Every New Beginning (Or New Pair of Shoes) ...

If you leave work after a harrowing day in what has become an increasingly tense office, and halfway down the block, your super-cute-but-blister-causing flip-flops break, you clearly have to buy new shoes. Because, after all, you cannot walk the streets--or subways--of New York City barefoot.

But if you are a copy editor and perhaps one who stayed late to kiss up, not much is open by the time you leave work. And keep in mind, one of your feet is coming into direct contact with a New York City sidewalk with each and every step you take.

(Something that someone once jokingly suggested to me could give you gonorrhea, which is, um, unlikely but probably only slightly melodramatic. The NY Times did say this summer that walking even on NYC grass was inadvisable. Though I should note that I had no qualms about walking barefoot in D.C.)

In said situation, you might be forced to buy shoes you didn't really need. Forced, I tell you. So, good-bye butterfly flip-flops (the blister scars won't let me forget you), and hello silver flats.

A co-worker mentioned the next day that I probably could have found some semblance of cheap flip-flops at one of the ubiquitous Duane Reades, but alas I was not that smart -- and have a new pair of shoes to show for it. I can live with that.