FastFreddy2

You may not believe this, but ....... >> Truth stranger than fiction. << You'll only need to read the first line of the report!

Amended to suit your location sir.

In this country ANYTHING is possible...... Evidence of "Health and Safety at Work" issue, for customer at least!

Actually, very common. This is a case of what goes around, comes around. Meaning: One unintended/life-changing event, followed another unintended/life-changing event. Karma? [More likely just a violent environment.] More >> here <<

Maybe more common than first thought? >> Clicky <<

I think >> this woman << may have watched the film? Now claiming >> self-defence << Always wear a pointed heels fellas .... When visiting dangerous territory.

Some may remember my Red Card last year when I sold something believing it to be made of leather, when in fact it was made of Enviro(plastic) ~ aka man made materials for those amongst us who don't agree with using animal skins for fashion or clothing. Well, the Red Card expired today, so I'm back with a 100% feedback record. [Although the Red Card is still on record if you dig deep enough.] Not sold any shoes for a while, but haven't put up any of Mrs Freddy's yet either. "Man buying" shoe season must be closed? I've some sandals I need to get listed 'worn once' or unworn by herself, though it's still quite cool here despite us being in summer. Cloudy and breezy is the order of the day, though we've had some sun with a dry period lasting several weeks. Rain is on the way though, and gardeners and farmers have been looking forward to that. Only sales have been some DIY or computer bits. I guess we get more season in our buying choices? P.S. Had contact from another weird buyer...... I have something on sale at a greatly reduced price with a saving of about £100. Fella contacted me mad keen to buy...... Wanted me to change the listing so he could do a Buy-It-Now at an agreed price. We both had to go out for the afternoon, so the deal was going to be done around 8pm. I got back a little later than him and contacted him at 9pm with me ready to make the change he had requested. His reply .... "Sorry, bought something else earlier." Time-waster/Tyre-kicker.

We've had some sun, but getting photo's done has not been a priority. I'm halfway through replacing the bathroom suite and learning as I go, consequently we only have half a bathroom so completing that has the main priority. Mrs Freddy is away for a week starting this Friday, so next week is a 'safer' time to get some photo's done. Although the bathroom has no sink at the moment, I earned some brownie points yesterday, taking advantage of the sunny day to assemble a 4' x 6' Keter plastic shed bought earlier this year. "2 hour x 2 man job", which is true when you've done one. My first attempt, and with my 'apprentice' needing to learn how to use a screwdriver..... It was more like a 1 man x 5 hour job. We decided it needed moving today, so we did that before filling it up with 3 parasols, 2 stands, 4 garden chairs, 1 (large) garden table, 2 loungers, assorted gardening tools (spade/fork etc) and an electric mower. Mrs Freddy has been waiting some time for this external storage, so was very very very pleased it's now completed. As we've been saying for some time? Good news though... "One small step" ...... "Giant leap" .......

I have noticed the sound of a heel, can make an enormous difference to whether unwanted attention is received. As a general rule-of-thumb, men's heels don't make any noise, but a lady's shoe does. That said, in John Lewis Oxford Street this Sunday just past, I walked up to an assistant to ask the whereabouts of a concession for Mrs Freddy. The upper sales floors there are 'suspended', making them bellow under-foot like the taught skin on a drum when gently tapped. I thought my 4½" heels would announce my arrival, but she must have been deep in thought. When I said; "Excuse me," I could see I scared the bejeezus out of her. We both laughed, but I'd clearly surprised her. Always glad to see pictures.

Evans, along with many other UK retails chains, are not doing so well they can afford to do anything other than welcome EVERY potential customer walking through the front door. I have some personal experience of himself, having witnessed him at first hand at a night club a couple of years into his waning celebrity status. It would not surprise me to find this is a bit of a 'storm-in-a-teacup' with matters reported, blown out of all proportion to reality. Our own Heelman500 had an interesting and accommodating conversation in their Westfield (London) branch if I remember, and he couldn't have been looked after any better than he was. My feeling is, this was possibly an isolated event that the newspaper may have made into something much larger than was the case. Evans must know they sell a lot of womens shoes to men, for them to wear. Why would they want to stop doing that?

I have stumbled across some footwear recently, I thought I had returned, but hadn't. Bearing in mind the volume of shoes and boots I have (and don't wear), price (total amount invested) is always something I try to keep an eye on. Finding the boots and understanding I would only have kept them because I found a way to cover their cost, was a pleasant surprise. That said, they still haven't been worn ...... 'Mary Janes' are favoured by some, and Euchrid might remember a fella we met in Camden who really liked them. I'm not a big fan myself, as they are reminiscent of the style I saw a lot of at school...... But, anything with a heel (and they look to have one), is a style I would enjoy wearing.

I don't speak Hungarian, so had to look at another version of the vid to understand what the song is about. See here >> Clicky << and captions need to be switched on to see the translation while the band sings. The 'ding-dong' melody works and could be said to have been done in true E.S.C. tradition. The singer is off key once or twice, and the lyrics would not do well here in the UK. "Sweetheart" is not a term we use any longer. Given the hook is repeated so often, and the whole song seems to be repeated twice, I can understand why it didn't appeal to me, even though it came in 10th out of 26 Finalists. Not too shabby at all.

Had another look.

We have been fostering another cat for 8 days now. She's 'cute as a button'. And reminds me a lot of my 'old friend' ..... Not entirely a bed of roses ..... That power cable is attached to a £500 laptop. The back of one hand I own is shredded..... [i must get her other things to play with.] She follows me everywhere. I was sealing some brickwork in the bathroom with a PVA solution the other day, kneeling on the floor, pot in one hand, brush in the other. She was so interested, she sat upright on my knee, watching every stroke. Sleeps on my lap whenever I sit down, and will sleep on Mrs Freddy's lap if I'm not about. She's supposed to be going back to the Vets early next week to be re-homed, now her cat-flu has been medicated and cured. I don't want a cat, and I'm not keen on long haired animals anyway..... But I'm confident she won't be getting an exit visa. Back on thread ........ Didn't take long for the slackers to slack off. 2 posts per week gentlemen?

I think our American cousins might say; "Ride the wave dude, ride the wave." Or as we Brits might say; "Enjoy the moment." There'll be plenty of time to beat yourself up later, if you think you missed out from (immediately) capitalising on the compliment. P.S. It really was a nice thing to say, wasn't it.

They're like 'Princess' shoes, they are so pretty.

The Azerbaijan entry singer was good, and the song production excellent. But, I felt the song relied too much on the chorus hook "Hold me" which was used a little too often, it certainly didn't deserve 2nd position for this reason. One or two other songs overly repeated their hooks too, making it seem like some lyricists had been a bit lazy? The Azerbaijan stage show on the final was a little distracting to the theme of the song. I didn't see the connection with the lyrics and (i) the shadow performer, nor (ii) the model who showed up later? Both pleasant enough, but distracting (for me). What's the idea of a threesome when listening to a love song? On a rather sour note, there has been a widespread allegation that Azerbaijan had some financial influence over voting panels in other countries, not least due to their getting maximum points from 10 of them. A situation I find hard to see as realistic given the less than perfect lyrics and strange stage show. [Russia did a much better job with their take on a very similar theme.] Azerbaijan is closer to China than Central Europe and sit on the North border of Iran, so I don't know how they qualify for entry into the E.S.C. either? Unless it's now called the Eurasian Song Contest? Which is actually, a more accurate title given the location of some Middle Eastern competitors..... .....

I'm due some luck, I can tell you. The plumbing in this place is a scandal. I have several pictures to share, but I don't know I've calmed down enough to write constructively without wandering into a rant. If I had been the original owner, I would be trying to sue someone. Now we are walking on naked floorboards in the upper part of the house, there is clear evidence of at least two previous "waterfalls". (Large water stains on boards and adjacent walls.) Most of the water pipes touch floorboards somewhere in their run. We have several hot-spots where heated pipes provide poor-mans-underfloor-heating. Given the amount of stored water in the house, and that we could not turn off the mains water until we found someone daft enough (aka willing) to replace the internal stop-cock (long story), I'm amazed we haven't had a major flood already. The two minor ones were bad enough, and I very much realise they were both wake-up calls to the overall condition of the 22mm pipework here. Obviously, I need to get a wriggle on.

And now with the correct(ed) link. Must've played it 50 times ... Still sounds great.

So, in reverse order ...... These will need to be played with decent speakers, or headphones, BTW. No.5 The German entry from >> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HYTd7WDCPg. << Notice everyone dancing, but came in 21st behind the UK. No.4 From Slovenia. >> << A bit wobbly on the night, so didn't make the final. Great (modern) dance track. No.3 From Ireland the much criticised >> << A bit camp, but a good song, well sung. 26th?? No.2 From Russia, what could have been a True Euro Anthem. >> << Came in 5th!! And just to confirm I have tastes outside dance music..... The No1 song I can't stop playing ..... From Norway ....... >> << Truly stunning, foot stomping song. Came in 4th !! ?? .....

I have been watching this show, on and off for what must be getting on for 50 years ...... Originally it was about 10 or 14 countries in Western Europe who fancied a bit of a get together for a sing-song. Enormous fun, that no-one took that seriously. Move on 50 years, to almost 40 participating countries, that now include bits of Asia ... Tactical voting is rife .... Big money event, with few 'genuine best songs' winning. This year was particularly frustrating for me. I have a clear winner, with a clear 2nd (in true Eurovision tradition) and a good 3rd and 4th with 'club' songs, with a probable no.5 also being a club song About 5 entries were obviously written by trained monkey's, and about half barely deserving their national accreditation, including the UK entrant. [Average song, sung by older person who has no place on the UK music scene any longer.] Will post the Freddy Euro 2013 Top 5 later. Here is a link to the two worst of the 39 entries.... >> << dour. "That's why birds don't fly." Came in 9th!! Closely followed by ...... >> << "Alcohol is free." Must of been.... Came in 6th!!

Update on the toilet ..... We are getting a partial refund on the package. I wait with baited breath ..... Meantime we have a new toilet, which Mrs Freddy is very happy to see (and use). Although I'd sanitised the original one many many times, including one clean up I was particularly proud of (½" of limescale removed from 'the bend') herself never liked using the thing. The bathroom replacement includes a two stage plumbing change too. I am converting from indirect to direct water feed. This means removing 22mm piping and replacing with 15mm as it's much more efficient at moving hot water. [Less wasted water before the heated water arrives, less -unused- hot water left in the pipes.] As we don't yet have the new combi boiler, we are at a stage where I can change the cold fill, and only prepare the hot fill route. Yesterday I changed the cold fill for the sink (to be fitted) and the old bath to direct cold fill. It allowed me to improve the flow rate of the hot water route, but as I have to keep the 22mm indirect feed for another couple of weeks. I planned to re-use some of the old 22mm pipework to save money, and some time. Fortunately I had a choice of two parts, the original hot pipe, and the completely redundant cold pipe. Some work was needed for either, as I expected to replace the hot fill isolation valve with an upgraded model. On checking the original hot water pipe (my preferred choice of the two), I discovered this..... There was a dark black 'scab' on the copper, that I decided to waste 10 minutes cleaning off, before re-using the pipe. Wasn't the wasted time I thought it was ....... Probably saved 50 gallons of warm water (hot water storage cistern) and a further 50 gallons upstream of that [cold water tank] leaking throughout the whole house some time in the near future if not caught when the potential leak fully matured...... Probable cause; plumber failing to clean off acid cleaning residue, after soldiering a joint. As mentioned before, we've had a couple of leaks from this 22mm stuff already, and spotted a couple that have self-healed [limescale] in the hot water route. All of the leaky pipe is to be redundant. Best sooner than later?

If I'm still alive then, count me in.

Both my shoes and those that belong to my wife are stacked/boxed on racks, in what is becoming known as the Shoe Room. None are on 'display' as such, but anyone stopping long enough to read the label on a box could work out what they are looking at. I have one pair, I bought to practice heel wearing in. They were originally a slouch boot (a style I dislike), and I have cut the shaft off to make them a kind of ankle boot. They are made from a synthetic 'worn suede' that is some sort of coated canvas. They don't look pretty but function well. I had left these out in another bedroom forgetting they were there. Several members of the family have been in the room since, and so far, no embarrassing questions. Mrs Freddy hasn't asked me to move them yet, so they remain where I left them..... My home remains quite a dusty place, not least due to my continued hole drilling. This prevents almost anything being out of a box, and certainly would exclude any of my precious shoe/boot collection. Hopefully I'll have some out at some stage in the future too.

Not easy, but they are very girlie, rather than 'outlandish'. Not that outlandish stops shoes being being wearable, not by me leastways. I'd gladly own/wear these two styles ....