Shoe Dilemmas.........

So, I am off to a ball in Battersea, South London, on Saturday night, and not being the most organised of people, I had been receiving frantic Skype messages from my friend Clare. She is an organiser extraordinaire and one of those people who always manages to find the flaw in even my most finely-honed plans.

"Have you got a dress?" she typed.

"Yeh, course I have, stop worrying."

"Ummmm, have you got shoes?" came the reply.

At which point, my metaphorical car screeched to an abrupt halt. "Errrrm, no actually." I responded sheepishly.

"You are bloody useless, go and and get them now....... you're not leaving it until the last minute," came the reply.

So, without a by-your-leave I was thrown to the mercy of the Oxford Christmas-shopping throngs. It was 1pm, and I quickly decided that I couldn't face venturing into the city centre, and so selected a more sedate retail park, in a suburb called Cowley.

Three large clothes-stores later, things were not looking good.  For some reason, all the stores had decided to stock shoes more suited to a Madame's boudoir than a ball in Battersea.

Pic.No. 1 Oh dear, things were deteriorating on the shoe front

'No worries,' I thought to myself, a trip to 'Next' in a retail park not too far away, was sure to fix my shoe woes.

Pic. No. 2 The Next store in Cowley

Sure enough, after perusing the dazzling array of shoes, I finally found a pair I liked - black sling-backs with a small rose on the toe.

"Sorry, we don't have them in a size 5," an unconcerned looking assistant said after I asked to try them on.

Sacre bleu! Things were going from bad to worse, I had run out of options, and it was now 3.30pm.

In desperation, I texted a friend; "Help me! I need shoes.... where are they?"

A text beeped on my phone; "Go to Bicester Village, loads of designer shops." Inspired!

As I pulled out the carpark, I noticed the car in front, with a slogan across the back bumper; 'Mazda specialist call 01865 8***** for an experienced mechanic'

Pic.No. 3 There's nothing like proudly advertising your workmanship

Thirty minutes later, I pulled into Bicester Village (a designer outlet park), and it finally appeared that my woes were at an end.Yummy, lots of lovely designer clothes and shoes.

Pic. No. 4 Designer shop in Bicester Village

Ok, ok, I admit it. Two hours after arriving, I had got a bit carried away, and I was the proud owner of a new balldress........ but still no shoes...... and it was getting on for 6.30pm.

'Concentrate, you can do this....' I muttered in an attempt to keep myself motivated in the face of adversity.

I came up with a strategy - don't even go into clothes shops, stick with shoe shops. Brilliant! But bit by bit I eliminated every style of shoe; too high, too clunky, too pointy, too many straps, wrong colour.........and my options were starting to look limited.

I NEED SHOES! HOW HARD CAN IT BE? The shops were all starting to make preparations for closing, so I needed to make a decision fast, and I did make a decision fast - a pair of black strappy sandals. Not the perfect choice for a green dress, but still quite nice............ and so my mission came to an end, six hours after I tenuously threw myself at the mercy of the shops.

So, do you want to see what I bought? Looky here .............

Pic.No. 5 The holy grail - ball shoes

Pic.No. 6 Green silk ball dress

Pic.No. 7 Dress detailing

So what do you think, did I do well for an emotionally backward shopper?!