Well, I'm back in the office.
I actually got back yesterday but didn't really have the time to write a blog post.
It was a good holiday I think, overall. As I said beforehand I had a few days for doing stuff and then I was off gallivanting around the country.
The stuff at home my main aim was to get some new footwear - I needed some work shoes, walking shoes and some trainers. My thoughts were that the easiest of these to get would be the work shoes, then the walking shoes, then the trainers.
The trainers would be most difficult because I won't wear anything except black trainers and I also like reeboks. These, combined with my foot size (a 10 or 11 depending on the shoe fit) which is very popular tend to make it rather difficult to find them.
I figured walking shoes would be okay as there's a millets in Farnham and they sell karrimors, which are the brand I like and it would just be a case of finding the right fit and a design that looked sturdy.
The work shoes would be a piece of piss as there are usually lots of designs that are acceptable and there are loads of Clarks shoe shops around.
The reality was almost the exact reverse. The first sports good shop I breezed into had Black reeboks in my size and I was out within 20 minutes.
The walking shoes proved to be problematic because the millets in Farnham has gone. I then wasn't at all sure where another one was locally. However, I knew there was a millets at the factory outlet place that's just up the road from my Dad's in Devon... only that had closed too!
I don't think millets have gone under and I've had a look online to find the shops. I guess I could always order online, but shoes are one of those things you really need to try on to make sure they fit properly.
The work shoes was bizarre - I went into the Clarks in Aldershot and, as suspected, they had several designs that would have been suitable, but some of them were incredibly expensive (£70 for shoes for work!) and those that weren't they didn't seem to have any sizes that fit. The ones I did try on were too small and they didn't have the next size up.
I then tried this cheap shoe place up the road, but they were awful - like walking on planks of wood.
There is a shoe shop in the town I work in so I'll try looking in there, or they could probably order them, but overall it was bizarre that I couldn't find any.
