so badly that she had to have her little toe amputated! though as a teen that meant that she could wear vintage shoes!

I still want a pair of red shoes... though I have not bought any yet .. I wonder why?

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

My feet are in pretty good shape, so I think there's something to be said for my mother's policy.

My kids seem to have done all right too. They're a pretty active set of people. One of my sons spends his spare time exploring ruined buildings in Japan- and I reckon you need good feet for that.

[manfalling.livejournal.com]

I remember those X-ray machines, I used to find them fascinating. Did I get to put my foot in one? `m sure that would have been very exciting.

And thanks for the foot care! My feet seem to be pretty solid, though I do occasionaly wonder at my big toes. Some people`s big toes can bend right back, so they`re perpendicular to the foot. Useful when squatting down, crawling, doing barefoot karate or ju-jitsu or something. My toes though don`t bend back at all.

Do yours? I`ve had trouble with it in karate a few times- whenever I had to do front kicks using the front pad of the sole of the foot. I would often just kick the pad painfully with my toes, because they couldn`t pull back out of the way. Ouch.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I thought those machines had disappeared before your time, but perhaps not. If they were still around I'm sure you'd have stuck your foot in one.

My big toes don't bend either. Otherwise they're in pretty good shape. I broke one once by dropping a metal bedframe on it (quite possibly your bed frame!) and it aches a bit in the cold.