Disenfranchised

At the risk of appearing shallow and frivolous, I confess that one of my favorite timewasters is Manolo's Shoe Blog. I chuckle at his caustic comments on style and admire the shoes he sprinkles over his pages. In his August 24th entry, he cites other shoeblogs of which he approves, including, for you British readers, Shoewawa.

Why does this make me feel left out? Just about everyone I know in my age group has already lost the battle of the bunion and we have all opted for comfort. Even my stylish friend Lynne, as she entered her eighties, stacked up a large number of boxes marked Louis Ferragamo, size seven, narrow, and is now thinking about selling them on eBay.

Nice shoes won't work for me any more, but I have been introduced to the magic of the pedicure. A couple of weeks ago, I was reading the wedding reports in The New York Times.(Shallow? Frivolous? Moi?) The groom quoted his aunt as saying, "A woman with clean toes is a woman who's well-rounded, well-mannered and well-presented."

If that's good enough for Apratim Dutta's aunt, it's good enough for me.