A shoe problem

Since I had my triple joint fusion in my foot two years ago, my foot is quite rigid and slightly tilted to one side.  This doesn’t have much practical impact under normal circumstances, but it means that I am quite hard on shoes, and when I walk on rough ground I have to wear something with a substantial sole to protect my ankle.  So I have some comfy ankle boots which I wear if I know I am going to have to walk some distance, and last week I wore them to go to Balmoral.  So we walked several miles round the estate, and when we were going back to the car, I noticed that my boot was making an odd clicking noise on the tarmac.  I took it off, and there were a couple of small bits of gravel wedged in the sole.  I removed them and fair enough.

But then this morning  I noticed the same thing only worse, and the whole boot felt very odd.  I took it off and examined the sole; there was nothing to be seen on first inspection but when I looked more closely, the whole heel was loose, and when I peeled it back there was a collection of about 10 small stones (I say small but some of them were fingernail sized) lodged inside it.  I don’t know whether they all came from Balmoral, or whether I have been accumulating them for weeks.  Anyway the boots had to go in the bin!  I have actually discovered that I can now wear trainer shoes which I was not able to walk in this time last year which is good because boots look silly with shorts.  Also goes to show that you can still be making improvements a long time after having major operations.

The picture is nothing to do with my boots and everything to do with Amber who jumped on my desk while I was writing this.