Shoemaker where are you now?

There was a time when I had the best shoemaker in the city just 50 meters from my house. He could make anything, did it while I waited, and especially he could handle hysterical women like me very well. I would be there yelling that “these heels are really very precious and that it's my favorite pair and that nothing can go wrong with them, can you promise that? CAN YOU PROMISE THAT?!” Then he would always calmly say, “no problem, it will be just fine.” And it always was, it always turned out fine, and my heels could return home more beautiful than ever.

But now he is gone. There is construction going on. And that's why he had to make way and move to the other side of the city. That was almost a year ago now and I miss him every day. You know, I have quite a few shoes and I have to go to the shoemaker more often than average, having no shoemaker around the corner is quite a disaster. Until a few months ago, a new shoemaker appeared just three stumbling steps from my house who looked quite good and reliable. Hooray! I thought, finally! And so I happily went there with a pair and said that I would pick them up the next morning.

The next morning I was neatly standing at the door at 09:30, but no shoemaker. And after half an hour still no one. That guy just didn't open for three days, THREE DAYS. On day 4 I finally got hold of him and he casually said, ‘oh yeah I was out of town for a bit.‘ So we won't be going there anymore.

Last Thursday evening I had a masked ball from Hermès so of course it was of vital importance to find a Good Outfit. I had completely figured out which heels it would be and designed the rest of my outfit around them but then I discovered that those heels needed new tips. Panic. Total panic. On my bike to shoemaker 1 who was just still open but once inside it turned out to be the biggest klutz ever who said he couldn't fix my heels because he couldn't find ’the little pin.“ ”The what?“ ”The little pin, to make the heels. I don't know where that is.“ I kid you not! What on earth is a person supposed to do with that?

On to shoemaker 2, who did have the little pin. But here it turned out that the heel in question was so damaged that he couldn't fix it right away and that I could pick them up in two days. The stress was becoming quite overwhelming because that damned ball was in less than 2 hours and I HAD to wear those heels. But shoemaker 2 stood his ground and I was out of luck.

Moral of this story? If I had just had another shoemaker, I would never have had to let those heels get so damaged and I wouldn't have had to go to the ball in my B-choice on Thursday, although it would have been very Cinderella-like to leave a shoe somewhere.