New shoes
I got new shoes over the weekend. The old pair were resoled recently — I’ve had them for over two years, and while they’re showing their age, they were serviceable — and I was wearing them, but for some reason my right foot started hurting.
I wore my sneakers for most of last week, and got to Tip Top Shoes on Saturday. The salesman helpfully remeasured my feet. My right foot is apparently a little larger than my left one — 9 vs. 8-1/2, more or less. The old pair must of have been just on the edge in terms of size on my right foot, and the recent resoling and insole replacement must have put it out of the comfort zone. Throw in a little swelling from the tight shoe, and the problem gets compounded. Note that different sized feet are sufficiently common for there to be a note about this in the catalogs of at least one web-based shoe stores.
I got a pair of Eccos, which the salesman recommended as good walking shoes. The best in the store are Mephistos, but I wasn’t willing to pay $350 for a pair. The right fits comfortably right now, but the left (of course) is now a little loose, and chaffs a bit. I need thicker socks on the left.
Ideally, I’d buy two pairs of shoes, sizes 8-1/2 and 9. This would be expensive. In a perfect world, I’d find someone with a similar taste in shoes, and with the same differently sized feet, but in a mirror image. This sounds like something the Internet would be good at doing, some niche of Ebay or something. However, after a quick inspection of the auction sites, I haven’t found anyone selling differently sized shoes.