at9

I saw the report in the Grauniad (the name was given by Private Eye in the days when that paper was famous for its typos). I went to the Birmingham market a few years ago (2019 I think) and it looked pretty good. It was certainly big. After a while I realised that the same stalls seemed to be occurring multiple times which wasn't so good. I've not been to a genuine German market so i don't have a reference point.

As far as I'm aware, in the UK we always give the larger dimension first for sheet materials and timber. Hence 8' x 4' and 4" x 2". In the US I believe it's always the other way round. Sheetrock is not a term used in the UK. It's always plasterboard. I don't know what term is used for the guys who instal it, but I've heard "dry wallers".

In the UK, as others have mentioned, you get plasterboard in sheets of 2400x 1200mm (8x4 metric feet) and plywood etc in 2440x1220 (8x4 proper feet). When you have that sort of thing, it's often convenient to refer to 300mm as a metric foot.

I often find myself doing sketches at a scale of 1mm represents 1". Just seems convenient for all sorts of things that I do. In the UK we also have metric feet (300mm).

@Shyheels Do you have a fixed mooring or are you on a Continuous Cruising licence? If the latter I thought you were only allowed to stay 14 days in one place. Obviously subject to canal closures.

I have a pair of "goth" style knee-high boots with 3" platforms and 5" heel. They are very comfortable and seem very easy to wear but even a small irregularity in the ground, such as an acorn, can be treacherous. I don't often wear them but they are great for Halloween parties. And the price was right - I got them for free.

I used to regularly see a woman cycling in high platforms near my house in a London suburb. She was quite small but surely she didn't need them to reach the pedals.

Probably not combined boots and trousers. More or less the same rig as here: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-11090063/Paloma-Faith-wows-red-latex-trousers-matching-jacket-Brighton-Pride-Sussex.html

I'm not really concerned with the main subject the article though somebody famous had the opposite problem with sweat, or so he claimed: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-59839351 I'm just wondering about the boots. There have certainly been combined boots and trousers - I've seen a pair just once on the streets of London. Here's an example: https://ca.style.yahoo.com/balenciaga-selling-strange-3000-shoe-pants-hybrid-131332085.html The pair I saw was all leather. There are also boot suits, extending as far up the body as you like, but these would normally be thought of as rather kinky.

In this article: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwy51pgql7eo there is a photo of a group of people on the show "Traitors" (which I've never watched). About 2/3 of the way down and captioned: "Traitors contestant, actress Celia Imrie, also admitted to a bodily mishap in a recent episode" There is a woman, I don't think it's Imrie - looks too young, wearing red high heel boots that seem to merge seamlessly into trousers. Does anyone know who is this and what are they wearing?

For taller people there are also concussion heels. The ones that allow you to bang your head hard on door frames🤣 I once wore some high platform boots (5" heel, 3" platform) and a top hat to a party. I'm under 6ft so only the hat hit the door frames😁 I once stayed at a lovely holiday cottage that had a low beam halfway along the main living area. I knew I had to duck every time, heels or no. My wife, who is about 5'5" and rarely has to duck, had a few hits and many near misses.

I saw a rather faded print of a painting by Frank Moss Bennett: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Moss_Bennett It showed a historical scene with all the men wearing heels, as they might well have done at that time. The period he specialised in was the 1700s and 1800s, so rather after the Carolingian period mentioned by @Shyheels in another thread. I can't find an online reproduction of the print I saw, where the heels are more prominent and perhaps a little higher than in the example on Wikipedia. Since FMB had clearly researched his period, I think we can believe his representations are accurate. They show that men's heels spanned several centuries, before dying out in late Georgian or Victorian times.

Sounds like marketing hype to me too. I use a 31 year old washing machine (Bosch in case you're wondering) and it has a button marked "Fuzzy logic". No idea what it really does. The machine is clever enough to try and redistribute the load to give a smooth spin. If it fails, it spins more slowly so as not to wreck the machine. It never argues with me either:)

I've heard stories of climbing Helvellyn (just over 3000 feet) in stilettos for a dare. Coming down again in heels sounds truly daft. At least this woman in Colorado changed into trail shoes for the descent.

This portrait? He was certainly well heeled.