I had a big adventure yesterday. 
I got out of my flat for the first time since my last visit to the clinic about 3.5 weeks before and went into the city centre with my husband to buy a pair of shoes for myself!!
When I was at the clinic last time (2 days after the rupture), the cast technician told me to bring a shoe (for the ATR foot) with me on the next appointment, so that they could put some wedges onto the sole. I don’t know if they put wedges inside or outside (or both) of my shoes, but the soles should have wide flat heals to allow me to walk safely in them after ditching the final cast or a boot.
Unfortunately, I don’t have any suitable shoes for this because I flew to Britain in my long boots with a pair of flamenco shoes in my suitcase. I told my husband last week that I wanted to go shopping to buy new shoes, but he thought I was not ready for long distance walk with crutches. Indeed, good shoe shops are in the city centre and its traffic has been disturbed by prolonging road work and only buses and taxis are allowed to drive on the major streets in the city centre.
To persuade him to take me to my favorite shoe shop, I went online to make sure that I didn’t need to walk a lot if we took a taxi. I needed new shoes and it was the reason for my first adventure, but there was another reason. I really wanted to get out of the flat after spending nearly 4 weeks house bound after the injury! I managed to persuade my husband yesterday and we called a taxi. Time for shopping! 
The weather was not bad and I put on a pair of black trousers (boot-cut) over the cast. I also put on my favorite necklace to cheer up myself! To get out of my flat, I had to walk down the 66 stairs in a Victorian tenement with 1 crutch under my right arm while holding the stair rail in my left hand. I was excited and going down the stairs was rather fun!
In the UK taxis usually have a high floor and I had to use my arms, hands and knees to get in the cabin like a spider woman! Once in the taxi, I was like a tourist looking out the buildings and people on the street. Everything looked lively to my eyes. About 10-minutes ride took us to a street near the Ecco shoe shop. No car was allowed to enter some parts of the street, but the taxi driver managed to drop us only 8 metres away from the shop! (Coolkiwi - thanks for your comments. I read them after I came home from the shopping, but I smiled a lot when I found out that I had done the things you had recommended!)
I got off the taxi and saw myself standing in the shopping district. How nice! The ground was dry and the street was not so busy. I felt safe to walk with crutches and made my way to the shop. I had checked their stock in advance and they brought me a few pairs which I had asked them by phone to put aside for me. The shopkeeper was helpful and offered me a stool to put up my foot in the cast while she was fitting a shoe on the other foot. Some other customers looked a bit surprised to see me walking with effort to try out a new shoe. They gave me a space to walk around and I thanked them.
After trying 7 pairs of shoes, I bought a pair with shock-absorbing soles and wide heals. They were easy to put on and off with Velcros, yet nice-looking! I took their photo wanted to show you the shoes and tried to insert its photo last night without success. I could upload a photo onto my Media Library, but nothing happened when I tried to insert the photo into post. I read the HELP section again and followed the instructions, but the problem remained. The same problem had been reported by frouchie in the FAQ section, which doesn’t seem to have been solved either. I’ve reported my problem in the same section and should wait and see if dennis could help us out with the problem.
(You can see my new shoes at http://achilles2010.blog129.fc2.com/blog-entry-6.html
After the successful shopping, I suggested my husband to have something to drink in a cafe. He agreed. I ordered a cup of cappuccino. We shared a hot panini with mozzarella and sun-dried tomatoes. It was so nice to be in the lively cafe.
How’s your weekend?
I wish you all happy healing!
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