A letter from a reader

At 62, my smart shoes were in my handbag by lunchtime

I have never written to a shop before, and I did not expect my first letter to be about a pair of shoes.

Whenever there was something nice on, a lunch, a christening, a trip to the theatre, I would put on my good shoes and feel lovely for about an hour. By the time the main course came they were pinching, and by pudding they were off under the table. More than once I have walked home with my smart shoes in my handbag and my old flat ones on, hoping nobody looked down.

I had a lovely pair of shoes I could wear for exactly as long as it took to sit down.

So I stopped bothering, and wore my comfy ones with everything, smart or not.

Then I saw them on my sister-in-law at the theatre

We went to a matinée last month and Pat walked up the stairs to the circle in a pair of rich brown flats with a square toe and a lovely round buckle across the front. They looked properly smart, the kind of thing you would wear to a wedding. I asked her if they hurt, and she said she had been in them since nine that morning. She told me they were the Ekisia, from Nottingham Boutique, a little boutique that has been quietly dressing women our age for a few years now. I ordered mine that evening.

What happened at the golden wedding lunch

On Saturday it was our friends' golden wedding, lunch at a hotel and then drinks in the garden room, the best part of six hours on and off my feet. I wore the Ekisia with my cream trousers, and they never came off. Three different women asked me about them, and my friend Sue told me I looked like I had made an effort, which I have decided to take as a compliment. My handbag only had my purse in it all day.

It is a small thing, shoes you can keep on. I had forgotten how nice it is to enjoy the whole day and not just the first hour of it.

Three things I have learned since

One. Smart does not have to pinch. They have a clean square toe and a bold round buckle across the front that works like a built-in accessory, so they look properly dressed up with trousers, jeans or a dress.

Two. The cushioning is the secret. There is a cushioned footbed inside, so every step lands softly, and the sole is flexible, so it moves with your foot instead of fighting it.

Three. A little lift helps. The low block heel gives you a touch of height without any of the wobble of a proper heel. I feel steady in them all day.

About the price

I had assumed shoes this smart that were also this comfortable would cost a fortune.

The Ekisia is £32.95. It was £66.

There is no catch. They have their autumn sale on and delivery is free. Mine are the brown, and they also come in black, from a UK 3 up to a UK 9, half sizes included.

I did go and read the reviews before I ordered. Just over three hundred of them, sitting at 4.2 stars. Not the suspiciously perfect five you see on some sites, which if I am honest made me trust it more. One woman had written, "I wore them to my daughter's wedding and danced in them. My feet were fine the next morning." That was the one that decided it for me.

What I would tell you if we were friends

If you came round and we sat out on the porch with a cup of tea, this is what I would tell you.

If your smart shoes spend half the day in your handbag, you do not have to choose between looking nice and being comfortable. You just need the right pair.

They do not look like they were made for somebody half my age, and they do not look like I have given up either.

Caroline