FastFreddy2

The ever lovely Kate Beckinsale ....

I'd wear these two.

In the absence of high heel wearing opportunities outside, I've been wearing some rubber soles 4" wedges around the house as slippers. They are what are known as 'high-tops' or as what I have always known to be considered "baseball boots". They are are challenge to get on and off because of the lacing. Better designs have a side zipper too for easy on/off. So I've been looking at EBay for some wedges. Not had any luck really. Obviously, wedge shape heels are not that popular, at least not wedge heels on or over 4 inches. Ideally I would find something along the line of a high wedge mule or clog (clog = closed toe mule) with a rubber wedge that I could wear at home without clonking around. ... Some of the styles shown here don't look too bad.

If I thought it would achieve anything, I might be tempted. But realistically, the best option is Twitter (Zara must have an account) and I would need to open or reopen an account to do that, when I really don't want to waste any more time on them. I've put the unpleasant experience behind me, and any possibility I might buy from them again. And there we have a good reason to avoid in-store purchases, and returns. A protracted returns procedure the very reason I gave up buying from House of Fraser, which was just as effective as Zara seems to be during the sale period. As a reminder, I had returned some shoes to HoF Oxford Street bought online. I saved them the return carriage cost by making a personal delivery. Showing the delivery note with all my details, wasn't enough for the supervisor to put the money back in my account, I had to present the c/c too. Not usually required these days, but it was part of their procedure. Not only did I have to present my card, but I also had to 'sign in' the receipt. The supervisor didn't like my signature compared to the signature on the card. A heavy verbal debate ensued. My stand was that I was returning goods, not taking them. Would a crook return products (I was entitled to return as the delivery note confirmed). If I returned the goods by post, HoF would have pay carriage, and neither card nor signature would accompany the goods being returned. Worse still, during that time I could sign up for 'instant' store credit, and walk out with £200+ worth of goods based on providing a name and address. The supervisor conceded this too. I got a credit on my card. A day later I got a phone call from the store General Manager, who was apologetic and agreed all my points regarding the return procedure. But it wouldn't be changing. Well, how did that work out for the group of stores? A painless returns policy 'made' Marks and Spencer. That policy took hundreds and hundreds of pounds off me over the years. Many retailers realised it gave customers comfort when buying, so have copied their procedure. John Lewis and Screwfix being obvious nominees for the 'copycat' awards. Both offer pain free returns, both are very busy businesses. That isn't their only attraction of course, but pain free returns mean customers will take products away to try (JL) or buy more than they need (SF) knowing surplus can be easily returned. Not that everything bought with a view to returning if necessary, gets returned. A side benefit of the 'easy returns' is that the returns window is sometimes missed. Been there, done that. New Look started to make life difficult for buyers, when they decided any discounted stock could not be returned. Anything you bought in a sale, had to be kept - unless bought online of course. Idiotic? Same was true of Select. No in-store purchases at all could be refunded, only store credit was offered instead, unless you bought online!! Like New Look, Select is another retail group shrinking fast with high street shops just disappearing. Of course Select quality was never great anyway. A pair of their shoes I wore for the first time, all but fell to pieces. (Written up elsewhere.) I like to support the high street, and loathe the Amazon business model, I don't see why a high street should offer a lower service than one I get online. Just doesn't add up to me. But 30 minutes queuing for returns to be processed - not acceptable Zara.

As reported elsewhere (New Heels thread) I had discovered some wedge heels had been available at Zara for £40 during November/December 2018, but I had only found out about them, mid way through January 2019. These: The pair I'd found were at Brent Cross, and reduced to £30 in their sale. The pair I saw were an EU40/UK7. During the same visit I bought some flat calf length boots that looked they might be useful in the impending wet/snowy weather we are promised during the next 4 weeks. The boots were reduced to £20 (from probably £30). Both styles were from their TRF range. (TRF = cheaper/budget.) The flat boots fitted okay, but the stretch shafts were loose - as usual, although they looked like they might be slim enough. I had decided to visit a couple more Zara stores, before giving up on the wedge boots, as the boots looked really attractive. A local store (Home Counties) was tried last Wednesday, with no luck. They had the wedges, but only in a UK5 and UK6. On Friday I went to Westfield London (aka White City), to look, and to return the £20 boots. No luck with the wedges, only one pair UK7 found. Close, but no prize! While there, I decided to return the £20 boots. There was a queue for returns, but at the time I didn't want to carry the boots with me to Primarni as it's quite a trek from Zara. Well, it took 30 minutes to get my money back. The 'shower of shyte' that passes for a returns system, has the counter staff checking and re-hanging every returned item, before a refund was made. It took very nearly 25 minutes to get to the front of a 10 person queue. One person (we'll call her 'princess') has two full bags of returns. Even with the discounts from the sale items she had bought, the two receipts that were refunded ran to £175 and £60. How could someone make that many mistakes when selecting clothing? Two FULL bags of returns. Incredible. Another one of the 10, one full bag. Not that this would be a problem at Marks or J.L. but Zara staff have to re-hang and tag where necessary every single item...... So nearly 25 minutes to get to the front of the queue .... And then, and then ..... The assistant had to call the floor manager to authorise the £20 cash refund. If that didn't add to the delay enough, their internal communication system wasn't working. The assistant called for a manager several times, without getting a reply, which should have told the assistant the manager wasn't receiving the call and she should have tried the store public announcement system - the manager told her in front of us. It took over 5 minutes for someone to appear, which of course blocked the assistant from doing any more returns. You would be forgiven for thinking Zara would now be at the top of my 'avoid at all costs' list? Having made the time to go to the West End proper, I decided to go to the Marble Arch (end) branch of Zara in Oxford Street, not least because I planned to go to Primarni which is quite close to it. Nothing on the ground floor, but UNBELIEVABLY, I found an EU41/UK8 (fits like a UK7.5 but fits me) on the first floor, which I then took to the ground floor to buy. Some 8 minutes into queuing, I put the boots on a low counter, and walked out - leaving the boots behind. I wasn't prepared to spend a further 10 minutes queuing to get to the front of another queue to buy something, having already spent 30+ minutes getting my £20 back earlier in the evening. Okay, so they will sell, so no loss to Zara, but at my time of life, I have more import things to do than waste time queuing to buy shoes (of questionable quality). It's not like I'm going to lose much putting Zara on my banned list, and neither is Zara. But I was one of many people who had a bad time in two of their stores, and it won't only be me who decides they are not worth visiting again. Other stores I have complained about in the past, have gone bust (House of Fraser, and New Look being two notable ones). While Zara is (I believe) a privately owned company with a (now) mega-rich owner, a bad shopping experience can lead to a bad shopping business. 2019 is going to be another tough year for high street retailers, and given my recent shopping experience, I won't be surprised if Zara begins to close stores.

You are enquiring about a car I owned for about 5 weeks, some 38 years ago. I only remember the colour because it was metallic, which I didn't like. You drove into a phone box at 100 mph, no airbags, no seat belt, no collapsing steering wheel, no impact cage, no crush zones .... And just climbed out of the rear window? If that had happened to me, I'd have been in touch with the Vatican to get my survival recognised as 'a miracle'.

I almost haven't bought any shoes for ages. What I should say is, I haven't bought any to keep/wear recently. These proved irresistible: Can't see a time or place where I could or would wear them, but as I said, irresistible. Missed these from Zara in my size: I also bought some flat stretch knee boots from Zara to try at home. The shafts were loose, despite being a stretch material.... Not sure why I keep torturing myself even trying to find some boots with shafts something close to the size of my thin legs. The eternal optimist may be?

Which reminds me ..... Circa 1981, I briefly owned a 2 door Cortina MKII GT. If I remember, there probably so few of these made, it would be worth a fortune now .... I've never seen another 2 door MKII, and not seen another 2 or 4 door GT version either. I bought it off a fella who was giving up driving, with him being about 110 years old. The mileage was something ridiculous, like 20k. It wasn't in showroom condition, but it was certainly unblemished. Returning from a nightshift stint working in the computer department of a large/well known supermarket chain, I was driving home in daylight around 7 am. I wasn't aware of the road conditions, though the cold should have been something I paid attention to. I turned into a road called the Ridgeway (another clue) and found myself behind a very slow moving coach. Being a complete twat, and driving a reasonably quick (for the time) car, I decided to overtake. Nothing coming in the opposite direction, and I had some 3-400 yards of clear road to get past him. What the coach driver knew that I didn't, was that road being on top of a hill with a meadow on one side, was prone to icy up. That's why he was driving so slowly.... About the time I got level with the coach, I discovered I was on an ice rink. The back wheels started to spin, and the steering wheel went so 'loose' it was obvious the front wheels had lost traction too. I was sitting in a 30 mph sled passing a large vehicle, and as this realisation arrived, so did traffic from the opposite direction. Luckily for me, but not the car, it pirouetted once across the path of the coach (which had slowed) and continued on until it met what we know as a telegraph pole. It left the vehicle with a large inward bend where the rear passenger door might be on a 4 door version of the car. I was unscathed, save embarrassed at my poor driving skills (ineptitude). With the apparent damage, which included a bent floorpan, the car was technically a write-off. It hadn't been worth so much I would have had full comp, and even if I did, the write off value would have been circa £150/£200. Had I never driven the car but put it into 'mothballs' for 30 years, it would doubtless be worth 10 - 20 times that money. (As detailed >> here << ) The colour of mine was a blue-ish metallic grey, but this image details what mine looked like before striking the telegraph pole.

Found it .... "Walk a mile in her shoes". "Pink"? This video is over 4 years old, and still has less than 4,000 views. "Hard sell" is right. ("A dark subject.") The lady shown in the still from the video looks to be wearing some attractive heels, but that's as good as it gets as far as the video goes. Not sure why I thought there was a difference between American and Brit versions of the "Walk" theme. Perhaps the heels thing was also being used for breast cancer or something like it. We are talking 6 or more years ago..... But as I've said several times now, while awareness and help all supportable (worthy cause) as one of the participants says, it's a "dark subject", and one many would rather keep that way - rightly or wrongly.

Looking for another thread, I came across this .... With at least one event to follow. Maybe I can get it finished without debate over my version of the English language.

A truly sexist race then? I vaguely remember this all coming about, the high heel races, walks for charity - in heels, and what could have been more. What I can't quite remember was the name of the "banner" principle that the charity races were done under. I'm thinking "Pink" something, but that doesn't ring true. What I do (vaguely) remember, was the American version of these charitable enterprises, supported (in principle) those with or who had suffered, breast cancer. The same "banner" title in the UK, was and maybe still is, associated with women who had been abused by men. While this is still a very laudable cause, it's not one many people are happy to be aware of. Put another way, it's a bit of a 'hard sell' as charitable causes go (it seems to me). I wouldn't be surprised to find it's the reason why high-heeled races in the UK almost certainly never happened. I know sponsored walks did, but I don't recall (if they were mentioned) the charity/charities involved. But women only high heeled races, for prizes? In another era, that's the sort of thing Paul Raymond or Hugh Hefner would have dreamt up.

Not seen one, or heard of one locally (meaning in the UK). I think they might have become less 'popular' generally, (less interesting) when men started to compete, and win. I have here some high-top plimsoll/trainers with a 4" heel. I would take on anyone while wearing those and potentially win because they are like wearing trainers. I don't know whether they would be outlawed in these runs, but wearing them would provide no handicap to my running speed at all. Six inch heels with a 1" or 2" platform, might as well tie my ankles together for all the speed I'd manage. I could barely walk in them, much less run.

Not the usual something special, but possibly of some interest. Helicopter pilot in high heels? Lauren Sanchez, (alleged new girlfriend to Jeff Bezos aka Mr Amazon). Full story >> here <<

It does. It's too open to expect 'cover' for footwear (experience tells me) and on a warm day there are way too many people looking for restaurant space. There is one particular pizzeria that I've sat down at 3 times, and eaten once. Nice food at reasonable money. but no servers, and an obvious lack of kitchen staff. Trying to get around HMS Belfast in what I remember were moderate heels, was interesting. I must go back for a full day, in trainers. As to my Trip Advisor report, expect 'onions'.

As someone who visits that area fairly regularly on a Sunday, I can tell you 'quiet' it isn't. Whilst we are debating venue and timing/parking, I very much doubt any of us will gather for an actual meeting. The reason for suggesting a venue where there is something other than bar or restaurant facilities was the attraction of a "meeting+". That's to mean a secondary reason to meet up, beyond seeing people it's possible to converse with here (or HHp). The proposed venue also provides a protected environment where almost any type of clothing/footwear should not attract unwanted criticism or attention. I might try to get myself up to the proposed venue early next month. My Saturday nights are not going to be as busy as they have been during the last 5-6 months, so I might once again, have the energy to rise early on a Sunday. Whether the gig is worth the £6 or not, I will advise after my planned visit. I've been given some street names by the organisers, and I will try these before the next gig to see if there are unused spaces during Sunday. I can usually walk quite a long way in 10 minutes, and all the free parking is "10 minutes away". That's quite a dangerous 10 minutes in 5" stiletto courts if cobbled street are involved. "Revue" to follow.

More 'not great news' on the M50 regarding shutter noise. Unlike my G80 which has an option for silent electronic shutter in all modes (as I currently understand it) the M50 only shuts off the shutter 'clunk' in one particular mode, where nearly all the other options can't be adjusted. So I'm already waiting for Canon to bring out another model in the same configuration, but with more control options. The actual camera is tiny. The 60mm lens I have attached, completely unbalances it. I met some fellow enthusiasts tonight, and complaints were made about how hard it is to hold onto the camera easily, unlike the DSLR's present. As I'm used to holding lenses for focusing purposes, doing that with a modern digital camera has meant no changes in my original technique. Finding out the camera has an anti-aliasing filter wasn't great news either. All that said, promotions, discounts etc, added to selling off the 'kit' lens, means I have the body for around £300 which is a saving of £200 on the 'body only' price. As long as I don't damage it, I should be able to get my investment back if an upgraded model (M60 perhaps) becomes available. I have found the exposure compensation button!! Need a magnifying glass to spot it, but it's there.

Well, that flurry of interest didn't show a lot of stamina.

I've had a better look for single yellows. Most of Google street maps in the area appears to have been done at midnight. So far, I've not found ANY free on-street parking, though getting there by underground seems easy. Would I use that in 5" courts? Unlikely. Cary a second pair of flat shoes ... Not very likely. I've email them to find out if they can guide me to the free parking.

The raison d'etre of the meeting would be the social aspect, anything else would be incidental. The last time I went to the London Fetish Fair, it was a complete wash, as was the previous visit to that one. We (the usual suspects) met there once and it wasn't an overly pleasant experience. In fact that might have been my last visit. Cobble stones all over the place, not only killers to stiletto heels, but blinking hard to navigate in a heel. (Rather like some of Camden). I would hope a swish venue in the City, might offer a better calibre of pavement and venue floor space. It might even be somewhere I could (finally) wear courts without risk of breaking them. As to parking, I'm not convinced on street parking would be that easy. I had a quick look on Google, and I found double yellows and reds. I didn't look hard, so I will be happy to find there is free on street parking close to the venue. You are right about Sundays and single yellows, but some roads in the area I could park on as little as two 2 years ago, have had a second yellow added. Transport for London, as we know, isn't there for the benefit of motorists unless there's a way to make them pay for a visit.

Really? How /why and just about any other likely question around doing that? Is this something people (men) do, and she sends pictures of her wearing them or something?

She is stunning. The perfect woman, on the face of it. Shame I'm so old, she so young. I'm sure she could make me very happy. Though even in my 20's, I doubt she would have looked at me twice. No matter, I've had my go at wondrous things. Though I'm still amazed at what happens to me some days. I've had and continue to have, a great life. (Long may it continue! )

Thank you, and you are welcome. I ought to add that possibly understanding why these meets don't happen makes it no less disappointing about the lack of socialising in what is quite a niche interest, although maybe not a niche as many would think. I have over the years re-sold many pairs of heels I've owned that either didn't fit, or I didn't want to keep. A fair percentage of those sales have been to men. One of the pairs with the highest heels, and possibly the most expensive I've sold, were to a man at a face-to-face meeting. He was no more embarrassed than I was, and the fact I was selling very high heeled boots in a mans size (UK9) made no difference at the exchange. He might have been buying a foot-pump for his car, the transaction was so 'matter-of-fact'. But would he attend a 'men-wearing-heels' meeting? I doubt it since his interest seemed to be of the 'self-gratification' variety. Meaning he was happy to pay for something he might wear for 10 minutes of fun (with him young enough for it to be several times a week) rather than it be a 'lifestyle' interest. While looking into opportunities for meeting venues, I found the London Alternative Market, which might be a regenerated London Fetish Fair. Entry is just £5, so affordable, but the location is deep in the heart of the City of London. Not a great place to get to, without using public transport. Might be something to think about, for the Home Counties based members here. Travelling from elsewhere, might add too much cost to an untried venue. Volunteers?

Of all the people I could be talking about, you would not be one of them. I'm aware through experience, you would attend a social gathering, (as might "Heels") with we three having met up together, many times in the past. In fact, you were one of the two people that waved me toward the (hidden) entrance door of the Miller pub back in 2008 - if I remember correctly. The 'Meet' in 2008 was really very special because it had an international flavour - including the bar maid it would seem! Here's some background to that time .... Until a few weeks before the big meet (there was a dinner together before that with about 9 attendees) several of us had no knowledge of men wearing heels as a group. Certainly in my case, I was almost overwhelmed to find my interest (straight man, practically non-TV) wasn't alone in the world with regard to my finding pleasure in wearing a heel. Of course I knew other men wore heels, I'd seen them years before, but these were for the most part, TV/TS or drag. Otherwise 'regular' men wearing heels because they could, and liked them, was 'news' to me? There was at least one person (who attended the meal on the 14th), made mention that his interest in wearing heels, and feeling isolated because of it, had produced some strong mental health issues. (Thinking of self-destruction.) His contact with the group, and attendance which allowed regular conversation with other like minded people, enabled him to 'normalise' his interest, rather than let it isolate him. His attendance, quite literally changed his life. To be honest, it also changed mine. I got involved with the group as a whole, and did my bit to help and support others who possibly didn't have my confidence to start with. Once I had spent some time out in the real world in a heel during daylight in a non-fetish situation, and having established my interest wasn't unacceptably unique, I became a great evangeliser for the cause. Not only "talking the talk", but quite literally, "walking the walk" (in heels). Part of my evangelising activity was to encourage social activity via meetings. Several of us met from time to time. Travelling to a central place, typically London, takes time, effort, and there's cost. Add that everyone involved gets older with every day, become less enthusiastic for venturing out breaking normal routines, it's not hard to understand how 5 or more people might struggle to find matching energy levels/time and money for a group meeting. I've mentioned confidence levels, but there is possibly another deeper psychological reason for what appears to be a reluctance to 'share'. Let me propose that many men take their pleasure from a heel, through sexual self-gratification. Many of those 'many' will have solitary experiences, that could never be shared with their partner, assuming their interest in heels doesn't prevent them having a partner to start with.... These men are likely used to keeping their interest in wearing a heel, in 'the closet'. Might be they are members of forums or BB's where they read about and share experiences, but their real world experience of wearing high heels amongst other men, is a big fat zero. How important to the lives of these men who maybe spend 10 minutes a week in heels, would meeting other men who are into wearing wearing heels, likely be? These men might spend 10 minutes every day, maybe 30 minutes, maybe an hour every day, thinking about heels and when they'll get to put a pair on. But it seems to me, their enthusiasm often never leaves the bedroom, much less is taken out to meet people socially. Believe me, I'd be happy to have this all wrong. I wish it were as simple as; "Can we all meet at xxxxxxxx on DD/MM/YYYY? Who is in?" And 20 people put their hand up to join a gathering. Even somewhere as busy as HHp, the offer of a 'meet' (certainly in the UK) might after a week or two of wrangling over dates and locations, produce two interested people, and one of those might be the person trying to organise the meet.

This her? https://www.instagram.com/ari_maj/