Ok, thanks for the responses.
To all who have suggested I may be a wimp . . . I walked on these for a week straight and they DESTROYED my feet - blisters the size of a quarder on both sides of BOTH my heels (and yes, i had 2x sox on each foot).
I am thinking of placing them in a tray of water for a few and then walking around in em . . .
There is also this shoe repair place near me, not that these need fixing, but maybe they know something we dont.
Vosty, the stretching idea is good too - ill look into that.