Shyheels

Well these boots certainly look nice! Good luck with them

Yes, those are very nice looking boots. With one exception, I have chunky heels on all of my boots - they are wearable, comfortable and when worn with jeans and a jumper present a solid look that is unexceptional - in the right way - and just blends in. I'm not a fan of anything made in China - for lost of reasons, quality and inconsistency being but two of them.

I guess I meant, why make up a story? Just say they’re for you. It isn’t just a choice of fabricating an excuse to buy a pair of heels, or being remote and secretive. As you say, she gave you a conspiratorial smile. You could have smiled right back and said Yup! Who knows where the conversation would have gone. Maybe nothing more than another smile, but you could have swanned out of the shop , with your parcel tucked under your arm, as though you owned the place.

I keep mine in my wardrobe - I don't have many - half a dozen pairs - but since they are tall boots (and a large size) they take up a fair bit of room!

Why explain? Leave her wondering. You'll never see her again and anyway, it's none of her business.

It certainly had possibilities, that scene. I take an UK11.5 or 12 so that is never going to happen with me. I am fortunate enough to have a couple of pair of very nice understated custom boots which fit wonderfully

That does sound funny - was she not aware that you'd selected a pair of heels? Trying on in store is simply not an option for me - they simply would never have anything big enough.

Hello! Nice to see someone new on the forum!

I do not think there will be any reviving this forum. I’ve tried, but it’s no good. Fruitless. Doesn’t work.

I suspect that if his post didn’t even appear for two months, let alone be responded to, he’s probably gone by now.

We much prefer it. But then we've been doing this for quite some time anyway and have pair for a year's delivery anyway. My wife has an essential job - she sources PPE for various emergency services.

I have my butler go on line and order - or rather he tells the housekeeper who instructs the senior footman and the senior footman instructs the junior footman. Specify no substitutions. It's beluga or its nothing. The groceries are delivered to the gatekeepers house and he informs the chauffeur who comes down to collect it and make the long drive back up to the main house, dropping it off at the servant's entrance, by the rear garden, where the sous chef sees to the storage and putting away. Or so they tell me. I've not enquired further, just so its done...

Why would you not use the delivery services? We use them regularly, and did before the Coronavirus outbreak, and have found them to be a great convenience and, in the lockdown, a great way to avoid mingling. I am quite certain that the only risk I have taken since this began was my trip to Asda. My only other outings, on my bicycle rides, all take place long before dawn on empty country lanes.

My work has dried up big time - no possibility of assignments with international travel locked down. We get our food delivered mostly. I had to go out to our local Asda yesterday and it was a zoo. Nobody paying the least attention to maintaining distance and separation, neither shoppers nor staff. It was like nobody cared or believed any of it. I am luck as far as exercise goes as I can go out in the lanes on my bike - which I do. It is the only outing I make, except for my one shopping trip yesterday. So far staying healthy.

Yes, the police have really taken to being a law unto themselves in many places. Nowhere in the lockdown regulations (thus far) is there any stipulation about the length or duration of the daily exercise, nor is there anything about not driving somewhere to take your exercise. There is a rule against non-essential travel but if taking exercise is seen as one of the activities for which you are allowed to leave your home, then presumably one could argue that travelling to do that is essential. I see also where police have set up roadblocks in places and have been using drones to harass dog-walkers - who were apparently solo and keeping distance from other walkers. I go out on my bicycle rides - typical length 25 miles, which is what I do anyway, on dead-quiet country lanes, and typically before dawn. Otherwise I don't leave the house. We have groceries delivered. Spend my days writing a novel - here's an opportunity - and reading novels. Contemplating starting a blog of book reviews given all my reading. So far I'm not the least bit bored.

It could possibly be that you've just grown accustomed to the idea that you can, and do, wear heels and so the imperative to do so isn't there any more. I like wearing heels but its never been an obsession, let alone a fetish, but rather a fashion choice - one that was aesthetically pleasing, but had an element of daring and the forbidden to it that gave it added cachet. My tastes in heels were always fairly understated - blocky heeled ankle boots being a favourite; boots which felt more like sportier more daring versions of the hiking boots which have been a mainstay all my life. I've never been into shoes of any sort - other than cycling shoes and a few pair of colourful Converse hi-top, I don't own any. I've always preferred boots, and for most of my life that meant hiking boots. I secretly fancied a pair of high-heeled ankle boots, and knee boots (either with or without heels) and every autumn when the boot fashions would appear in the shop windows would feel a certain resentment that as a guy I was not allowed. Until finally one day I decided life was too short and bought myself pair. I've several pair now - with and without heels. I'm quite happy with that and wear them as I would anything else, casually without a lot of thinking or self-consciousness. Again, none of my boots or heels are extreme in the least, but ordinary wear, and that is how, increasingly, I come to view them.

From what I have seen in my outings on my bicycle, most people are trying to do the right thing as regards outings and exercise - maintaining distance and not trying to take the mick. Still, it is hard to manage given the numbers of people involved. In some cases driving to a quieter area is probably better than strolling in your local park or village square. Members of a cycling forum to which I contribute are becoming worked up about how long one should or should not be out of the house exercising, arguing like Talmudic scholars. I go for a 25 mile ride - my daily ride anyway, and done at an hour when nobody else is around.

Yes some employers are being total jerks about this - my wife’s head of Department was keen on business as usual, requiring people to continue coming to work even when they’re displaying symptoms, but she was overused by the governmental decree (this was a civil service job) and had to pull in her horns. The government really needs to come down hard in this. Instead of getting their knickers in a twist about people walking their dogs on quiet trails in the national parks looking hard at workplaces and unnecessary risks of contagion.

So how are people getting by in this weird new age we're living in? In some ways my life remains unchanged - I have been working from a home office for many years, when I'm not travelling on assignment, that is. When I'm home, and not travelling, I tend not to see much of anybody except family and so sheltering-in-place is almost my regular lifestyle. Of course now I have the rest of the family home as well - wife and I both working on the kitchen table (se with a salary and me...well...) and the kids home from university and school. I get out on my early morning bicycle for rides - for now at least, until they decide to tighten the restrictions further - but otherwise never leave the house, ordering food on-line and getting back to cooking which is something I enjoy doing anyway. Been buying books for Kindle on Amazon's 99p special deals - taking advantage of the low price (scarcely that of a newspaper) to sample books I might not otherwise ever read, and am eyeing the rich selections of box-set TV series on BBC iPlayer. So far it has not been at all disagreeable - as the New Zealand police put it in a clever Tweet the other day, here's a historic opportunity to save humanity by sitting around, ding nothing and watching TV; let's not mess it up! How is everyone else getting by?

Yes, the lockdown and isolation routine does create opportunities, both for posting and for home office fashion. I've not been wearing heels so much as adopting a boho style of dress code for my office - something to brighten the mood a bit. I work from a home office anyway, have for many years, but being told now that I must, and cannot go out, makes me a bit restive. And of course I've the whole family home too.

Well, I have tried posting several times and have started new threads but nobody ever responds. Or they respond once and that’s it. I would like to see this forum start up again but if nobody ever responds it never will. To be honest I just happened to look in here this evening for what was going to be the last time when I noticed your post. I have been checking in daily but .i see that I’m always the most recent poster...

I hope you are able to stay healthy at work. I’ve been working at home, when ?I’m not travelling on assignment, for 25 years. The difference now of course is that there is no prospect of travelling anywhere on assignment. I’ve always been able to wear what I please in my home work environment and lately I have really been embracing that - and enjoying it very much. It feels liberating and, in these straightened time, a spot if brightness and fun.

With so many of us going to be working from home for the foreseeable future here is an opportunity to develop your own office dress code. Even if you’re video conferencing nobody can see what’s on your feet. How have you been dressing for the home office? What’s your Lockdown 2020 look?

Those are indeed classics. I prefer boots myself - I've a fondness for ankle boots with 3-3.5" heels. My wife no longer wears heels herself - foot and back troubles - but she's no objection to my wearing them.

Well, ordinary people buy hiking boots quite regularly - well made, nice looking, and very often worn in urban environments. I wouldn't see this as anything different. Decent hiking boots will set you back well over £150. So would a pair of Doc Martens. The market is there. Easily.