FastFreddy2

Bit of an late query (I'm not that sharp) ... How do get around the UK?

It's on the list .... To be honest, I wasn't sure it would be worth it. I'm aware of the Chinese foot binding, and I'm fairly familiar with the Vivienne Westwood platforms. If you recommend it, I might put myself in the 'painful' position of getting there. It's a PITA to travel to from the "North". I don't do trains as they are prohibitively expensive for me. I usually get parked, but the journey, well .... painful.

I suppose a high heeled shoe would ensure correct foot placement on the pedals? I can't say how many times (I've wasted my breathe) telling people the best push point is the ball of the foot ... When thinking of ways to surreptitiously wear heels for any distance, a bike was a possible solution. The plan conceived, was to leave my home on bike in trainers, with heels bagged ready to change into. Once away from the general populace, heels would be donned. I would push the bike while strutting around in heels. Should anyone come into view, I could either change back into my trainers and cycle off, or cycle off in heels for a short distance at least. Our weather keeps me off regularly riding, so the concept has not been tried, yet. Wearing a long boot in winter makes sense of course, but could not be easily removed. Jury is out on this.

Heels for High Brow men it is then?

I'm pretty sure I made mention of this via a PM? That said, having checked my messages, I don't seem to have sent any since the upgrade? Shortly after the government scalped me for the bridge trip to Bluewater, I thought I had suggested that while I would be reluctant to get 'scalped' again, if you were ever over at Bluewater, I'd welcome a chat over a coffee? Possibly I thought better of hitting the 'send' button in case you thought I was a stalker? Seems I have have not sent it, or it got lost 'in transit'?

While I'm happy to spend hours on a computer interacting with like-minded people with similar interests, I like to think that despite me also having quite an insular life, I am in fact quite a social animal. I enjoy meeting people face-to-face, even though most male high heel wearers prefer to stay hidden away in the closet? You will know from your HHplace experience, getting a small group of us together is practically impossible, though I don't know why. I've mentioned to Puffer I would like to meet up, and it may be one or two others might too. Since at least 3 of you (and I know a fourth and a fifth), live in the South, I would hope that some day we might all put faces to names. "I have a dream ....."

Heels, while pleasant to wear most other times, are not so good on a bicycle. "In theory", your heel should be able to dip just below the horizontal to the ball of your foot on the full pedal stroke. This allows you to get maximum power on the down stroke, without tending to shorten your Achilles tendon. Somewhere in my gallery here, I have a picture of a girl waiting at traffic lights on her bike, and wearing a heel. Somewhere in the 1000 or so images I have 'pending' to add to the galleries, I have a picture (just) of another lady riding her bike in heels too. I suppose gentle riding on a suitable road bike with flat pedals is do-able, but I would favour pushing the bike if wearing a heel...

And likely to cause sleepless nights .... Nope, I'm not going to 'uncant' it, but I like that W/M valve you pointed me at, and utilising one might prevent the next washing machine installer doing something I wouldn't like them to do .... I know for sure, the current fitting does not have and directional flow restriction.

If you people are going to attempt to increase my limited vocabulary, could some effort please be made to include either a glossary, or an example? Like this one perhaps? "Snap!"

Intriguing. Maybe sometime in the future, it might be possible for a small group to meet up? Do you travel in the UK much?

"In the shed"? Good grief man .... My £1400 (cost me £1000) Marin Rift Zone circa 1999/2000 spent 5 years either in the hallway where I walked past it several times a day, or was propped up against a lounge wall where I could see it all evening/weekend. Lovely bike. I rode it once around the block, and never sat on it again. (Injury). I should have waited another couple of years, and maybe I would have ridden it after all. I do ride again now, but thought I never would...

I am finding as that 'qualification' draws ever closer, my hair line seems to be disappearing at a like-for-like rate. And I'm starting to think I should be sub-contracting out the sourcing for my plumbing parts list .... While I appreciate the tips on the tap connections, they are a no-go. I suspect the original taps were fitted up immediately prior to the sink installation, (many moons ago) and before the waste was added. The current tail for the hot supply is hard against the side of the left-hand unit - and I mean 'hard'. The cold tail is touching the hot. I did look at taking out the sink, but decided against as it seemed unlikely it would come out undamaged. "Flexi's" are the way to go given the room. The slightly frustrating thing about the outside tap .... I'm fairly sure it doesn't get used, but suggesting £50/£70's worth of plumbing work should be undone -probably- wouldn't be well received... Today I bought Hep2O M12 flexi 'tails' with push-fit connections for the supplies. I opted for the push fit because I read that sometimes, the hot/cold mix can be less disproportionate in a mono, if the supplies are reversed. The easy dismounting system makes that an easy option. Also, the makers claim these tails have a 10mm bore. Spent around £9 in Toolstation on 3 valves. 1 x double-check, 1 x full bore isolation vale (for weak hot supply) and 1 x Mini Lever quarter turn ball valve, to replace the nasty stop-cock. I'm hoping the 'mini' is shorter than the stop-cock, and will be less intrusive anyway. Since the monobloc retaining bolt is up inside a nasty little cramped recess, I also treated myself to a set of long box spanners. The retaining plate on the worn out taps is very rusty. I'm hoping the long nut will still loosen, or the threaded stud will wind out. I'm abdicating from involving myself in anything to do with the washing machine supply. "Apparently", what looks like a perfectly serviceable washing machine is to be replaced. It seems to me the reason that pipe could be canted, is that the previous washing machine supplier added a junction without shortening any pipe. That being the case, that canted pipe wants me to leave it 'well alone', in case I disturb the compression joint at the stop-cock. I'll know more when I start "fixing" the new taps. I might just stop off at Toolstation and get one of those WM non-return valves though, just in case.

There was an elderly eccentric fella called Mr Trebus (now sadly passed) on a TV show called Life of Grime (a favourite of mine), who collected, almost anything - but mostly old bits of wood and newspaper. He was and still is, known for being a 'benchmark' (someone against everyone else is compared) collector. Mrs Freddy makes mention of Mr Trebus from time to time .... making a disfavourable comparison between him and another member of our household. I take it on the chin of course ...

I suppose if I didn't own a car, I might also have a much better bike ... But ... I would still worry about damaging it. I've twice bought bikes with retail stickers of £1400+ and not ridden either of them. In fact I sold a pretty exclusive MTB hardtail frame a couple of days ago, because it was too pretty to use. Only had it about 15 years ,,,,

I know someone else down your way waiting to get on here ... "Heels" also lives on the South Coast ... I'm wondering if you know each other?

I think you may have to have made 5 posts before you can add pictures, but it would be good to have a glimpse of your boots, if you wouldn't mind? You might be right about "beyond most budgets", and certainly would be for me I think. As with Puffer and his MJ's, I think the two of you might have the right idea. If I could go back and undo the 100 or so purchases I've made over the last (almost) 8 years, I might do better with the one perfect pair, rather than 99 that aren't so perfect. That said, Mrs Freddy will tell you I'm a collector. I don't have room for 10 bicycles, or 5 motorbikes, or 3 cars and I've no interest at all in postage stamps .... Having a collection of boots (with some shoes) fills my secondary need too (of collecting. )

Hello, and welcome to H4M. What country are you in? To my (possible) shame I'm not that familiar with Jean Gaborit though the vast bulk of their range seems to be thighboots?

Hand-made frames? Jealous, me?

The sink tap replacement project (as usual) isn't going very well. They don't build them like they used ..... thank goodness. I can get an isolation valve fitted in place of the obsolete washing machine branch on the 'hot' feed, probably by draining down the tank, or getting enough of a vacuum from partial draining to stop further flow .... Not sure about the cold feed stop-cock. I'll try loosening off the gland first, to see if it's been done up too tight. It might be overly tight to help prevent a leak, and effectively stop the handle rotating.... What doesn't help is its location. At arms length at the lower edge of a unit. From the little I know about 'check-valves' I'm pretty sure they are to stop back-flow into potable/drinking water. The location of the 'check valve' should be on the outlet side of the branch so no dirty water can travel back into the mains. That valve being where it is, dirty water can mix with mains water held between the taps and the check valve. I'm pretty sure there should be one somewhere for the washing machine too .... Just found this ... I spent close to an hour gawping at this, wondering how to make it work ..... When I used to install small networks, and small telephone systems, I used to follow a regular/written protocol for everything I did. Not so much that I had (or have) a need to do things right (though I do), but if things are done to a recognised standard as it were, when maintenance is required no-one has to work out what they are looking at. It would be wrong of me to assume only 'bodgers' worked on this water system, but I am reasonably sure the people that did, managed to do the least necessary, with no care for any further work that might be required. "Take the money and run" springs to mind ... eg. Why are there no pipe clips? Everything is hanging off the sink taps.... So: First job, isolation valves. Then: source and change (the very nice) supplied rigid tap tails, for flexi's. (Proximity problem with straight ones.) And: source new check valve. (grrrr.) More to follow.

Don't know if you've spotted these ..... >> here << or if they would be of interest.

I don't spend much time shoe/boot shopping on auction sites, or for that matter much on-line these days. I feel I pretty much have everything covered with one or two exception. (Skin tight thigh boots being one.) Feeling a little adventurous, and foolishly thinking I didn't need the sleep I could have had instead, I recently had a couple trawls through the most popular auctions site. I came up with about 5 items I might be interested in. I added them to my watch list, and completely forgot about them. One of the items, was some 5" thigh boots in my size. New but for a walk around a house. Doubtless owned by a male ... So the items came up and were sold. And here's the kicker ... Every pair I marked as me being interested in, sold for about a quarter of the price I thought they would sell for, and each one for significantly less than I would have paid. Obviously, if I'd bid they would have gone for more money, but .... It's an indication that people don't seem to be spending money on themselves at the moment. Perhaps saving for Crimbo?

The incoming mains (that the local water company couldn't find), looks to be copper, as unlikely as that might seem. It then separates with a 'T', running uphill to the water tanks (cold then hot) with the mains water going left to the kitchen sink. There is a mixture of old/new pipework winding around until eventually the taps are met. The homeowner has agreed the £38 replacement taps, and I will be buying them today. I may also find out if the isolating valves function with the deft use of some small adjustables. If the valves can't be made to function, they will need replacing. I might get some first hand experience of a freezing kit if that is the case. I too have some sympathy with the notion, "if it works, leave well enough alone", but my sympathy stops when the fitted kitchen was installed. At that point ANY real opportunity for further maintenance ended. The kitchen fitter should have priced in a plumber/builder to 'make good' the plumbing behind the units. As it stands now, any problems (and old fitting increase the chance of problems) will mean removing half the kitchen. This is such a big job, the water company who want to fit a meter in the house, have shied away from installing one. I remarked a few posts ago about the hot water in my bathroom being slow? Well it's a veritable torrent compared to the hot flow in this kitchen. Mindful the soil pipe shown has a direct route to the loft (and the hot water source possibly) why not install a better supply while it was easy? The lazy bathbuns didn't even sweep the floor or remove odd bits of wood leaning against the corner....

Imagine what the 'other side' of a fitted kitchen might look like, in a 60 year old house. The dark unpainted, unfinished walls. Dirty floors. Cobwebs and unswept debris .... A water supply pipe sticks out the floor, practically untouched since the house was built. Attached to the pipe is an old junction with similarly aged pipework laid going toward a sink in that room, and also going upward toward a bathroom. Imagine the stopcocks there so old, one no longer functions, so a cowboy plumber doesn't replace it, he just puts another one on the same route. And the second one leaks. Imagine this behind the façade of a kitchen unit in the corner of the room, which hides the dirt and history of the house. Yesterday I got asked about changing a tap washer on a monobloc kitchen tap. Not a problem as long as I can find the isolation valves to stop the water. I hunted around and found a cut-out for a stop cock. I could feel the handle, so I turned it. As "luck" would have it, it turned off mains water for another part of the house. (A bit novel.) I found the isolation valves eventually, with their levers missing. Someone had used washing machine valves, and removed the levers. Duh! While staring at the underneath of the sink having noticed the limescale trail from what must be a leaking 'O' ring around the base of the taps, I could hear a drip ...... drip ....... drip coming from the other side of the cupboard I had my head inside. I had another look at the valve I'd just tightened, and couldn't see enough of it to draw a conclusion. Pulling out the lower decorative façade of the unit, I could see drips of water hitting the floor. Obviously I had disturbed something and a leak was the result. With no tools about me, I had to make do with a tray for the water and a promise of returning. On the journey home, I had visions of having to pull out the entire kitchen to get at the leaking valve.... Later that night, I discovered the likely cause, and thankfully easy/cheap fix. Leaking glands on older style stopcocks are common. Back today, I was tooled up. I had my multi-cutter to remove a panel, but found the rear of the cupboard was only held with panel pins. I damaged the panel removing it, but it gave me good access. The repair was quick, and at the time of writing, was still working. I can't express how fraught my evening was yesterday. Nor how grateful I am to the You Tube contributors. I'll sleep a lot better tonight. Next, the tap washers .... As the taps are in such poor shape and there's a leak underneath them, it makes sense to replace them as they have to be uninstalled anyway to fix the leak. £40 for replacements and hopefully another 10 years of trouble free use. Not sure this job's for me though ... The supply pipe route is ridiculous. Unimaginably poor. Yet would have been so easy to route logically and allow simple/easy maintenance. Nope, too sensible for someone. Apparently the installer moved away. Wonder why?

Some quick notes as I should be undoing pipework rather than typing. 1. I have used compression for the join, which must be there for 'later' work to be completed. It also allows (though wasn't expected to allow) the alternative solution of a 'push-fit' pipe to be joined to a solvent weld pipe. (As you are aware.) 2. I will see about buying some. The clips I ordered cost £6-15 for 5 delivered I think, which I am happy with. But that strapping material is a great tip. I would prefer the stainless, but would probably prefer the ali version even more, but for the anticipated cost. Ali bends easier, has less spring and cuts easier than stainless. I'm not overly keen on galvanised anything usually, but 'port in a storm' .... 3. The pipe is done, and had I not switched on the computer this morning, might be installed. Or I might still be drinking coffee. Making up a bit of pipe was challenging (f'ing frustrating actually) but was something I may need to know in the future. I have priced up some better quality bending gear to help next time. I will hopefully add some pictures later today. 4. Just to clarify, the sink was supplied with a "push-up" waste, which I didn't/don't like because they look a bit 'Heath Robinson'. They do seem to be reliable, unlike my preferred choice of the click-clack/pop-up waste that is universally unreliable, especially in hard water areas. The £28 version seals on the flat upper face of the waste, rather than sitting internally where it can get gummed up with limescale and soap. I am trying to use the as supplied push-up system, with on order enhancements. If it doesn't work reliably, I will employ the £28 option with 5 year guarantee, or a less expensive one if you have a reliable make you can recommend through experience. In a previous property, a cheap but all-metal pop-up was removed by myself, using a very sharp drill ... 5. The close-coupled toilet has a straight outlet (rather than 'S' type) and it's quite high, compared to height of the original soil stack connection. I managed to connect them all up previously by using an offset connector, but even that sat at an angle. I have repositioned the soil stack, and used a couple of angles to get the original connection point back. I had the option to put a regular length 90' in for the soil opening height, but this would have left the connection point too low still, even though it might have been higher than before. I've sourced a long-neck 90' bend, which will put the soil connection on or about the right place. I can cut it down if necessary, but it means the soil opening will be closer the ideal height. Been a little while since I had a 'Chinese' ... Timely reminder/Freudian slip? I have edited the typo, referencing yourself for the help in the correction. I have replied in kind, elsewhere.

Just to satisfy my curiosity, what does "shink" mean? It's obviously some new (Kentish) slang for shape changing, but Google is not up to date with it and neither am I... As far as feet changing shape are concerned, I believe most strongly, "older" feet spread. Muscle wastage, less flexible soft tissue, more weight to support ... it must all add up? You are right that I (continue) to forget about your MJ's. Does he also do more wearable 'street' styles too? I had in mind some shoes with a slightly more modest heel, and a less pointed toe-box when I made my suggestion. My thinking being a handmade shoe would fit, and allow (encourage) more frequent ventures. I will have to confess, that without the (sometimes reluctant) support from my walking friend (she with bunions and a new/failing hip) and my (resigned to it) better half, I have my doubts I would spend so much time in public wearing heels. I used to go out alone, and late at night, which is not necessarily a great option. More than once I found myself in an uncomfortable situation, though embarrassment, was fortunately the worst outcome. Believe me when I say, I am appreciative to them both for the access to the company of them while I wear a heel in public. There is no greater disguise, than a woman walking with you. Not only camouflage, but visual confirmation that at least one regular person in the world accepts a man in a heel. The 'scene' from your Thursday visit feels familiar. I couldn't say how many times I've seen girls/women out in heels, or even a whole (androgynous) outfit and thought the same thing ... How much I'd like to be wearing that. While I recognise "we" are not physically equal, I have always been a supporter of equal rights for women. Sadly, there are no 'equal rights' for men. While women can dress in anything they like, this privilege does not extend to men. Colours (ie red) are "banned". Whole styles/types are "banned". And of course, what do most people think of men in heels? "Banned". Perhaps in the next life?