8 July - Shoes, Scarpe, Chaussures

Ok, so I took 13 pairs for 10 days. Is that a crime? I'm almost tempted not to count flip flops and ballerinas, they're not really shoes. I actually went easy on them as I thought I may purchase another pair or two locally but I never saw any that truly blew me away and also thought ‘the sales are on when I get back’, so I practice some self-denial. But as I got to Hotel #4 I couldn’t find a pair and mourned them for a day and night. It simply wasn’t worth finding out where I left them and organise to have them sent on. But the following day I eventually found them – the case is not that large but they had mimetically hidden in their black shoe bag and I didn’t see them though had rooted around several times, I think I mentioned elsewhere that it’s a habit of mine not to take out much from my case and hang it, even if am staying somewhere for a week. I just prefer to be ready to bolt.

I was so happy – even declaring the cheap little wooden hi-heels purchased a few years back in Rio ‘my favourite beach shoes’ on account of the fact that they are comfortable and I can walk in them all day if I can bear to hear the sound they make on the pavement. Brazil made high heels I find, are always comfortable, something to do with braz girls wearing them 24/7 so they better be right. So I wore them the whole day in my short shorts and vest. Diplomatically the BF had answered the ‘Be honest, can I wear these shorts or does the cellulite really show?’ with ‘You can get away with them’ (these days the subtext is always ‘you look good …. for your age darling’. He even helpfully pointed out that the dimples are only at the top of my thighs, close to my ass, thus appearing to not notice at all the knees I hate and the fat around the knees I specifically hate. Fair enough. I’ll wait till I see the photographs to feel bad again and console myself with the ‘at least there’s no paparazzi to splash my body shortcomings on those ‘look at her, isn’t she awful like the rest of us’ articles. I mean, it happens regularly to Meg Matthews non?
The lesson here is that if you ever feel deprived of new items of clothing, you simply hide /pretend to have lost some for a day or two and when you are re-united with them, it’s like they’re new and therefore extra valuable to you and you’ll love them so much. You can sort of achieve the same effect if you never move in with your BF and so half your wardrobe is always elsewhere (though this is mostly cause of angst) and sometimes you forget bunches of clothes altogether