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Yes, I like the feel of being in heels. And while I like the forbidden aspect, if wearing heels was accepted I’d absolutely enjoy them just as much - perhaps even more because the market would be there for more styles and they’d be easier to find and buy. My tastes are also very classical - clean lines and simple elegance. That’s what I like so much about 12cm stilettos. They seem to me to be the ideal height - elegant, imperious, but without ever exceeding the bounds of good taste. That’s why I would love to be able to walk gracefully in them

That's an interesting question, and I think my answer might be a little bit different than what's been said so far. Rebellion, at least in the purest sense, has nothing to do with it for me. I think I would probably still wear heels even if it were a completely normal thing for a man to do. I just like them. I like the way they look (classic styles, anyway) and I like the way they feel. Most people can't understand that I actually like to walk in heels. It's not a sacrifice I make for the sake of fashion or sense of personal style. There is the athletic challenge side it also, but it's a smaller portion of the sum total. Yeah, it's nice to be able to say that I walked so many miles last year, but it's just something I actually enjoy.

My 2004 Ford Crown Vic has but 130,000 miles on it, and more importantly, no rust. The weak spot on these cars, if there is one, is the transmission. We've talked about manual swapping it out should it ever fail, but I hope I don't have to ever make that decision. I figure it will last another 7 years until I retire, then I won't care as much. My 2009 Yamaha Majesty scooter (400 cc) has 33,000, and there's a good chance it will last me until I retire. I tell you what, insurance is cheap on those things, even with a 17 year old driver listed on the policy. I don't even want to know what it would cost to insure a brand new car or motorbike.

Yes, this is by no means a full avoidance of the headaches of care and maintenance, but life on the cut seems a whole lot simpler than in the world of bricks and mortar and automobiles. As I write this I’m getting ready to take off my heels and head down the muddy towpath with my collapsible dolly to buy a couple of 25kg bags of coal …

Yes, motoring costs and the increasingly-draconian laws applicable to driving and vehicles provide no incentive to car-ownership, let alone motoring for pleasure. But you won't entirely escape their equivalents with a narrowboat, especially when it comes to maintaining a diesel engine. And public transport, when necessary, can come at quite a price. That all said, I can certainly see the appeal of your canal lifestyle!

I really don't have a high knowledge level when it comes to cars. Only a bit for the things I already worked on myself. My husband is a great help and guides me through so even I can manage some things 🙂

Well done you! I’m having to learn about diesel engines, solar power and electrical systems - and starting from a very low knowledge base!

Exactly this!

@CrushedVamp So true! What's funny is that my car now is worth about the same as when I bought it. With the help of my husband I'm even able to do some things on my own, so repairs can be surprisingly cheap. And it's a good feeling when I know that I was able to fix/maintain it (at least a bit) by myself 🙂

I agree to both of you. Regarding the two types mentioned by CrushedVamp I'm a bit of both 😉 I need my basic comfort zone in terms of relationship, friends, home etc. But in everyday life I need some excitement and also getting out of my comfort zone sometimes. It's not a pleasure by itself for me, but sometimes it's funny to see how a simple thing as shoes can cause so much in other people's minds.

I can only speak for myself although I suspect that was I'm about to say holds true for others - and here Im thinking specifically of my two colleagues in the high heel challenge, @mlroseplant and @higherheels, but others on here as well. For me it is a matter of aesthetics, style and elegance. I like the look of them and always have, and for years resented the fact that as a man I was not supposedly allowed to wear them too. Heels are about self expression and personal theatre and bring with them a sense of fun, and a kind of sassy delight in their impracticality. Sure, the fact that walking gracefully in heels is an acquired skill adds something to the mix - there's a quiet pleasure to be had in doing a challenging thing well and with offhand grace, probably not too different to the satisfaction a motorist might feel in driving a sportscar well. And yes, there is a sense of pleasurable rebellion in wearing heels as a guy - and from what @higherheels has said, wearing them as a woman as well - but if by some magic all that were to go away, I would still wear heels, as I suspet others on here would too. My enjoyment is not dependent on flouting convention, but really, very much, a love of the look and style ad the sheer fun of wearing them

I am curious… and this is just my own musings and in no way arguing with you at all here… is if it is not even more simple than that. That people who love to wear high heels, just love the challenge of their shoe choice? In life there tends to be two kinds of people: 1. Those that just want to be comfortable, not just in what they wear for shoes, but where they live, what they do for jobs, their spouses, etc, 2. For other people they do not necessarily want to be uncomfortable, but getting outside your comfort zone causes personal challenges, but with it, also personal growth. As an example, I just moved to a whole new area and it is awkward and challenging, but at the same time it gives me a much more rounded life. What is the alternative? To say, “yes, I have lived on Third and Main all my life?” It is the same thing with wearing high heels, you cannot wear them and not be challenged, but also not grow thicker skin, break from the mundane, or challenge the status quo. This applies to both genders too…

I’m so glad to be out of the whole car ownership thing. It saves me a fortune and doesn’t inconvenience me a bit

I am super frugal so I try and look at things math-wise and not so much from an emotional point of view. In that, while repairing cars are expensive, it ALWAYS pencils out to be cheaper than having a new car with a payment. I just did brakes on my car with 144,000 miles. It cost me $752, but will go for another year before it needs that much work again. But when the average cost of even a USED car is $521 a month, my repair bill will pay for itself in 1-1/2 months. That is only 45 days. That is a darn good return on investment. And the car itself is pretty darn good too. I put $40.00 worth of gas in my car, drive to work for five days and bring home $2000 for the week. People brag about having stock options that pay 9% a year, well my car and job nets me a 4900% return on investment in a week so my coworker who eats his can of sardines in the breakroom is suddenly not that hard to put up with. Nothing last forever so at some things just are not worth fixing. My last car was a 2003 Honda CRV that had 206,000 miles on it when the transmission really started slipping. It was $4000 for a rebuilt transmission so I went looking for a different car. I hate debt so I pay cash for my cars, but buy used and then just run them till they die. But as Dave Ramsey says, if American’s want to know why they are broke, it is because of what is sitting in their driveway. I am not about status symbols at all, in fact I like to stay under the radar. But let me ask about the Tesla Truck: can you even get into that thing wearing high heels? I think with the Humvee you would HAVE to wear high heels.

@Puffer Wow, you guys put so much work into research! I tried the formula with my Hot Chick 130s, which of course are claimed as 130 mm. I measured them with 127 mm in size 37. Using your formula that gives me 130,9 mm in size 38. So that seems realistic for this case.

I've given some further thought to the question of the 'standard' for heel measurement. The consensus seems to be that Eu38 is an appropriate standard, given that manufacturers often (usually?) quote heel heights for that size. From internet information about foot measurement in relation to nominal footwear sizes, I have compiled a table (as below) which shows the heel-height factors to be applied when converting from one size to another, based on the standard Eu38. (I freely accept that my source information is not necessarily definitive, as footwear sizes do vary between manufactures and styles, that Eu/UK/US size equivalents may be disputed and that, as the table shows, some foot length variation is also accepted. But let us take it as a working hypothesis.) As you can see from the table, the index for Eu38 is set as 100. So, to get the corresponding 'effective heel height' (steepness) for another size, we multiply the height of the known heel by the index number for that other size and then divide by the index for the subject's actual size. Taking Shyheels's boots as an example (which I assume to be size Eu 45-46 = index 119), he quotes the actual height as an impressive 147mm. The equivalent in Eu38 would be 147 x 100/119 = 123.5mm. Not quite in agreement with the '120mm' claimed by Italian heels, but not that far off. Likewise, my friend's Office courts that I pictured are Eu42 and have a heel height of 131mm. He tells me that the identical model in Eu38 actually measures 125mm - but my table would suggest 120mm (131 x 100/109), so another discrepancy. We are, I think, on firmer ground with mlroseplant's 'training shoes' in Eu40 with an actual height of 133mm, which would indeed equate to the 125mm he claims for Eu 38; (133 x 100/106). Anyway, I leave the table for your adoption or dispute, as the case may be: Shoe size Nominal length Mean length Index Size UK3/USW5 (EU 35-36) ~22.8 cm 22.8 cm 94 Size UK4/USW6 (EU 37) ~23.3 - 23.7 cm 23.5 cm 97 Size UK5/USW7 (EU 38) ~24.1 - 24.6 cm 24.35 cm 100 Size UK6/USW8 (EU 39-40) ~24.9 - 25.6 cm 25.25 cm 104 Size UK7/USW9 (EU 40-41) ~25.4 - 26.2 cm 25.8 cm 106 Size UK8/USW10 (EU 42) ~26.2 - 26.9 cm 26.55 cm 109 Size UK9/USW11 (EU 43) ~27.0 - 27.5 cm 27.25 cm 112 Size UK10/USW12 (EU 44-45) ~27.9 - 28.3 cm 28.1 cm 115 Size UK11/USW13 (EU 45-46) ~28.8 - 29.3 cm 29.05 cm 119 Size UK12/USW14 (EU 47) ~29.4 - 30.2 cm 29.8 cm 122

Indeed, nobody needs to be around people with a mediaeval mindset. in point of fact all the women I know who love heels are really interesting intelligent people. I don’t know any (other!) men who wear heels, other than on this forum, but again they all seem to be people worth knowing. From what I can see a love of heels seems to indicate an appreciation of style, elegance and a sense of fun.

I'd sooner drive a 1977 AMC pacer than one of those tesla "pickups", what a joke they are

I had one car that was at 250,000+ when I totaled the front end in a accident caused by a mountain lion crossing a freeway. My next one blow a rod when the oil pump failed at about 160K. I now drive a 4-wd RAV4 which has 120K+ on it currently. The new ugly, dumbness 'truck' of the day is the Tesla 'pickup'. It seems the same people who bought the hummer also bought on of these.

Totally true for me. High heels seem to come with a lot of prejudice in people's minds. Many people have told me that they were surprised about how I actually am when they got to know me better. So I would say that wearing heels gives you a bad first impression amongst many people. But that also has it's upside, as it automatically gets you away from the people who aren't worth it 😉

A great pair of boots! And the red for sure screams "unhiding", so you did well 😉

I live more on the country side, but still have most of the daily needs in reach by foot or bike. Living without a car would be possible, but sometimes very inconvenient. I like that mindset! My car is 19 years old and I'm not planning on replacing it. If I look at new cars I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything, more the opposite. So I'm trying to keep it well maintained and maybe also drive it to the last mile 🙂

Those "hummers" were a bummer for sure. I suppose some folks have enough money to afford tossing money away on stupid vehicles like Hummers, not to mention their never ending thirst for gasoline. I tend to keep vehicles forever as well, but that is only possible if you are somewhat handy and can tend to basics yourself such as oil changes and basic maintenance/repairs. I can understand how many would prefer to buy a new car every so often, trading in a low mileage well maintained vehicle that might even have a bit of original warranty left on it. Today's vehicles are super complex, and very expensive to repair.

I also have three types of leggings, but they are all the same cotton legging, except for the length. I have worn leggings outside my house as pants, but very few times in my life. I use leggings as underwear 99.9% of the time. I've got ankle length, for when it's really cold, I've got capri length for use as everyday long underwear, which works very well with my work socks and boots, and then I've got shorties, which are several inches above my knee. Their sole purpose is to wear instead of regular briefs when I wear bib overalls to work. They prevent chafing on my inner thighs, which is a real problem for me in the summer months. Back to the original topic, I just received a product called "Hard as Hooves," which is a cuticle/nail moisturizer. It's not quite an oil, but it's very slippery cream. You are supposed to apply it three times a day to your nails and massage it in. We'll see if I can get my nails back--they're down to a scant 1 mm. At least they're not broken below the quick.

No American vehicle trend to me was more dumb than the Humvee craze of the early 2000's. Not only was it a gaz guzzler, it was not even a pickup and could carry anything other than people. And despite having a crazy ability to go off-road, those that bought them would never take them off-road anyway. It was all a status thing, which as all of you should know by now, I am polar opposite on. I could care less what other people think of my choices as long as I have thought things through and made a decision on what I feel is best for me. For now, I like my Honda CRV, but I also buy my used cars outright and try to stick with models that go for a long time. I literally drive my cars to the last mile. When I am done with one, they go to the crusher to be turned into scrap metal. Typically, I try to get 250,000 miles out of one before they ultimately die.