Wouldn’t it be nice to wear peep toe high heels every day. Or jandals. Or canvas kickabouts.

Technically I suppose one can wear all of the above every day, but the weather can make it very uncomfortable at times.

Yes, the weather doesn’t just influence our hair styles and clothing choices, it also influences our footwear.

I love wearing jandals in summer but I’ve learnt the hard way that you have to keep one eye on the weather when you slip your tootsies in between all that rubbery goodness. Because even a hint of moisture can make walking in jandals a very squidgy experience and more often than not I find they end up slipping sideways on my feet causing me to nearly a**e over.

Speaking of which, tiles and rain mean you have to wear a pair of shoes with excellent grip. Something I learnt while strolling through a tiled area of Courtenay Place in Wellington only to slip and perform a marvellous acrobatic feat which landed me on my bum right in front of restaurant that had wonderfully large windows in which about 20 people were dining. On the upside, they gave me a round of applause.

Rain once again makes wearing canvas sneakers impossible. Once the moisture seeps in you end up walking around feeling like two concrete blocks are attached to your feet. And it takes forever to dry them out underneath a bathroom hand blower.

Really the only footwear that’s truly suitable when it rains are a good pair of leather boots or gumboots.  Thankfully these days there are many varieties of gumboots available other than the good ol’ plain black gummies beloved by farmers.

When you think about it, the only day that a girl can get away with wearing any footwear she feels like is a 100% guaranteed warm and sunny day … and in New Zealand how many of them do we get a year?

Kellie Hailes

Weather Watch Reporter