Breaking in my new shoes

Giant Deer, Skull and Antlers - Tim Irving

My Grandfather was a wise man who had a solution for most of life's problems. I remember him telling anyone who'd listen that "New shoes should stand in water before you wear them". And, "Salt is the cure for an open wound". There were a few other gems, but I'll save them for another blog post, maybe a Christmas Special. Not surprisingly I didn't heed too much of his advice, but I was heeding it as I was nearing the end of a 4 mile walk last night.

I say walk, but in truth the last mile was a limp, or maybe a skip, but either way it felt like a long mile. I'm the proud owner of a new pair of brogue shoes. Over the past week I've been carefully breaking them in by walking short distances, like to the car, or, to the bottom of the garden, and during this period I did believe the transition from all synthetic "New Balance" to all leather brogue would be easy on my feet, but last night I had a rude awakening.

The pain, which is excruciating, comes from the shoes rubbing the top of my toes and I can't see how things can improve, unless I cut a hole in them, make brogue sandals. So, I'm going to take my Grandfather's advice and soak them in water overnight, then dry them slowly over the weekend.

While the brogues are drying, I'm getting up very early on Saturday, to photograph a country park where I've seen the brightest red crab apples. I'm hoping for a misty morning with a few drops of dew to test my waterproof/splashproof/dustproof, camera.