What in your view is common ?

MissA - yep, that’s why I wept aged 4, 5 and 6. I suspect mum refused totally to indulge me

I used to love those stories as a child.
Talk about firing up the imagination!

I always cried about the tin soldier and the ballerina from the jewellery box (?)

Talking of shoes, an Irish friend who went to a convent school was told by the nuns never to wear patent shoes because boys would see your knickers reflected in them. ?

?

I used to like my red Clark's sandals best of all.
Some years I got blue ones which were nice but the brown ones were really boring.

Oh yes Callistemon and the red polish with a sponge top applicator for scuffs, it used to get on my white sox.
Maybe that was common too though ?

I only seem to remember getting a choice of black or brown lace-ups.

Shoe shopping was always awful.

Miss Adventure winter shoes for me had to be lace ups? Clarkes said it was because of my narrow feet. Always, the ones I wanted weren’t in my size. Sulk.

I hated the process of buying school shoes. The uniform was brown sandals for summer and indoors, brown lace ups for winter. I remember crying in the shop because the shoes - Clark’s I’m sure - were so horrid (but expensive for Mum I expect).

paddyann I don’t consider gallus as being the equivalent of common though someone described as gallus can often be common as well. To me it denotes someone who is bold and doesn’t give a damn about what others may think about them. I have even used it as a compliment.
My parents expected me to be like Sandy in Grease whereas I had a lingering admiration for Rizzo. She and the Pink Ladies were pure gallus.

We always had Clark’s, paid for by one grannie, the other bought winter coats or whitsunday dresses.
I’ve just bought bought shoes for grandchildren.

Miss A I wept at the tin soldier and ballerina. What a love we had of stories that touched emitions

The difference between the Clarks shoes that I wore as a child and the ones I could get for my children was enormous.

Mine were lace up black or brown flats for winter and crepe soled Mary Jane closed toe 'sandals' for winter, sometimes with a bit of colour, I think (?). I seem to remember an Oxblood coloured pair, but I may be mistaken. I hated them.

My son's had animal paws on the soles so he could make impressive footprints, and my daughter's had appliqué flowers. Both had trainers with flashing lights on the sides, and all were in measured sizes and in supportive styles that were functional as well as fashionable.

Sandals for summer, obviously .

Always Clarke sandals with the Daisy type of cutout.
I remember at about twelve begging for something different and eventually getting some, only to be warned that I had better look after them
The next day my auntie sent me to the chip shop for some fish and chips, and fat dripped out all over them.
So I suppose then I really looked common.

Yes! The daisy ones. They were barely sandals at all, really.

Doodledog
Haha, you’re right, they weren’t were they.

White stiletto shoes were beyond the pale when I was a gal!

As were (deep breath) Clark's shoes. Only Start-Rite would do!

Incidentally, I always loved patent shoes so what was I exposing...?

I can remember my mum saying "stop scrunching your toes up! Walk over there - properly!"
While I modeled some hideous shoes.

I was not allowed to eat in the street as my ma thought it was common.

Haha! I also was never allowed red or white shoes
I had brown Clarkes sandals and my dad cut the toes out for the next summers wear
I don’t know why that was considered ok rather than common

I quite liked the ‘Daisy cut out’ brown sandals. During summer holidays (no socks) I’d get a daisy-pattern tan on my feet.

It was the brown school lace-ups I hated. I do remember once refusing a particularly ugly pair - I don’t suppose the ones I ended up with were much better though. At my grammar school we had to have Mary Jane type indoor shoes - mine were always hand me downs from my elder sister - I’d have loved a new pair for once.

I don’t recall any non-brown shoes at all, until I was in my teens and started buying my own with birthday money etc.

Great excitement in the summer holidays, when we were allowed a pair of jelly shoes from Woolworths.

storynanny

Haha! I also was never allowed red or white shoes
I had brown Clarkes sandals and my dad cut the toes out for the next summers wear
I don’t know why that was considered ok rather than common

I had Clark's sandals with the daisy cut-out as well and my Dad used to cut the toes out with a Stanley knife towards the end of summer ?

Red or blue were best and I was disappointed when I had to have brown.

I wish I’d been able to refuse my horrid brown lace ups. I can still see them all these years later. I hated them with a passion but not even crying in the shop saved me from them. I suppose, looking back, they were expensive for my Mum.

Our school shoes were black, and if we could only buy brown ones they had to be dyed. I think I had brown sandals in the summer holidays.

Germanshepherdsmum

I wish I’d been able to refuse my horrid brown lace ups. I can still see them all these years later. I hated them with a passion but not even crying in the shop saved me from them. I suppose, looking back, they were expensive for my Mum.

I can still see mine, too - plain brown lace-ups, like men’s shoes, but without any of the brogue-y bits.