How not to stretch your shoes

I found a nice pair of size 8 shoes on sale at half-price in Sainsburys a while back. They are a bit on the tight side, so I was looking for a way to stretch them a bit, and came across the suggestion to part fill a couple of plastic bags with water, tie each securely and pop one into each toe and then leave the shoes in the freezer. The idea is that water expands as it freezes and so would stretch the shoes to make them more comfortable. (Don’t try this, or leave them in overnight, if your other half might have awkward questions about why there is an oversized pair of heels in the freezer.) 

Also make very, very sure that the bags are properly sealed and don’t leak. (Leave them for 10 minutes on a couple of sheets of kitchen paper.) Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Luckily it was hot and sunny that day (yes, we did actually have one day like that) and I managed to dry out a pair of very cold and soggy black suede heels on the patio before L returned that evening.