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Yeah, if I lived alone, I'd probably do the same. But instead, I married a Vietnamese lady. She likes it considerably warmer in the house. When we were first married, she felt awfully guilty about how much the (natural) gas bill was in the winter, so she tried to make up for it in the summer. I'd come home from working in the 95º sun all day, and the house was 85º! We'd just installed a brand new air conditioner, but she refused to use it. Of course, this was long before I started wasting a lot of money on shoes. That changed everything.

The position in much of the rural UK is very similar, albeit on a smaller scale. The big difference is the fuel price, although lower here now than recently. You are paying about 46p per litre; we currently pay (for unleaded petrol) around £1.30/litre - or almost three times as much. (Diesel is typically about 9-10p/litre dearer in UK.)

A tougher drive to Morocco though! 🙂

There is no way I could live without a car. We live down a peninsula that is 12 miles long, then must go over a big bridge, then cross an island, and then cross a causeway, then traverse most of that second island before we get to our house. We do have electricity, phone and internet, but it all ends a half-mile from our house. As isolated as we are we have to check Amazon or other outlets first to see if they will even deliver here because about 2/3 will not. For others we can get what we want shipped, but there is an extra cost to do so. For local services, its not too bad. We got a take-out place that is open Wednesday-Sunday so we can get food, but also a gas station, and building supply hardware store. So in building my house, it’s a three mile trip for most supplies, and they can deliver it within the hour if I cannot pick it up using my car. But they are expensive. A lot of times we just wait until we are “going into town” and hit the bigger box stores while there. I like to support local businesses, but hate being gouged. It is well known that the local grocer charges 25% more just because they can. But “going into town” whether it is to Lowes or Walmart is an hour and a half drive for us… ONE WAY. But much of this island is a preserve so there are lots of hiking trails here, and on other islands. Being winter, few people walk the roads but that picks up in the summer. There are plenty of signs warning motorists of bikers and walkers, but it really is not a huge deal. The roads along the island are treacherous anyway, but there is just a slower pace of life here. No one is in a rush for anything once you cross the bridge. Edited to say: Our island has about 500 people, but 2/3 are summer residents only. Some towns on the mainland though have as little as 60, 39 and even 6 people in them. So when I say we drive 1.5 hours, that is through forest so we are driving at 60 mph. These bigger towns are 80 miles away! Fun fact though: we live closer to Africa than anyone else in the United States. It is the same distance for us to go to Morocco as it would be for us to go to California (2,900 miles).

Yes the heel height all seem to be based on a size 38.

Yes, understood. A standardisation that helps comparison - provided we all understand and adopt the same standard, which mlroseplant takes as being the actual height of a Eu38 shoe heel. As good as anything. I expect the shoes I pictured above were sold as being 5", which they probably were in size 38.

I keep my heater on 60 F, off at night (old heater very old uninsulated house) and I will wear my sweater dress to keep warm.

Europe is better than Britain, but we are far ahead of the US in terms of public transport. I am in a very rural part of Britain, a mile from the nearest (small) town. But I can walk in there and do my shopping - all small local shops - and if I want to go to a supermarket I can catch a bus to a bigger town half an hour away. The busses run regularly. They are clean and pleasant, with WiFi and charging points for phones. And gorgeous scenery out the window. At this larger town I can catch a train and go anywhere. Although it makes for a long day, I can and have made day trips to London and Manchester. Day trips to York and Leeds are easy. i really don’t need a car and don’t feel the least bit inconvenienced by not having one.

Would love to be able to get rid of my car for sure. But, most of the US is just not set up with good public transportation.

Don't forget that there is a vast difference between urban living and rural living. In our case we are 5 miles from a town of about 2000 residents, with very little in the way of shopping: one grocery store, one hardware store, and a few restaurants. If we need to buy something from Walmart, or Walgreens, or Tractor Supply it's a 12 mile drive. If we need something from Costco, or Home Depot, or Lowe's, or other places it's a mininum of 30 miles. Fortunately gas prices are reasonable (right now we're paying $2.39 per gallon) and Amazon knows where we live so it's not so bad!

I will have to measure my nine west ankle boots this way today!

I’ve not owned a car in decades. I get around on foot, or by bike, boat, bus or train

Well my boots were purchased from Italian Heels and were sold as 12cm heels in their standard size, with the heels being incrementally higher or lower depending on however much bigger or smaller your foot size is. It is what it is. Whether it looks accurate in the photo or not. Whatever the actual measurement of the heels on my boots, I regard them as 12cm heels since that is what they are billed as. its sensible to figure things this way as there can be a general talking point - when @mlroseplant or @higherheels says they’re in 12cm heels we know we are talking about roughly the same angle and degrees of difficulty, allowing for slight variations in the designs of the shoe or boot.

This was all getting rather confusing! I hadn't realised that you were describing heel heights by their 'standard' equivalent, and that the true measured height of yours is 14.7mm, which explains a lot as regards wearability. But it makes the pic look even odder - I would have guessed those heels as shown to be no more than 4.25" high in your size. I know what it is like to wear heels (probably same foot size as yours: UK 11/12) that are a truly measured 5" or 5.25" high - not easy; you have my further respect for 'managing' when practising in a true 5.75" heel! It would help mutual understanding if true heel heights were always quoted, with the 'standard equivalent' too if helpful when shoe size is not only marginally larger or smaller. These Office shoes (UK8) belonging to a friend have a true height of 131mm = 5.16". They look noticeably higher (and certainly steeper) than your boots.

Haha, you are not wrong! We drive everywhere. It's a shame that it's that way, but it is. A car is not a luxury in the U.S., it's an absolute necessity, outside of maybe New York City or Chicago. Having said that, I've never known anybody to actually move their car during a trip to the shopping mall. The more common experience is to forget where you parked. But who goes to a mall anymore? That's so 1990s! I'm only 90% kidding.

@bluejay, it is fascinating to me to note where all of our collective significant others draw the line. Some don't like it at all, some tolerate it, and some seem to be totally accepting. For me personally, if I got my nails done or wore a dress, that would cross a hard line. My wife would have a cow. However, it is (maybe not quite perfectly) acceptable for me to wear stiletto heels. Yes, I'll try on my sweater dresses, but I don't see me wearing them out and about.

Yes, very nice wearable boots. I have a similar pair from ASOS (slightly shorter shaft and no platform) which are ideal; for discreet outings. And my duplicate pair (unworn) are still available for purchase:

In the UK and most other European countries, the majority of the population live within a mile or two of most of the 'basic' facilities (shops, post office, public transport etc) that they need to access frequently. And some workers live similarly close to their workplace too. Walking to and from them is usually easy and safe, economical, and desirable from an exercise viewpoint. My impression is that the US is typically very different in that these 'local' trips often involve significantly longer distances and may be difficult or unsafe for walking - so the automobile reigns supreme. That said, the typical American shopping mall or complex seems to require a lot of legwork if to be explored fully - or does every shopper tend to move their car around the estate? (It is some years since I was last in the US (Florida) and I remember the distances needed to reach other places in the same neighbourhood, but not what the drill was when visiting several stores in one complex.)

They look nice. Very wearable - I love ankle boots myself.

I finally got a pair of booties that fit. Nothing special, but they fit. Women’s Fran Bootie by New York and Company Upper: 100% Faux Suede, Outsole: 70% Rubber, 30% Textile, Lining: 100% Faux Suede Shaft height: 5", Shaft circumference: 10" Heel height: 4" Inexpensive, but they fit. Wore them all day at work.

I just saw this. I have seen similar boots lately, but don't remember where. Google either "pee toe thigh high boots" or "open toe knee high boots". Good luck.

Mirose, Start wearing your sweater dresses. I love wearing mine. I have several in different colors. Also I have several sweatshirt dresses too, that i love wearing too. The sweater dresses and sweatshirt dresses keep me warm in the winter months especially wearing them with fleece lined tights and leggings, with my knee boots. Happy Heeling, bluejay

2006 I joined. Just outside the time frame for me. But still can't believe it's been nearly 20 years. Time flies, but my love of heels remains stronger than ever.

So true

I think too that with stilettos, the higher the heel the more fragile it is likely to be