I’ve mentioned my love of kitten heels on many an occasion in my diary. Sue Crocker didn’t know what they are so here are some I bought earlier! These gorgeous shoes became mine today at around 1.45pm for the princely sum of £45. A complete bargain in the sales, knocked down in price from £69.

There is one fact in my life that’s completely unshakable – I hate, loathe and detest trainers (and most other modern styles of shoe). I’m sorry but there it is – I realise that’s terribly unfashionable but figure that at 43 I don’t have to worry about fashion any more. I had a brief flirtation with an early generation of ‘trainer style’ shoe when I was a barmaid and wore Dunlop Green Stripes so I didn’t slip over behind the bar on the beer slops. Never since then have I owned a pair of the vile things.

My Mum wore kittens (as of course did all women in the fifties and sixties) and I think I should point out that my relationship with kittens started very scarily – my earliest memory of a pair was travelling in London with my parents when my Mum got her kitten heel stuck in an escalator causing us to have to press the emergency stop button to extract her. I’d never been so scared in my short life.

I have striven to keep at least one pair of kittens in my possession at all times in my adult life – that’s not always been easy given the ebb and flow of fashions. I once owned the most splendid pair of zippy pink kitten heeled boots – now they were completely wonderful. I wore them all the time.

Kittens are, in my view (and again I’m more than prepared to accept it’s not the only perspective on the subject), sheer elegance and style. The way the back of the shoe curves round under the foot in a wonderful swooping arc into the heel itself is beautiful as is the point of the toe. For me, the more retro they look the better so these little crackers with the bow were snapped up by yours truly in a trice.

I am reading a wonderful book at the moment called ‘Elegance’ by Kathleen Tessaro – I knew as soon as I spotted it on the shelf I had to have it….why? Because the picture on the front cover was of a woman in early sixties dress – fitted properly using proper tailoring techniques rather than stretch to fit. She was wearing a pair of kittens and looked fantastic. I’m not usually one to be swayed by first impressions but I just knew I would love the book – and I am doing just that! It’s a novel that’s basic message is that beauty is a gift that you either have or don’t and that beautiful people often are vacuous because they don’t have to develop a personality – they just attract people. Elegance is an art that can be learned and will combine with an interesting personality to have a much longer-lasting effect. I’m taking it as a good reason to keep up my kitten heel obsession forever and to invest in some good tailoring!!!!!

Unfortunately David and I disagree on this one thing. He gets really grumpy when we’re walking down the street and he realises he’s talking to himself because I’m trapped down a crack in the pavement ten yards back. Ah well, I love him for what he is and I guess even if it’s never one of his favourite aspects of my personality, he’ll just have to accept that it’s an integral part of me.