at9

Yesterday evening, about 8:30pm, in the Kilburn area of NW London. Woman wearing white kneehigh boots with 3" heels, no platform. Mid length brown dress. Looked elegant, even though she was running across the road. Though I don't know why you'd wear kneehigh boots at all in the summer weather we've got in London at the moment. I've seen several women doing this in the last week from pale blue go-go style (very 1960s look) to black OTK worn over leggings. All seemed wrong in high 20s heat. (About 80F for left-pondians)

Thank you. What a generous and lovely offer.

This can only get worse.
 

Quote

 

Caviar comes from the virgin sturgeon

Virgin sturgeon, very fine fish.

The virgin sturgeon needs no urgin'

And that's why caviar's a very rare dish

 

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.

On 3/27/2023 at 12:46 PM, Shyheels said:

That’s the global village for you. Platforms do seem mercifully thin on the ground here in Sussex though…

My emphasis!

10 minutes ago, Shyheels said:

I think the tipping point has been reached and some form of mass serfdom will be unavoidable.

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.

When I've worn my (plain black, about 2.5" block heel) knee high boots over leggings I've had a few compliments and more than a few glances. The other day a woman in central London made a somewhat sarcastic comment. It was after we had passed in the street, it came from behind me, so I can't be 100% sure if it was aimed at me.

It's my 3" heel leopard print ankle boots, worn under trousers, that have resulted in many nice comments. And no bad ones yet.

Facial recognition is an AI application.

The EU is leading the world in regulating AI. https://www.simmons-simmons.com/en/publications/cko477kzk2jyr0918n01q2l8u/quick-guide-to-the-eu-draft-ai-regulation

and many other possible references. The legislation will be flawed, possibly badly flawed, but at least it's an attempt. Huge companies like Meta, Alphabet, Amazon may find it easier to adopt the EU regulations worldwide as far as possible. Just as the GDPR has major implications outside the EU.

Unlike in 1984 we submit to surveillance voluntarily. Many of us carry a device that tracks our movements.  A large number have an Alexa who (which?) is always listening to what we say, even if the masters of the universe claim it isn't. CCTV with automatic face recognition is supposed outlawed in most places in the UK, but how do we know it's been switched off?

When we click "no" or "reject cookies" etc on a web page how do we know that our decision has been respected?

"You have nothing to be afraid of if you haven't done anything wrong" is not a sufficient answer. In parts of the world, where, on the whole, we can live our lives freely, subject only to well known legal limits, we still have worries. For example: https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/black-athlete-criticises-uk-police-after-car-stopped-second-time-2022-08-15/

Go to Russia, China a host of other countries and increasingly India, you have half the world's population living with highly controlled information. Even if many of those people don't realise it. Information is dangerous, and not just in the internet age - the Soviet Union had strict controls on typewriters for example.

Back in ancient times they said this writing nonsense will never catch on. In any case it's bad for the memory.

In the middle ages they said printing was dangerous. Putting knowledge into the hands of too many people.

Recently they said the WWW was dangerous, as people would not need to remember facts anymore when they were so readily available.

Now there's a panic about AI.....

The first pair is the same basic design as the leopard print boots that I have.

Walked past the first charity shop again today. There was a pair of UK10 ankle boots in the window. Approx 3" heels. I might go past again tomorrow and try them on though I don't really need any ankle boots at the moment.

There's obviously somebody, probably a woman though you never know, with UK10 feet who has given assorted footwear to a local charity shop. Or it could be an estate clearance.

The other 2 pairs of UK10 boots I mentioned before are still in their respective charity shops.

PS: The forum merged this with my previous reply.

Tried them on today. Couldn't even zip them up. Guessing that they are US women's 10, about UK8. I'm nominally UK9/EU43. Didn't note the brand.

Thanks for reminding me about "peccavi". I remembered the usage but not the man. The benefits of a classical education.

I think it was a wind up.

I actually went to a performance of what (if I remember correctly) was called "Snow Green and the 17 and a half vertically challenged people". It was a village pantomime c1997 near Oxford. It was a glorious send up of this kind of foolery.

8 hours ago, Puffer said:

Too much PC-speak nowadays, e.g. the  pantomime that a certain Council insisted was renamed 'Snow Green and the Seven Persons of Restricted Growth'.

Reference please. Did it actually happen or was it a made up story?