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According to the Goldhawk Road Gazette, the police were looking for a man who had been reported as acting furtively in several shoe shops '... whilst brandishing a stiletto...' and walking unsteadily.

On Tuesday, I had to travel to just north of Hastings to pick up some special tiles for a building refurb. I decided to drop into Hastings for a couple of hours afterwards before going on to deliver the tiles etc. I know the town but only go there occasionally; like many seaside towns (notably Margate), it has seen better days and still has its fair share of run-down property and unemployment but there are signs of a renaissance. (Usual disclaimer: other investment opportunities are available.) I parked, as usual, about half a mile north of the town centre where free street parking is available for two hours and walked into the centre. I was wearing my ‘cowboy boots’ (pic below) under ordinary-length straight-leg jeans. They have a 2.75” slim block heel and are both comfortable and discreet, although the fact that I was wearing a ‘high heel’ (by men’s standards) would have been pretty obvious to any onlooker and I expect that I was spotted, although I detected no adverse reaction. An hour or so in the town centre was sufficient; there are only a few shops that are worth a look. New Look had a fair selection of more fashionable styles, including a number of sale bargains with some as cheap as £3 and a sprinkling of larger sizes (up to UK9) and wider fittings. I was about to leave when two men (30s) wandered into the ladies shoe section and started to look round One of them had long hair tied back in a bunch and appeared to be wearing some make-up, although not otherwise of a particularly feminine appearance or camp in manner. Whether he found something nice to wear, I don’t know; there was certainly nothing that would have fitted me. The other shop I visited, Diechmann, has a limited range of women’s shoes up to size Eu44 but, regardless of size, nothing remotely exciting. It was too early for lunch so, after an uneventful stroll back to the car, I drove on towards the north Kent coast, stopping briefly at Morrisons in Canterbury for fuel and a few necessities in the supermarket – notably including the very good value £3 ‘meal deal’: a tasty help-yourself ‘medium’ salad, drink and pastry. With a little planning, it is surprising how much assorted salad can be crammed into the plastic box and I was certainly ready for what was now a late lunch! I was still wearing the boots and again got no reaction. Maybe I was half wanting someone to notice and indicate surprise, curiosity, approval, disgust or whatever …? All in all, a minor and uneventful excursion. Encouraging it its way and perhaps prompting something a little more daring in the future.