FastFreddy2

The 64 year old Christie Brinkley ...... 

The way to make an old(er) man happy ...... 

How to store shoes!   (I wish.)

14 hours ago, Puffer said:

Over the years, I have been amazed at how often newspaper/magazine small ads omit the essentials, or miss-spell or garble them (probably due to morons on the phone). 

I wish I had a £1 for every (Ebay) bicycle ad I read, that didn't have any sizing information in the listing. 

There was a time I would point this out, often producing a return message with that information but 9 out of 10 times, that information was STILL omitted from the listing even when advised it useful to other prospective buyers .... I now don't bother.

I thought it (hoped it) a temporary glitch, but it looks like Ebay has stopped using shoe size as an option in the Search function. Colour/location/heel height is still there, but size isn't. If they think I'm going to browse 2-9000 pairs in the hope I'll find some in my size, they are mistaken. At one level I saw a header for UK3, UK4 UK5, but not always UK8?? Plus, my historic searches have included 7/7½/8/8½/9 as different brands come up with different sizes despite their numbering system. For example, a Primarni 7 is very similar to a Topshop 9. I get in both.

Where I used to browse/buy with a single search, even if I can find the size headers, I now have to do 3 searches instead of the one - which I'm disinclined to do. Consequence? I don't buy shoes off Ebay any longer. They are saving me a fortune. 

The second family photo gig did not happen. I didn't manage to get a strobe for the day, as my car decided to have an unplanned vacation, which stopped any travel plans to buy one. [Car is now fixed, and I am £97 poorer. Good to have reliable transport back though, despite the reasonable (surprisingly reasonable) cost.]

Poor weather continues, and with it poor light. Last weekend the weather was overcast and by the time I'd get people in front of a lens, it would have been impractical/impossible to use natural light.

Since then, I have been on something of a purchasing 'spree'. Last Saturday I bought a cheap/working strobe for under £25 delivered. (Not yet arrived.) A real bargain considering what I'm getting for the money. Another 4 to be collected this weekend, and another 2 to collect next weekend (if a better offer to the seller has not been made). Not that I plan to keep them all. I will (hopefully) end up with 3 or 4  and certainly no more. I have a second attempt at the second portrait session booked for the middle of April. I will be well 'strobed up', and be able to have the session last as long as I like, providing my subjects don't get too bored.    

3 hours ago, Puffer said:

Not much been happening here during my absence, it seems. 

This is a place where folk watch - if they do anything.....

Welcome back. Disappointing you didn't see any/many in heels. 

In Newcastle, where coats are banned ..... (Single figure temperatures with snow probable...)

Westfield White City, with new John Lewis was disappointing. Closed at 9pm (as does M+S) while the centre and most other shops stay open until 10pm. Primarni not even open yet (at all). 

Was good to get out in a heel, but a long way to go for a JL with less visible stock than the one at Brent Cross.  Young/new employee who offered to help me find some dining chairs, said he had been apologising all day to prospective buyers because the products  they had gone to the store to see, just weren't there. Grandiose store, with little substance. 

The lovely Rosie .....

http://

It's been some time since I've been out in heels.... Tomorrow night might see me at one of Europe's largest malls  if I can stay awake.... I've been getting up at 6.15am quite a lot recently, and early starts are not my thing. 

http://video.dailymail.co.uk/preview/mol/2017/11/20/6695212025355454312/636x382_MP4_6695212025355454312.mp4

Well spotted. 

Usually, I would say a cropped trouser does nothing for a woman's look....

Not true today. 

11 minutes ago, Puffer said:

I'm off to (much) warmer climes tomorrow; back Good Friday.  Enjoy the snow whilst it remains!   

Good luck, and safe journey. 

Some high heel wearers enthusiastic for an evening out (possibly celebrating St Patrick's Day) in poor weather....

Girls in minidresses and lace tops queue to go into Players nightclub late last night as winds low as -10C battered the country

Three-scantly dressed women march across a road blanketed in snow as Siberian gusts whipped up a snowstorm 

One woman paid no mind to the weather warnings as she wore a pair of summery short shorts and bared lots of flesh on her night out

7 hours ago, Puffer said:

I'm surprised, Freddy, that you don't have a greater memory of 1962-63, despite your claimed youth!   I'm sure you were old enough to go outside (or not) during that prolonged freeze-up and struggled to get to school etc.   Alternatively, being confined indoors surely gave you many opportunities to try on mum's shoes whilst she was outside, digging her way to the Co-op?    

The nearest Co-Op was was over two miles away. A Fine Fare was much closer. 

The sum total of my memory of that period was it snowed, melted a bit then got cold enough for me to walk on top of the ice crust that formed if I was careful. If not, my leg sank into 8-10 inches of snow - high enough to swallow my wellies. I also remember seeing a lot of virgin snow, so I must of been fairly adventurous. I also remember watching B+W footage on TV of foodstuffs being dropped to sheep in places a long way from where I lived. That is it. I've lots of memories from that period, but snow wasn't of interest to me. It's still an irritant, though I do fancy a go at skiing.... 

4 hours ago, Puffer said:

 In 1963, whole areas were more or less paralysed for two or three months continuously. 

I did say 'my memory' .....

I remember (as a very young child) watching film on TV of helicopters, dropping bales of hay into snow covered fields, to feed starving and isolated sheep during that winter. I also remember walking on top of deep snow that had a crust of ice, where sunshine had produced a partial thaw only for liquid to refreeze.. I don't remember it being persistent, though I doubt I had any real understanding of time at that stage of my life.

We have had for many years now, milder winters and milder summers, so the persistence of this one stands out. It would also be true I'm more adverse to inclement weather than ever before. I know two people who have suffered with broken bones in their wrists due to falls during the last two months. Makes me very wary. 

Another older woman in heels .... 

After a couple of very mild days, zero temperatures and falling snow have returned. I was up at 7.15am this morning, and it's been snowing all day. (12 hours so far.) Nothing has come of it, but it's bitterly cold outside with a harsh wind together with the visual effect of watching falling snow, is creating the effect of an Alpine climate.

Twice in past weeks I've had to cancel prospective 'ventures out, and it's becoming more than a bit frustrating. This has been the longest drawn out winter in memory, mine at least. Seems to have been going on for 3 months or more. I begin to understand why people would move abroad....  

I only found out earlier today, the Photography Show is on at NEC this weekend. In theory I could go tomorrow (Sunday) but the weather is poor and Birmingham is close to an area marked with an "amber warning" for potential (deep) snow hazards by the MET Office. A remark I never thought I would make regarding weather half way through March ...

I'm currently scouring Ebay to find cheap/reliable studio equipment. Stuff from China is unbelievably cheap, and explains why UK businesses (Bowens) have gone under. Not only are Chinese products cheap, they seem to have seem to have been quick(er) to adopt new technologies. I've no idea about reliability, but could they continue to sell this stuff if it didn't work? 

My second 'family portrait' gig is booked for next weekend. It would be nice if I had a strobe to use on the day .... Money solves that dilemma....  But is the time right to invest?  Will it be another 30 years before  Oops, I haven't got thirty years to get around to using it have I?  I think I should consider developing an interest in studio work again. It's not like I don't enjoy it, and it's less dangerous than strolling out in 5" heels.  And it should keep me out of any trouble ...

13 hours ago, Puffer said:

You've said it all, Freddy, and proved to us that the world - or at least a sizeable chunk of its population - is getting more out-of-hand by the day.   It might take another world war (God forbid - but not currently inconceivable) to shake things up and restore more rational conduct in everyday matters: 'elf and safety, rationing, law 'n' order, ... etc 

I prefer financial insanity to children being slaughtered in a war....

The LOVELY Vicky Beckham   getting her money's worth from her boots. 

2 hours ago, Puffer said:

And back on the subject of the delightful, ever-smiling Mrs Beckham, I consider these shoes from her collection some of the ugliest I have seen for years - and the price (£646) is just stupid:

Well ......

You are not her target market. That will be New Yorkers, and Chinese/M.E. folk with money to burn. I agree the shoe is bug-ugly, but the heel is a signature. Anyone seen wearing a shoe with that heel, will be considered a Brand Beckham customer. I bet the shoe is really comfortable to wear though.  Not that you or I will ever experience wearing them. 

While it doesn't make any sense to me, buying brands in some circles is done just to show off the brand purchaser has the where-with-all to make such purchases. It's rather like Harry Enfield's 'Loads-a-money' character without the wad waving.

Have a look at these bags ....

Prices high? And these bags have been previously owned, they are not new. 

Chances are, regular Hermes buyers/owners known to Hermes, get invited to buy special bags like these. They don't get into the shops at all. 

1 hour ago, Puffer said:

You may well be right about the typical prices of higher-end footwear in the UK but that does not make them either attractive or affordable.   I wouldn't pay more than £50-60 for a pair of shoes unless they were very special, such as the bespoke MJs - and then £120 or so would be my limit.  

Where can you buy such a shoe now, at that price, with all duties and insured carriage paid?

Dune and KG are not high end brands, they are not so unusual high street fodder at not so unusual prices. You can vote with your wallet by not buying, but the rest of the buying public will spend that sort of money because it's what they are used to, and what they expect. A new range of mens leather shoe from Marks, is priced at £79. That's as high street as it's possible to get. 

11 hours ago, Puffer said:

I take Tech's point that, heel apart, the Cross Sword shoes look 'ordinary' (as distinct from fussy or flamboyant) and that they might well appeal to some men.    But I don't like such styles - 'ordinary' here = boring, imho.   The MJ boots with a blocky heel, pointed toe and neat stitching are still restrained and masculine but never 'boring'.   If there was a UK supplier of styles similar to MJ's, and in all sizes, I reckon there would be good business if the price was right (say around £100).

Thank you, for including the picture. 

I would agree on style, in that something with a pointed toe has 'something about it' that makes it attractive. While not being the most comfortable for many, those of us with pointed feet (rather than square and wide) find them easier to wear. 

Looking at your SRP, I think you are a mile out on that. In the high street where shoes are sold in their tens of thousands, a leather shoe is likely to be circa £150 a pair. Some high street brands (Dune, KG) are pushing £200 a pair and over. While economies of scale would keep pricing low(er), selling 100 pairs of an MJ style boot in UK10 per year would be quite an achievement. Sales of Pleaser shoes are so poor here in the UK they no longer hold a local stock.  

2 minutes ago, pointyboot said:

More or less. Someone who "graduated" from something. Forgive me. Sometimes I forget about the differences between the Queen's English and American English. 

That'll do for me, thank you.

As for 'the Queens English', let me assure you, that is a recent thing. Leading up to a family name change in 1917 to Windsor, the Royals were Saxe-Coburg's and the family language had been German.  IIRC Queen Victoria's first language was German and pretty much all she spoke up to about 7 years. Many of the European heads of state circa 1916 were related to Victoria too. 

Even in recent times, in living memory - just: (From Wiki.)

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, 10 June 1921) is the husband and consort of Queen Elizabeth II.

A member of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, Philip was born into the Greek and Danish royal families. He was born in Greece, but his family was exiled from the country when he was an infant. After being educated in France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, he joined the British Royal Navy in 1939, aged 18. From July 1939, he began corresponding with the 13-year-old Princess Elizabeth, his second cousin once removed, whom he had first met in 1934.

Our next King (Charles) will be about as European as it's possible to get, with very little English blood in him. 

5 hours ago, Puffer said:

I hesitate to pour cold water on a brave venture, but I fail to see the appeal of the shoe styles so far shown by Cross Sword.   The uppers are conventional (distinctly boring) men's styling 

5 hours ago, Puffer said:

 And the heel (with a gimmicky insert) is rather too feminine.   The price is going to put these out of reach for anyone but a fashionista too.   Sorry!

There is a juxtaposition that would surely turn off buyers at either end of the buying scale? Men wanting a heel that looks like a mans shoe - with an otherwise feminine style of heel .... Verses a man wanting a feminine shoe maybe liking the heel, but finding the front too masculine?

1 hour ago, Tech said:

Plenty of "whack" styles of people want them but how many normal, ordinary styles are available? Almost none.

What does this mean?

1 hour ago, Tech said:

Totally agree about that heel though, god almighty... Why? Make a mans shoe/boot look like a mans shoe/boot...

Check this guys heels, the chunky brown and black ones:

https://hhplace.org/gallery/album/525-ankle-boots/?tab=comments#comment-30

Could someone oblige with uploading this picture to here please? As I can't get on to HHp having been banned from there circa November 2008, as "undesirable'.  Is it really, almost 10 years go? 

29 minutes ago, pointyboot said:

An alumnus of the old Disney Channel. One of many former child actors (Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera among them) who made a name for themselves under the Disney banner. Excuse my abbreviations.

An American word? I'm in England, so still don't know what it means ...  

Google says a 'former pupil'?