FastFreddy2

Jonathan Ross, couple of guests ..... Those heels look familiar?

Graham Norton, couple of guests ....

Breakfast show Presenters in heels ....

Final guests on Breakfast ....

More from Breakfast . . . Alanis Morissette .... in very high heels .... (wonder who's?) Look like repeats, but hopefully showing off the shoes from slightly different angles?

Almost tied to the Strictly screen shot thread and my interest in recording images; anytime there's heels on TV, I find myself tempted to take a screen shot of what I see. [Record for posterity?] I'm not great at resistance, so I do collect these images. Anyway, finally forced to sit in front of a screen, so made the time to edit and post these. I'm sure we UK members wouldn't mind seeing some similar screenshots from your international TV shows? Breakfast TV. Singer in YSL Tributes?

I'd forgotten I'd 'snapped' this. Screen shot taken last year off the TV, during a morning news/magazine programme. Only rediscovered it when doing some housekeeping on the computer. (Back too painful to do much else. )

Was expecting to have another go with the 'super-drill' today, but I did something foolish last night. We bought some DIY flat pack wardrobes 2 years ago, and at least one of them has been waiting to be assembled in the main bedroom. They are both quite substantial, and were delivered in three packages (for each wardrobe). Each package is clearly marked "2 man lift". The smallest package weighs a little over 35kgs. Last night, I tried to get the middle sized one up 14 steps to an upstairs landing. I managed it, but it wasn't easy. While rotating the largest package (that wanted to fall over without the support of the smallest package) I got a sharp twinge in my back. While moving the smaller package, I got an even sharper/more painful kick in my lower back. Realising I might be in trouble, I disassembled the smaller package and took it upstairs, piece by piece. My back was too uncomfortable to do any more. This morning, any movement at all is very very painful. Any movement. Painkillers seem to be doing very little. I get relief if I stand, and that's about it. Sitting is okay, but moving from that position can make me cry out. Not very manly? I've experienced this problem before, doing the same stupid thing .... but this is the first time I've been almost immobilised. Hopefully, in a week or two I'll be running up and down stairs like I was only yesterday morning, taking my general fitness for granted. I can't wait. I feel like I'm about 115 years old at the moment.

When I pointed out the £200 'shopping shoes' to Mrs Freddy (who was acting as camouflage at the time) her remarks were not very flattering, despite their price...... I think, on balance, they might have been better appreciated in more attractive circumstances.

That might be the bulk of the reason at my end too. She often shows signs of being as ar$ey as her grandmother .... (My mother.)

Seen at a local supermarket today.

I'm dying to tell my step-daughter ........ But I'm not allowed ....

Good call. Just re-read it, end to end. It's a thread a few months short of 4 years, and I'm surprised how quickly that time has passed. In some respects little about my circumstances has changed, and some others - much has.

Background ....... I used to live near a school. My junior school close enough for me to go over our garden fence if I needed. Only a year or two out of senior school, I saw a girl I was familiar with (might have been in my younger brothers year) walk down our road on the way to school wearing some high block heels. I nearly passed out! They were bought locally, I think from what might have been Freeman Hardy and Willis. I got an ex-girlfriend (who still liked me) to buy a pair in my size that I funded, saying they were for my new girlfriend. She may have known they were for me, it was never mentioned. At the time I was still living with my parents, but always had places to hide things like a pair of shoes. A good ten years later when I had my own place, my then 'live-in-girlfriend' (hairdresser with an eclectic attitude borne of eclectic experience from working in a salon) went to Covergirl in Upper Street Islington circa 1984/85, and came back with some courts with a 6" heel. A shoe I only sold about a year ago - BTW...... The first shoes ..... Some time after that, but only months after, I visited the Covergirl shop with my girlfriend. For those of you who aren't familiar with the establishment (now long gone), it was a traditional "costume" shop specialising in men dressing as a woman. Their shoes were made by The Little Box, found only about 500 yards away in Holloway Road. Over several visits to Covergirl I bought 2 more pairs, this time with surprisingly wearable 5½" heels, again that I only sold 7 or 8 months ago. [All three pairs, now too small, since I've gained weight and my feet have spread.] I also acquired some white courts bought locally, from I think Bally that had a more dance friendly 4 inch heel, for wearing out (with my girlfriend) when we used to go to nightclubs like The Mudd Club in Charing Cross Road. It was run by Phil Salon, who was known to be a very good friend of Boy George. This might have been around 1988/89 or a year earlier. Toward the end of 1989, I retired from "dressing up" as I moved back to my parents. This dressing up incidentally, was a means to an end, the 'end' being I could wear heels out socially. The next pair I bought was from the London Fetish Fair, when it actually was, a fetish fair. I bought a his and her pair of black patent platform sandals (mentioned elsewhere on the forum), around 1997. They had not stored well, and were thrown away last year. The next pair I bought and wore, where some over-the-knee boots from Priceless. That would have been around January 2008 or just before. I'm sure I was with Mrs Freddy at the time. I don't honestly remember who took them to the till, but it wasn't long before I took them back (faulty) and had them replaced FOC, while on my own. The second pair weren't off my legs for about a month, by which time I'd worn them out..... By about April of that year, I was trying on shoes in stores like House of Fraser Lakeside. I remember vividly, asking a middle aged lady for the other shoe, of a style of Diesel courts I'd fallen in love with. She brought the other shoe for me to try, without batting an eye-lid. The fitted, and I bought them. I didn't keep them as they wouldn't stay on my feet, but they were and are, stunning to look at. Around the same time, (I think) I also tried on a pair of ALDO black patent courts in store, again at Lakeside. Neither the girl who got them for me to try on, nor Mrs Freddy, understood why I didn't buy them. They fitted well, and I could walk in them. I had decided I would have them, but would wait until I could get them in a sale. Took two years, but I do own some I got at a better price than the then asking tag of £50. There are few shops I haven't tried girls shoes on in, but do it much less these days. It's a challenge I've met, but now feel less inclined to 'prove' myself, even when offered a pair to try on by a helpful shop assistant recently (who plainly knew they were for me). I'm less worried about myself than I am about embarrassing shop staff, and their customers. And returning shoes, if I need to, is a great excuse for a second outing. ..........

Life is cruel..... Getting older, is the 2nd worst part of it. Aches and pains not previously endured, seem to make themselves more and more obvious with each passing year. Just about 30 years ago (Jeez, is it really that long ago) I thought nothing of wearing a size 7 with a 5½" heel, while out for the night. Now, a size 8 with a 5" inch heel is the best I can manage, and then only slooooowwwllyyy. More usually, I'll now wear a 4½" heel and hope my muscle stamina will allow me to disguise the heel height for as long as I'm out. I'm tempted to say it's the amount of practice I get, but that would be far from the truth. I spend much more time in heels now, than I ever did before. My joints, my muscles, just got 30 years older. I'm obviously not alone with this issue ..... Bit off thread, but I wonder? A very long time ago, it was announced in the media that the reason why blonde haired women were more popular amongst men, was that only younger women, (can) have naturally blonde hair. We are hard-wired to covet them, because they cannot be old (and barren). So, maybe we like heels for the same reason? Almost always, the wearer is going to be young, or younger?

Ironfist (such a poor choice of name) is one of the more unique brand of styles to be found at Schuh. Link >> here << Did find these there though.

I hope you were standing when you said that?

From a well known auction site ....... All these 'flashy' styles are a bit brash for me. Black leather or "leatherette" covers most of my rather conservative needs. Maybe red when I might be somewhere uber special. Schuh does several styles like the OP pair, in varying types/colours of brocade. Mrs F. always comments that she loves them (but never buys?)

"Same as". I find social history fascinating, but not something I pursue. Got too much building work outstanding!

Maybe social history isn't your thing, but I can't see anyone being interested in the railways, without being interested in how we got to where we are now. In fact, I'd expect more interest in previous, than current. For example, railway tracks ..... Why are they set the (standard) width they are, rather than the technically better Broad Gauge from Brunel? What gave us the 'standard' width to start with? History (my dear boy) makes us what we are today. We are nothing, if not the sum of our past. P.S. While trying to find the correct word for this: Google offered me the following article >> clicky << It's a book I look forward to reading.

Watching a Breakfast on BBC's iPlayer the other day, I saw the second set from an Italian composer/performer called Ludovico Einaudi. I'm not big on the piano, so nearly didn't bother listening, but I'm glad I did. He's really good. I like/prefer dance music to all other. There are tracks Led Zeppelin have done (Stairway to Heaven), some from Jimi Hendrix (Band of Gypsies - Electric Ladyland Part 1) I could listen to for hours, but .... I prefer a Soul/Jazz beat. More recently, with the demise of the Soul scene and a wider audience for Trance and Ambient, I've grown to like quite a lot of that too. So, I like melody. I like something that might have a slightly repetitive loop (which can be very relaxing), and I like more than one thread to the musical trail. (Like some jazz.) I'm stunned I'd not heard of this performer before. He's been around a good while. If he comes back to the UK, I will be prepared to pay a lot of money to see him perform live. I really like what I've heard so far. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ImZTkeCHgA. [solo piano.] Please don't listen to this using laptop speakers that'll hide half the sound that's there. Dig out some full range speakers or headphones that'll reproduce the bass tones that small speakers can't handle. I would describe his music as beautiful. I also have found his productions very relaxing, almost ethereal? Music to fall asleep to ........

Had a brief play with the G5, now I have the (unused) Micro 4/3rds to Nikon adapter, and a UV filter for the 20mm lens. I needed to take some photo's of some shoes being returned (poor fit unfortunately), and they had to go back promptly for me to get a refund. The light was poor, but with the Lumix 20mm lens providing f1.7's worth of light, it is easily the brightest digital lens I own. Got the photo's done ..... Had forgotten what I'd set all the controls to .... Might post an example here, or add a link to the photo's taken for another thread. It's obvious, I need to learn how to use the camera!

Tried the Makita HR2610 and a Bosch 6mm S4L drill bit on some masonry today. [Masonry = brick and mortar.] Well, if ever there was a "hot knife through butter" moment, I saw some this afternoon. 3 accurately round holes done in double quick time. 1 clock and 2 pictures hung in less than 15 minutes. Measuring where the holes were going took considerably longer than making the holes, fitting the plugs and then winding in the screws. So impressed was the wall owner, I've been asked to do another 7. That'll teach me!

Yeeeeeepp you should. An extract from an on-line newspaper dated 2nd June 2011, I read earlier today: Link >> here << If ever I felt the need to justify my contributions here, it would be that it's my attempt to illustrate my journey. It's a journey I'm sure many readers (members and lurkers) also share, though usually only with themselves in their solitude where their secret can be kept safe. It's important to us all with this slightly unusual interest, to know we are not alone, and that our interest isn't as unusual as we might first have believed. Most of us will have been taught how easily a stick will break, but several sticks held close together are almost impossible to break. We are a group, and I hope members of the group understand they are members of a group? I have no idea what passes as normal life in America, nor what is normal life on mainland Europe. Many of you, will have no idea what passes as normal life here in the UK. This is a great place to find out, but we all need to share. ............

I would have to agree, your 'diagnosis' does seem likely. Around 6 months ago, I too felt wearing heels gave me no pleasure, and almost gave up with them. Realising I had waited many many years to enjoy wearing them in public, I knew it was inevitable I would regret not wearing them, even if for a while it might seem like a chore. I cannot say what had changed to get me in this state of mind, nor exactly what got me past it. Given your deep (in this instance - fundamental) interest in wearing heels, the barrier would seem to be important, if not obvious. For me it might have been the wave of sadness I was experiencing, and it was a wave I had no control over. I had no way of stopping it, no way to change it. For a while, it was a case of getting through another day, another week, another month. Eventually, the veil thinned and I started to believe there was a better future for me to come. You are close to your family, and maybe they have recognised "what ails you" where perhaps you have not? I've found external stress takes some time to effect me. Weeks, and sometimes longer. When I look back, I maybe have to look further than most. A wise woman I knew, once approached me to say hello. She mentioned I seemed a little 'less of yourself', and not my usual cheery self. I mentioned I possibly had an important decision to make, and wasn't sure the direction I should take. She mentioned that the anxiety caused to me by delaying the decision, was possibly worse than the outcome of me making a bad decision. Anxiety can be very wearing..... I can't remember what I had to do. I do remember the enormous sense of relief I felt when it was done. Good luck with your journey. I hope you find your path again, and I hope you find it soon. P.S. Seen in another thread ..... Maybe not kidding? ..........