Shoe size conspiracy

What is it about shoe sizes? Up until about five years ago, I wore a size 12 UK/13 US/47 EU. I sometimes had trouble getting hold of shoes that size, but when I did, most of the time they fit me. Now I don't believe, at 41 years of age, that my feet have suddenly grown in size, and the shoes I wear certainly don't look any bigger than they used to be. So how come these days I can't fit into sport shoes which are anything less than 13½ UK/14 US/49 EU?

Suffice to say in a country like Spain, where everyone is that bit shorter than they are in Holland and England, it's hard enough finding shoes to fit me at the best of times. And you can imagine it's pretty frustrating to try on yet another pair of 48½s only to find they are miles too small.

Well despite all this, I managed to find a pair of running shoes today, and they fit me! I've started jogging again, and came up against the same calf cramp problem this week that I was getting in the summer. I'd been running in indoor shoes, and I decided to get some proper running shoes, to see if that makes any difference. I wore them this evening and they felt very good. Another thing had been trying to do is keep the runs short to start with -- up to now I've only been running to the beach and back, which I suppose is four of five kilometres in total. Once I'm confident I can do that every day or every other day without any problem, I will start increasing the distance bit by bit.

It was a very sweaty run this evening - it was still 25° C. here at 9 p.m. after a southerly wind (straight from Africa) had blown here all day. It had already been 20° C. at dawn, and then the sun shone all day. Not the best day to pick for a shopping trip, in retrospect - we could have spent it on the beach. Apart from my trainers, we came away pretty much empty-handed, having failed to find posh shoes for Jamie or Carmen.

The kids enjoyed themselves though, especially in the big play area at Corte Ingles. We bought them special crayons that they can use in the bath, which wash off afterwards. They had a great time when they got home this evening, daubing the bath and walls and each other, and didn't want to get out. They are both looking forward to a visit from our English friends Toby and Jackie and their little girl and baby boy tomorrow.

I managed to get 18,000 of the 22,000 words done last week, which I thought was pretty good going. I'm going to try and squeeze in another couple of thousand during the weekend (wishful thinking!) and finish it off on Monday morning.

SHOE SIZE UPDATE - 2 weeks later
The other day I put on an old pair of shoes to go out in the rain, and my toe was touching at the front, which I can't remember it doing before, so who knows, maybe my feet have grown in the last couple of years. I know when I went to buy skate shoes at a specialist shop in Utrecht in May, they didn't have any that fit me, wherreas in the past I'd always been able to find something there.