at9

Thank you. What a generous and lovely offer.

This can only get worse.

Remember that AlexC94 lives "oop north" where the mercury rarely rises above zero:-) This is part of the London mindset where everywhere north of the Watford Gap is a sprawling coalmine, where they race whippets, wear flat caps, eat tripe and keep ferrets down their trousers. I'm sure that Left Pondians have similar prejudices. [And when you've passed through the tripe curtain, you eventually arrive in a strange and foreign land: The Haggis Belt. Where men wear skirts and speak an incomprehensible tongue. I think some call it garlic [sic]. It's also a place that until recently has been run entirely by people pretending to be fish. Some other foreign guy called Adrian built a wall to stop the wild haggis making raids over the border.] PS: The system has appended my last post to the previous one. For clarity I've put the 2nd post in square brackets.

They are an ultra-fast low cost fashion website with a reputation for ripping off other people's designs. Google "shein problems" to find out a lot about why you might not want to buy from them.

I'm glad to say that English is shaped primarily by usage. A proud mongrel tongue, unashamed of immigration. Unlike French where the Institut Francais attempts, not always successfully, to impose its view of language on the people. They can stuff their "fin de semaine" where the sun don't shine. There are many things I don't like about how our language is evolving. I live with them as part of a vibrant language. I even adopt some of them despite not really liking them. Such as "for free" rather than "free" or "for nothing". But if you ever catch me writing "would of" instead of "would have" you have permission to shoot me. But it may become accepted usage.

The other day I went to a gallery "private view". I wore black trousers, my ASOS leopard print boots, a leopard print shirt and a red wool blazer. I got at least one compliment on my boots. Somebody remarked to my wife that I looked "flamboyant". At 66 years old I'm happy to be seen that way.

Don't know about the USA, but in the UK ASOS offer free post and returns so there's no risk in ordering a few to try.

Searching "mens heels" on Asos gives over 70 hits. A few aren't really heels, some are horrible by almost any standard, almost all are not real leather. I have a pair of the leopard print ankle boots which have gained many compliments.

What @Shyheelssaid. You need a very good reason to have a surgeon wield the knife. If I needed a hip replacement or something else fixed that badly impacted everyday life then I wouldn't hesitate. If it was just to allow me to wear heels then absolutely no way.

In the UK at least, few can be unaware of the toppling of the statue of Edward Colston, the slave trader from Bristol. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Colston The statue was erected long after he died and is unlikely to be even an approximate likeness. So why am I placing a picture of the statue here? Look at the heels. An example of heels being historically worn by men of social standing. The statue itself is in the stores at the M Shed museum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M_Shed in Bristol, awaiting a permanent home in one of the public galleries. Horizontal, with all the graffiti. According to the guide who showed me around the store, this approach was overwhelmingly supported by the people of Bristol. Tours of the store are done several days each week, subject tot he availability of volunteer guides. Both the museum and the tour are worth a visit. Regardless of the man and his vile occupation, the sculpture is of high quality as a work of art.

My emphasis!

So what's new? The world, even in so-called developed countries, has had mass serfdom for years. Some on the right say it's due to government, others on the left blame capitalism, maybe it's baked into the human condition. Perhaps the difference now is that it's potentially on the way for many white-collar professionals and "creatives".

Gold Hill in Shaftesbury, Dorset is pretty steep and very pretty too. Famous for masquerading as a northern street in a Hovis bread ad. https://www.visit-dorset.com/listing/gold-hill/124444301/ What's worse than steep is a lot of camber. Then you need one leg longer than the other.

Sufficiently non-memorable that her name can be misremembered. Liz Truss.

Conversion is a rather random business. I'm UK9 which should translate to EU43, probably to US men 10 and US women 11. A lot of places seem to convert UK9 to EU42.