@steveTu - in the 1970s we were surprised, moving to Todmorden from Cambridge, how many people wore clogs such as you show in your photo, for gardening etc. They were made to fit the individual, by the aforementioned clog maker in the town, so it didn't matter if you had odd-shaped feet... and they were remarkably comfortable.
Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
When I was ten or eleven, I was unfortunate enough to have the same sized feet as a diminutive aunt. She generously donated a pair of round toed shoes with extremely thick soles. My mum made me wear them. I would take them off and scrape them on tarmac, pebbledash or any abrasive surface I could find. No effect whatsoever. I didn't have the sense to ' lose' one on my way home from school. I must have eventually grown out of them. They're probably still out there making some poor child's life a misery.
I wish you hadn’t just said that @B3 because it has brought to mind me asking, 66 years ago and buried from thought ever since, why a classmate had gutters around his shoes. Back then I was far too cocky and unkind to consider for a moment that those unfashionable shoes might have been all his family could afford. Shame on me.
I suppose now I realise that there wasn't much money in our family at the time but I wasn't conscious of it then. There were some things I knew that it wasn't worth asking for so I suppose that at some level I was aware of the situation.
As a kid,there was old Mr,??? Can't try his name,this was a Sussex village,and the 'shop' was his front room,think Hobson's Choice. They all seem to be much of a muchness these days. My boots were expensive,good soft leather, really comfortable, stitching, zip,no problems. They would cost hundreds to replace,and what a waste. Hubby bought glue for a couple of quid on e bay,stuck the sole back on my other pair.
I always had new shoes as a child, my mum said the same as me, that I wouldn’t have hand me down shoes like she had. I remember putting my feet in the X-ray machine to make sure there was plenty of toe room. Still had to have stick on soles and heels though, just to make them last longer.
Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor.
I am wearing my lovely comfortable Clarkes ankle boots at the moment. I had them reheeled last year by Timpsons for £14, if they need to be resoled and reheeled it would be £24 if done at the same time. They are warm lined and so comfy that I'm reluctant to take them off even at bedtime. They're beginning to look a bit scruffy but they polish up OK.
I spent a fortune on startrite shoes for my daughter. One memorable time was when her feet grew a fortnight after I bought them. Anyway, as soon as she was old enough to buy her own shoes she would shove her feet into shoes a size smaller than she needed. Her feet weren't even that big but they were no longer a pretty sight.
We always took our children down to Clarks at Street, Somerset where there were lots of shops in the High Street in the 1970/1980's selling 'seconds'. They were still good quality ones. Money was tight in those days so every little helped.
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I didn't have the sense to ' lose' one on my way home from school. I must have eventually grown out of them. They're probably still out there making some poor child's life a misery.
They are warm lined and so comfy that I'm reluctant to take them off even at bedtime.
They're beginning to look a bit scruffy but they polish up OK.
Anyway, as soon as she was old enough to buy her own shoes she would shove her feet into shoes a size smaller than she needed. Her feet weren't even that big but they were no longer a pretty sight.