Dragging my heels?

[strange_complex]

In the last seven days (to be specific, since Monday), one or both of the heels from exactly THREE different pairs of my shoes have fallen off. For context, I own nine pairs altogether, so we are talking about a 33% Heel Failure Rate in one week.

The first pair (yes, both heels fell off at once) couldn't be put back on, so I have had to abandon that pair of shoes. The second (single heel) could, so I have. The third appears to have been lost this evening in a taxi (unless captainlucy was successful at getting it back for me after I got out?).

Just what is going on here, exactly? Have the heels of my shoes been jinxed? Is it some kind of divine ironic punishment for the disparaging comments I have made about the horrible heels attached to virtually every pair of shoes currently available for purchase in the shops? Is fate playing with me - forcing me into a situation where I have no choice but to buy shoes with horrible heels?

And is it true that bad things always happen in threes, so that I can relax now that the danger has passed?

Answers on a lost shoe heel, please...

Update: The good news is that captainlucy did manage to find last night's lost heel, so hopefully that's another one I'll be able to glue back onto the shoe concerned.

Comments

[ekatemba.livejournal.com]

You must read Nicholson Baker's The Mezzanine, where one of the key themes in his musings is on how two shoelaces could have broken in a short time: whether he puts equal pressure on each foot as he's tying them, what the quality control tests for them are, how often in his life he thinks of this, etc. etc.

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the tip! I looked it up, and added it to my Amazon wish list on your recommendation.

The format of a focus on minute details reminds me of a book I like very much called The Queue by Vladimir Sorokin. Unfortunately, that one is very hard to get hold of in this country: it can be bought on Amazon (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/search-handle-form/026-3409470-2360403), but only for inflated prices from independent sellers. Still, though, if you ever spot it in a second-hand book sale or something, snap it up: I suspect you would like it if you like the Baker book.

[my-mundane-life.livejournal.com]

Wow, you have a lot of heeled shoes! I hate the way all the shoes in shops have heels too - it's so hard to find flat shoes.
btw I forgot that I was meant to go out for coffee with you last week, or was it even the week before? I'm just so busy I keep forgetting things, and I'm unlikely to have time before I go away on Thursday. I will try to call in as soon as I can though!!

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

Yes, don't worry: you said at the time you might not be able to make it, so I assumed you were just too busy coding! Just let me know whenever you're available. I have The Fifth Elephant safe in my office, so can just pick it up and bring it along whenever we meet.

[qatsi.livejournal.com]

Just what is going on here, exactly?

Is it a sign to wear your DMs more?

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

I'd be willing, but I think they might look a bit odd with the suits or posh trousers I wear for teaching...

[kantti.livejournal.com]

My shoes hate me, too. In September, tired of having to abandon boots because the heels were snapping or wearing through in a matter of weeks, I bought a rather expensive pair. In October, I had them reheeled (just the plasticky bit at the bottom of the heel). Last week, I had them reheeled again. This week, they're already worn down to metal on one of the heels.
:(

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's quite like what happened to the first pair I lost heels from. I bought them on December 28th, had the plastic bits at the bottom of the heels replaced around the 10th January (already a bad sign that they needed it so quickly), and then both plasticy bits fell off on Monday in a falling-down-stairs-with-one-heel-caught-in-trouser-turn-up incident (which also involved spilt coffee). Luckily, they only cost £25 (probably the root cause of all the trouble), so I don't feel quite so annoyed about giving up on them.

It sounds like the people who reheeled your pair in October are more worthy of return custom than the people last week... unless they are actually the same people?

[kantti.livejournal.com]

Ooh gosh, I hope you were ok.

It was the same people, so I'm wondering if I'm getting more vicious over time!

Actually, I think the problem might be that the heel itself is getting wobbly, which makes walking a bit funny, so I might be stepping-funny or heel-dragging or something to compensate for the wobbliness underfoot.

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm fine: it only involved a few steps, and I counted only spilling about 1/3 of the full cup of coffee I was carrying as a great achievement. The trouser turn-up did rip along the seam, but it's fully reparable.

The whole heel going wobbly on your boots sounds like bad news, especially if, as you say, they were expensive. I guess stiletto boots (which it sounds like yours must be, and mine certainly were) are just always going to be a liability.

[purple-peril.livejournal.com]

>horrible heels attached to virtually every pair of shoes currently available for purchase in the shops

I've been very encouraged by the return of the 3" stiletto. I can now buy proper pointy heels again instead of those awful clumpy clodhoppers we've been offered for what seems like an aeon.

Ah, pointy shoes, pointy shoes and a nice pair of glossy stockings, what joy...

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

Yup, 3" stilettos are good, but that's what the heels of the first pair of boots I broke were, and it reminded me that stilettos are plagued by such mishaps.

I actually like chunky heels: what I do not like are those awful heels which are kind of like just a thin strip at the back of the boot. They look misplaced because they're not in the centre of the actual human heel (like a stiletto is), and I always think they look like they are just about to snap off.

It really feels to me as though for the last three years, those have been the only kind of heels available in the shops... :(

[rosamicula.livejournal.com]

You only have nine pairs of shoes in total?

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

I left a couple behind when I moved to Belfast, but yes. Don't forget I have only fairly recently moved into the world of the salarific: this situation is in part the legacy of years and years on a *ahem* shoe-string...