Shoes

My mother always said that you can tell a lot about a person from their shoes.

One of my favourite ways to occupy my time spent on public transport is to play The Shoe Game. There are two variations to this wondrous game; firstly you can look at somebody - their outfit, mannerisms, age etc - and try and guess what shoes they will be wearing. Or, you can just look at somebody's shoes and try to figure out what they will look like. I find that the latter is a lot more entertaining as I tend to come up with extravagant guesses at people's personalities and style choices only to be sorely disappointed by what I see when I look up.

Yesterday, while sitting on the tube staring at the feet pacing past me, I found that my eye caught on my own dingy shoes and it struck me; what do my shoes say about me? I own three pairs of shoes (that I actually wear); a plain pair of sneakers that are extremely broken and have gaping holes in the soles, a pair of brogues that are incredibly worn down and make a very irritating sound with every step and my wellies that come out a few times a year on that special rainy day. So what does that say about me?

If you saw me walking down the street could you guess my footwear? If you looked at my shoes would you guess correctly what the teenager above them looked like? There is no way of knowing, but for now it has just made me very conscious of my choice of shoes.