‘Unfortunately, this weekend has called for real shoes’

Coming out of lockdown, again... and Trudy is not ready to dress properly... again. Asics, according to her mother, are the sign of someone who has given up. By Christine Manby

(Tom Ford)

Why is coming out of lockdown so much harder than going into it? There is nothing I want more than a return to normal life, yet so many aspects of normality seem insurmountably daunting. Take shoes, for example.

I was never the kind of woman who lived in heels but I could rise to the occasion when I needed to, changing into a pair in the back of a taxi on my way to an important meeting. People did notice, I was sure. Especially if they saw me try to walk without holding on to a wall. Now the thought of wearing heels again feels a bit like how wearing a whalebone corset must have felt to a woman in the 1920s. But it’s not just heels, it is any shoes that aren’t trainers.

Unfortunately, this weekend has called for real shoes. Yesterday, I coaxed my car, all covered in moss, down the A40 to visit the family for an Easter lunch. I could not go in my Asics. Trainers worn when not actually training are, to my mother’s mind, evidence that someone has “given up”. Since I was already expecting a lecture about my lack of dating success in the light of my refusal to go after James Hewitt on Tinder – “Trudy, you’re just too picky” – I needed to head her off at the pass. I had no doubt that my sister-in-law Helena would be dressed in new season Boden and espadrilles with ribbons to highlight her dainty ankles . Is there such a thing as “new season Boden”? It looks exactly the same from year to year to me.