Laura and the new shoes

Yesterday I took it upon myself to purchase some new footwear. Unlike most women, I do not enjoy shopping for shoes. I find it a difficult and delicate process which does not often yield fruitful results.This is because I was born with very awkward feet. Depending on the shoe, I can be either size 5,5 and a half or 6. Plus I have very narrow feet and one is slightly bigger than the other. Plus, the skin on my trotters seems to be abnormally thin and so if the footwear does not fit EXACTLY,it can often rip holes in my upper epidermis layer. Sandals are a particular nighmare and I must have wasted hundreds of pounds over the years on bogus ill fitting pairs.So it was with great trepidation I ventured into the shoe stores of Liverpool yesterday.The weather was exceedingly clement and this had drawn the masses of the city out of the woodwork,along with their screaming offspring on half term break. Also, the new 'Liverpool 1' shopping precinct was open, which caused town to be even more chocka. I opted to give this a miss as I like to run against the herd and check out these things when all the fuss has died down. Plus, I have a feeling it might be crap and I don't trust these new developments ever since it was deemed necessary to get rid of the Bluecoat garden in the name of Capital of Culture. Calling on all the prior experience of my traumatic shoe shopping past, I gave all the cheap shops in St.Johns a miss and proceeded directly to the 'Clarks' emporium.Upon entering the store I was immediately enraptured by a pair of shoes which were evocatively titled 'Horse Way'. They were metallic brown in design with an embossed pattern. Quite a chunky sole with crossover straps on top. I'm not one to be taken in by advertising, but I could imagine myself getting up on a Saturday and putting these shoes on before heading off down the country paths on my brown horse, Black Beauty. She would gallop through the meadows as I clicked my heels and attracted many admiring glances from country bumpkins in my Clarks footwear.I tried a pair on in size 6 and they did not fit. I altered all the straps and they did not fit. I asked for a pair in size 5 and a half and they did not fit. I altered all the straps and they fitted a lot better so I bought them.My next port of call was 'Schuh'. This store had so many pairs of exciting foot garments that I nearly came over all unecessary. I selected a funky pair of shoes which were imaginatively titled 'Cake Crumble'. Again, I would like to stress how anti-advertising I am, but I can't deny that cake and crumble are two of the joys of life. Sadly the shoes did not look like a nice big chunk of cake. They were black with navy stitching and a cutaway pattern on the top. They had an ankle strap with the cutest bow you ever did see on the side. I tried on a pair of these Cake Crumble specimens in size 6 and they fitted. I walked up and down a few times waiting for some kind of agonising pain, or slippage at the ankle but there was none.Satisfied, I purchased the shoes. I could not believe I had found 2 pairs of shoes that fitted in one day.I got home and laid out my shoes for inspection on the Matalan rug. I congratulated myself upon a successful shoe shop operation. However, when I inspected the soles of the 'Cake Crumble', I saw they had given me the display model which had been tried on a million times.I am intending to exchange them for a brand new pair of Cake Crumble next week as I believe this kind of behaviour is shabby beyond belief. Even though I know as soon as I step outside, the underneaths will get messed up I think it is a violation of my human rights to be sold a shoe with a dirty sole.