at9

My paternal grandparents were from here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kropyvnytskyi#cite_note-enc-15

Ukraine's record is hardly spotless, but then which country can claim that. Certainly not the UK or the USA. They left (forced out might be a better description) c1900 and arrived in London as refugees. In 1905 the British parliament passed the first act to limit immigration, in response to the surge of refugees from eastern Europe.

Many from that part of the world would have landed at Ellis Island which is now a museum of immigration. I would recommend that museum in New York to anyone.

And since when has Russia even regarded itself as communist or socialist? Not in this millenium. Unlike China, they don't even pretend to be communist.

Looks like Zelinskiy* was a better entertainer than a certain B-movie actor who ended up as president of the USA a few decades ago. Even a recent former governor of California did better in the movies than that ex president.

*The transliteration of the name from cyrillic is variable. Zelinsky looks natural to western eyes but is now often regarded as rather too Russian. Zelinskyy just looks odd so the usual version is Zelinskiy.

There are a few videos out there of men dancing in hihg heels but this is both impressive and relevant.

For some reason it made me rewind over 50 years to somebody who danced a lot, but probably not in high heels:

It's not difficult to cut about 10mm off the heel of a 1020 to get the balance right. I did it when I had a pair.

Peel back the covering, pull out the tip, cut the heel with a hacksaw or dremel (grip the scrap end in the vice), drill the hole deeper, glue back the covering, replace tip.

Looking at the mytheresa website I can't find those actual boots but all their stuff is expensive. A few hundred £££/$$$. If you decide to buy them (and why not) make sure there is an easy returns process in case they don't fit.

Saw a man (I think it was a man, only had a back view) wearing huge platforms in London yesterday. At least 3" platform and 5" heel, possibly more. Not so rare in Camden where there are lots of goths who wear that sort of thing, but this was in Dalston.

You've given me a first opportunity (outside of maths lessons) to use the word "frustum".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frustum

Had another compliment on my Asos leopard boots yesterday. At an orchestral concert in central London. She was oriental, at least 30 years younger than me, and with her male partner.

Took a screenshot, saved as JPG. Was 117kB so it loads here without trouble.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-hampshire-59745374

Evans no longer exists and most shops only go to UK8, sometimes to UK9.

For fetish/glam/goth footwear (Pleaser, Ellie etc) Alternative Footware are reputable: https://www.alternative-footwear.co.uk/

For mainstream you could look to Magnus and Long Tall Sally. I'm sure there are others. By googling "large womens shoes uk" I found this for example: https://www.prettybigshoes.com/shops?location=uk

Went to see the new West Side Story film last night. Rita Moreno doesn't have a big part this time but she is an absolute star. She was also executive producer.

Apparently during planning for the film Sondheim and Spielberg were SS1 and SS2.

Some amusement here: https://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/p/platform_shoe.asp

Not sure where this extreme platform picture came from. I found it on my PC in a file dated 1999. The domain name that's visible no longer seems to exist. Falling off these could be rather nasty. Doorframes would be another hazard for many of us.

Love them or loathe them, platforms seem to be making a comeback. Lots of articles earlier this year and this the other day: https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2021/nov/28/walking-tall-platforms-are-shoe-of-choice-for-the-party-season

Possibly also for men: https://www.justjared.com/2021/11/26/tom-daley-rocks-a-red-suit-platform-heels-for-2021-team-gb-ball/

For men's shoes most places seem to convert UK9=EU43. For women's you often see UK9=EU42. Since both UK and EU sizes are meant to be the same for men and women this is just plain crazy. In theory a single increment of UK, US and EU sizes is meant to be the same amount bigger. Real world says that sizing often verges on random.

I am UK9/EU43. I ordered my boots from Asos in UK9 and UK9.5. I kept the 9.5 and used them with a contoured insole. The UK9 would have fitted well without but were less comfortable.

I know that conversion is an inexact science. I've often seen UK9 equated to EU42, at least for women's footwear.

3 hours ago, Shyheels said:

I am not quite so sure that heels are as available in large sizes as might appear from gthe size range listings, or that large sizes are selling out swiftly. I suspect the website template just has a long list of sizes for simplicity's sake and the greyed-out ones aren't greyed-out because they've been eagerly snapped up, but because they were never available in the first place.  

Not necessarily. When I bought some heeled boots from Asos earlier this year they were available in sizes up to 12 or 13. As were several other styles. I went back to the website a month or two later and found some sizes greyed out. I think that geyed out simply means sold out.

This article makes a claim that most chargers are fake: https://www.mobilefun.co.uk/blog/2018/11/how-to-spot-a-fake-phone-charger/

Another article about fake chargers:

https://www.electricalsafetyfirst.org.uk/media/1119/counterfeit-and-imitation-apple-chargers.pdf

It's possible that the German authorities police these things better than in the UK. Here it's largely driven by complaints to overworked Trading Standards organisations. There is little or no pro-active enforcement.

Asos have 28 styles of men's footwear that they called "heeled": https://www.asos.com/men/shoes-boots-trainers/cat/?cid=4209&currentpricerange=0-220&refine=attribute_1046:8642

The mere fact that Asos have a category of mens footwear they call "heeled" means that they regard it as something approaching mainstream. OK, they're pretty modest heels by some guy's standards but it's a good start.

Aqueous or vitreous?

Works fine for me, though gives a security warning. It's 24MB so if you have a slow connection it may take a while to download.

I've been to Antarctica (as has at least one other member of HHP) and didn't see any penguins in high heels. Not a single one.

Aarvdark never hurt anybody.

Work: A four letter word.

Work: The finest spectator sport in the world.

Work: The curse of the drinking classes.

I've nver seen anything like this in real life and hope I never will. https://www.freepatentsonline.com/7,574,819.pdf

It was brought to my attention here: https://www.improbable.com/2021/09/20/dual-high-heels-patent/