M&S or S&M?

A mini survey among people in a relationship indicates that most really big arguments and sorry disagreements revolve around two main issues: sex and money. (Preferably, not together, i.e. money for sex)

Although not a real deal-breaker, and certainly not a cause for end-of-the-line discussions, shoes, yes shoes, may sometimes polarise opinions and feed the modern-day man/woman divide. How?
It is a well-known fact: most women have an obsessive compulsive desire for shoes and handbags. One of the reasons: they will always look good on you, regardless of the size of your butt. It used to be quite improbable that a man understands and cherishes the unstoppable need to purchase tens of dozens of possibly salary-defying shoes. Some of which are never to be worn, but just gazed at in lust and admiration for days and months. However, in this day and age of metrosexuality, chances are men spend just as much on covering their extremities and demand their companions to be perfectly cladded too. In high heels.
Let's face it, heels are wonderful and gorgeous and make your legs look longer and leaner. If you skipped the long-leg queue on Creation Day, they also take you up to kissable height, without having to stretch your neck like a ring-bearing African tribe woman. But, unless you can drive or be cabbed around all day, they are also a major cause of pain and tears. I am not joking. I insist on wearing a pair of fairly new shoeboots that literally make me sob half way to the office every single time. The obvious solution and compromise would be elegant, cute, comfortable flats. So fashionable, so on-trend, so walkable. Too easy... As this is where Venus and Mars collide. For most men there are No. Good. Flat. Shoes. None whatsoever. Forget it. They are 'just flat shoes', undeserving of any adjectival connotation. Like an M&S tee-shirt, which, no matter how they may try and spin it, is just a tee-shirt. It does its job, end of story. Not much else to say.

What to do then? To be honest, I don't have an answer, I really don't. I personally refuse to carry spare pairs or hide them under my desk. It somehow feels like a final fashion defeat. Also, I already constantly carry a house-worth of handbag content (see previous posts) that any addition needs to be highly justified. Therefore my shoe collection is split in two: shoes to be driven around in, and shoes that can safely take me from A to B. In the meanwhile, I carry on looking for the perfect catch: the comfortable and yet beautifully sexy heels.. I am sure my unstoppable optimism will some day be rewarded.