When you attend a school with a strict uniform policy, there’s very specific rules about how you conform, lest you be sent home with a note requesting immediate replacement of unsuitable item of clothing. The one thing Mum and I always fought about was shoes.

I spent years railing against my Mum and her insistence that I wear good, proper school shoes. She always chose the pointy-toed brown Clarks for my A-width foot, and I detested them. Everyone else had Doc Martins. I felt I was the loser with old lady shoes.

And now,  I am the proud owner of these babies.
In brown.
Purchased by choice.

On the plus side, these ones are a little nicer and more refined. But the same elements of the old ones I detested are all there. How time changes everything!