CRabbit

It's not that it's a problem per se it's just that as moderators we are expected to look at every post and it all starts to get a bit "samey" after a while.

As site moderators, do you not have to look at every blog post too, plus their replies? Where ever the diary posts go, I'm happy to continue posting, though they'll still have to be read and checked by someone won't they?

@Tacchi: I'm awfully tempted to put in a complaint though the staff would have a genuine reason to stop me and drag me back if they thought I was shoplifting. Sure, a little pressure from higher management would make the staff sweat a little but I doubt anything else would happen. As for being man-handled, it's acceptable without injury. Unfortunately I know the business a little too well as a friend of mine works for Next (a similar chain) and I hear all sorts of fun stories. Ultimately making more fuss increases the risk of exposure to the wife (phone calls/letters of apology/etc), so perhaps not worth it. I came out with my head held high regardless. @pebblesf: Matalan are mainly a fashion retailer for all ages and sexes though they sell some home-wear and gifts too. Mostly lower to mid market prices.

Last night I had my confidence (and cool head) tested pretty well and I think I came out OK.

My wife has been working late shifts recently so cooking the evening meals has been my task and I'm always happy to get stuck into cooking! So after work I set off in the opposite direction to home to reach the nearby Tesco supermarket - specifically chosen as there's a Tesco's close to home too. I went out of my way to this one as there is a Matalan store right next door.

I left work wearing the same 5inch black suede stilettos that I'd worn all day and cruised around Tesco's without event, so went into Matalan to see what they were stocking and perhaps pick up something from their gifts section to help my Christmas shopping along.

After around 5minutes of browsing, I noticed I was now being followed by a young female member of staff who was making an effort to not be too far away from me but at the same time look like she was working by shuffling clothes into size order. I paid her no attention and continued to browse until a male member of staff approached me.

"Sir, you do realize those shoe's you are wearing are for women?"

I smiled and told him that My shoes didn't have gender, as they're only shoes.

He wasn't amused but returned my smile and asked me to return the shoes to their stand if I wasn't going to purchase them, then walked off quickly before I could respond.

This was odd and certainly out of the blue. I'd not yet reached their shoe section so was unsure what was really going on. I shrugged it off thinking him simply ill-informed and continued to browse the rails before taking my leave empty handed. As I walked out of the door, I heard the young woman who had been following me shout for someone, and I figured what was going to happen next.

It was dark out, raining and darn cold, so I'd parked as close as I could to the entrance to save myself getting wet. By the time I'd opened the car door, the security guard for Matalan was behind me. "You'll have to come with me, sir." he said, grabbing my arm lightly but firmly. I closed and locked my car and was one-arm escorted back to the store where the male colleague was waiting at the door with three other members of staff milling around.

The male colleague spoke first: "We've been informed by another customer of a man who's tried on a pair of women's shoes fitting your description and I believe you've left without paying for them."

My mind was of course racing with the single thought that being caught shop-lifting high heels is a sure-fire way of the missus finding out I've not adhered to my promise to never wear them!

"These are my shoes" I calmly informed him.

"Can you provide proof of that?" asked the security guard.

"Well actually I can" I said, kicking one of the shoes off which happily has "Miss Selfridge" written across the inner sole of the shoe.

"Ahh, OK." was all I got from the security guard before he headed on his way, though I still had an audience with 4 or so staff members. The male colleague was the only one who spoke. "We don't get many men wearing women's shoes in here you see, so we thought it best to make sure."

"Well I appreciate that you've got a job to do, though you'll have to appreciate how this incident has made me feel. I did wonder what was going off when you first approached me." I told him.

"Well I don't have any problems with how people may wish to dress, we were simply told of a man who hadn't returned a pair of women's shoes after trying them on."

"Unfortunately they're not women's shoes. They're my shoes, as I told you the first time."

"Yes, well as I said I don't have any problems with what you may wish to wear, it doesn't bother me." It clearly bloody did as he wouldn't be repeating himself at this point.

I bid them a good night and left without further incident, got into my car and drove to the exit of the carpark where I stopped to catch my breath and calm down after the adrenaline rush of what just unfolded.

I've played it over in my mind a few times now, and I still can't fathom who would have reported me to the store, but it doesn't matter now. I'm in two minds as to whether I should ever return there. The staff were discourteous and I had to apology from anyone for the scene that was created, yet they now know who I am and what I'll have on my feet, so such a thing will most likely never happen again there.

Anyway, best get back to work!

Chris

ilikekicks, I was waiting for the day you met this woman again and how things would progress. I've not had the pleasure of repeat-meets with friends of friends who've seen me. In fact only a very select few friends have ever seen me in heels anyway! Regardless, very well controlled and the confidence you maintained when facing her the second time. It sounded like she didn't bark nearly as bad as last time, which is always helpful. Keep up the good work, I'm looking forward to the 3rd meeting! Chris

Sounds spot on to my Scrappy. I agree and recall a time when I "over-thought the shoe" as you've noted there. I realized I was trying to master the shoes - trying to consciously walk properly in them. It doesn't work. When I gave in and just walked and let my mind think of the billion other things that float around in my consciousness (even those voices!) then I walked just fine and as quickly as that I noticed high heels hurt my feet a lot less too, because I was walking properly. As shafted said in his first post on this thread, it'll just feel right when you walk. What you have to accept then is your walk will almost certainly differ from everybody else - including your normal 'flat-soled' walk, so stop worrying about how masculine your walk is! While ever your goal is a "masculine" walk in high heels, your still focusing on the fact that high heels are a "feminine" thing, and they're not. They're shoes. They have no gender. Chris

I figured since I posted them in my adventures thread (with a post a mile long) I aught to show them off here too:

Background: Bought from the sales line at Miss Selfridge at the weekend.

Black "Slick" suede stilettos (£12 from £40 - I said £42 on my adventure post but a quick check of the sticker on the shoes showed otherwise!)

White "Slick Bow" suede stilettos (£10 from £38 )

The website says these shoes have a 4.5inch heel - measured, it's a cat's whisker over 5inch up the back.

Stunning to walk in, being the highest heels (without a platform) that I own. Pretty much every other pair of shoes I've got work out to around a 4 to 4.5inch heel arch, and that half inch step up to 5inch makes more of a difference than I'd have thought!

Chris

Shafted is right, it's absolutely all about the confidence that you give off. Even if your a sack of nerves on the inside, being calm and confident on the outside shows the world that being in heels isn't some shady, perverse thing. It's just shoes (or boots!). I have to admit that not all my outings are worthy of any note, in fact the vast majority are utterly uneventful beyond the odd giggling group of kids. Just sometimes I seem to stumble across someone that actually makes my day, be it a friend or a complete stranger.

Excellent update, and I'm really glad you took the plunge and went to work in heels. Liberating, isn't it? Keep up the good work! Chris

Sorry for the delay.Heres the whole shoe.

http://i844.photobucket.com/albums/ab7/serunox/Boots%20and%20Heels/P1020237Copy.jpg

Mmmmmmm, I like. Even with the peep toe, I like

Welcome to HHP!

It took a little while before getting to my next little adventure, but I got there in the end. Bit of a read again which I must apologize for!

Since it's the season for present shopping, I've insisted I go out and do my own shopping as much as possible this year with this weekend being no exception. On Saturday my wife dragged our offspring south while I headed west to a 'designer outlet' near Chester. I figured the 40-ish mile drive would ensure no-one I knew would see me and it turned out perfectly.

The knee-high boots were again my footwear of choice, backed with a dark pair of long boot-cut jeans, dark green t-shirt, thin gray cardie and a black leather jacket. (I'm really going to have to start taking pics so you can judge the outfits!) I was warm, standing tall and exceedingly happy.

One of the fun things about these 'designer outlets' is the sheer volume of people who are continually in a mad rush to get the best priced items with no time to stop and judge others who walk no by. Within minutes, I was being swept around the stores by the tides of the mob, fighting to stay upright at times.

The day floated past slowly until my stomach reminded me to eat. My options were McDonalds with a queue a mile long, several 'restaurants' like TGI-Fridays, again with a queue going out of the door, or a Harry Ramsdens', which seemed like the lesser of all evils.

As I arrived a young family joined the queue behind me with the little boy happily giggling at my boots. His parents were quick to correct him and tried their best to be quiet about it though the close proximity mean't I heard every word, with both of the parents emphasizing that it was rude and my boots wasn't a crime worthy of ridicule, or something along those lines.

A few moments later I heard the father say to the mother "He's wearing higher heels than you, love." She replied "I know, and they're really nice arn't they?" The father agreed as we shuffled closer to the front of the queue. What I didn't expect was him to then tap me on the shoulder and politely ask where I bought the boots!! I explained that I'd bought them from Dune in a store closer to my home town to which his wife excitedly said there was a store at the outlet that might stock them too. I couldn't hide my excitement as I asked her for general directions to the store then and parted ways as I stepped up to put in my food order.

Christmas shopping continued for around an hour without event before I reached the Dune store. Admitted, I'd stopped at a couple of other fashion outlets too but saw absolutely nothing worth trying on. When I entered the store, the young family I met earlier were already in there with the mother having tried on two pairs of boots based on the mountain by her side as she fondled a pair of glitter wedges (clicky!)) with the look of love in her eyes. The little boy was so bored he was counting the stitches in his jacket and I think the father wasn't far from joining him.

The mother greeted me with a wave and informed me that the store didn't have the boots that I was wearing just as a member of staff brought her a box containing the glitter wedges in her size. She said to the staff member "These are the boots I'm looking for? Do you have any?". I lifted my jeans up so she could see the detailing and she shook her head but said that she'd have a look in the stock room just in case.

At this point the father and boy got up and said they were off to the next store to look at potential Christmas gifts and they parted with a kiss while the mother popped her feet into the shoes.

"They're beautiful" I said,

"They're not those boots though." she sighed.

I poked through the racks of shoes while she modeled herself in the mirror, picking up a couple of samples to try on when she asked what size my feet were. I told her that I'm generally a 7, to which she said she was between a 6 and 7 most of the time. She handed me the wedges insisting I try those on so she could see what they looked like when worn and asked if she could try on my boots while my feet were out of them.

I could hardly say no - she'd been so nice and very polite (and she was a very good looking woman too!). She quickly zipped herself in and was pottering around the store happily while I enjoyed the wedges and the view of someone else in my boots. Before long, we had been through over a dozen pairs of shoes and boots, each trying them on then switching with the other, having a giggle with the staff and a couple of other customers too! I can't say I've ever had so much fun in a shoe store before! (picture of most of the shoes/boots we tried on: clicky!)

My new friend ended up buying a pair of wedges, not the glitter ones, instead she picked a pair that I'd fallen in love with and couldn't afford (clicky!). She insisted she'd take good care of them and if we ever met again, she'd be happy to swap them for my boots for the day. We parted ways but not before a hug. As we were about to walk in opposite directions, she said "You're straight arn't you?"

I asked how she guessed,

"The way you looked at me wearing your boots." she said. "It's not hard to see your attracted to women [she paused] and high heels." And with a smile, she headed off.

From that point on I pretty much floated around between stores, failing to buy anything before heading home shortly after.

Before I made it back home I decided to make one more stop to check out a couple more stores to see if they had anything good for my wife and Miss Selfridge didn't disappoint.

I found a beautiful tan handbag that she'd simply adore as well as a pair of slippers. A pair of heels also caught my eye on the sales rack. Black suede, short pointed toe, stunning heel height and no platform (clicky!). Tried them on immediately and they felt so good. The mark-down was so crazy I just couldn't resist either (£12 from £42!). While putting my boots back on, I saw that the pair I just tried on came in another color too (White!) so I grabbed those and tried them on as well. I must have looked daft in all black with chalk-white stilettos poking from under my boot-cut jeans but I didn't care. I was buying them too since I didn't buy the wedges I wanted!

At the desk as my purchases were being run through the sales girl (who must not have seen my try the shoes on, or notice my boots!) looked at the heels and said "Is your wife able to walk in these?", "No" I laughed, "I can though."

She laughed, thinking I was just joking, and said "That I'd pay to see."

I smiled and let the moment pass until I'd paid and stepped away from the register where I crouched down, took off my boots and put my new black shoes on - all in full view of the sales girl who had quickly realized I wasn't messing about. I gave her a smile as I took my leave in my new shoes and left them on for the walk back to my car.

By the time I'd gotten home it was well past dark and yet I was still the first home, so I enjoyed the pleasure of my new shoes in the house for an hour or so until I heard the wife's car roll onto the drive way.

Another very happy day.

Thanks for ploughing through,

Chris

Crabbit:

(Cra-bit) Dialect, chiefly Scot.

~Adj. 1. Ill-tempered, grumpy, curt, disagreeable; in a bad mood [esp. in the morning].

(Often used in 'Ken this, yer a crabbit get, so ye are').

~n. By their nature or temperament conveys an aura of irritability.

Basically a single word to perfectly describe me.

Indeed, Shafted is absolutely correct. The moment you first speak is the moment folks first make a judgement about what's going on. If you confidently reply "I'm just browsing thanks." then they'll always go on their way with the understanding that you know what your there for. Confidence is key to many successes and in order to take your high-heel passion as far as you want, confidence is all you need. As for the store clerk, I'd be very tempted to have words with her supervisor or contact their customer complaints department. Nobody in retail should have the right to say such a thing about a customer. Don't let her knock you though, she's just a narrow-minded simpleton who most likely won't stay employed long anyway. Chris.

Glad to hear things are progressing well with your (now) girlfriend! I think with time, you'll find the right solution to telling your girlfriend about your high-heel passion. I won't give any advice as this thread is filled to over-flowing with it now, only I wish you luck Chris

I think you might get a little more help if you told us your shoe size too, that way we know whether your looking at more main-stream stores, or stores that tailor specifically to larger sizes? Chris

I'm with you at9, she didn't look too bad at all with the exception of those boots. @pussyinboots: I couldn't agree more. Current high-street fashion trends are hideous in places and the bigger fools are those that buy them. I've never bought a pair of 'ripped' jeans - they end up ripped quickly enough and then find themselves in the bin! As for hoodies and the thugs hiding inside them, I think that's a whole other debate. @ilikekicks: Perhaps a harsh judgement, though one mans rags are another's riches, or so I'm told. Chris

I'm looking forward to following this thread over the coming months. I'd shave my legs tonight, if only I knew that my wife wouldn't immediately start bouncing off the walls. I honestly believe she's "on the look out" for any sign that I'm wearing heels again and shaving my legs would be the first. In a different life, I'd have been shaving since I left highschool... Chris

Hi yorktoncso, Welcome to HHP! As said before, there's many here who are in your exact situation, myself included to a degree. My wife utterly detests the idea of me in heels (She's open minded enough to accept that others might do it, but I'm not allowed to!). I still do though, simply far enough away from her to minimize the risk of being seen. High heels have been a part of my life (admittedly hidden from the world) since I was in my teens and I too thought there was something wrong with me (questioned my own sexuality, went through a period of trying to fully understand why my mind is drawn to heels, etc) but ultimately it's not something to be ashamed of, it's not something we should hide. I'm looking forward to hearing more about your high-heel passions in the coming weeks and months and hopefully we can help you become to person who you really are (or want to be!) If you don't mind me asking though, roughly how old are you? Because it sounds like you've lived with your high-heel "guilt" for quite a while... Chris

I'm sure I could venture that far north. Any ideas on a date? Chris

Well purchasing on the internet wasn't an option when I got started and wearing in public only really happened since falling across this forum. I'd bought around 8 pairs of heels in person in a store before building the courage to go public. I honestly find it easier now to shop for heels when wearing heels than in flats!

Me likes the nude peeps in image 3 on your second post there Xam. Nice work on the pics! Chris

[Day 3 - Sunday]

On Sunday morning I woke up with exceedingly sore feet but that same feeling of being in heaven when my high-heeled foot struck the floor as I stepped out of bed. I checked the bed sheets for any damage but everything appeared normal. Following my morning shower I got dressed in the pants and shirt I was going to wear for the wedding rehearsal with my wedge courts (clicky!) and joined my friend and his girlfriend for breakfast.

He laughed, asking if my feet didn’t hurt from wearing high heels all the time as his girlfriend gave me the approving nod. After a little chat about my shoes, how many pairs I own and the like things moved on to the wedding dinner.

As a little background, I had never met my friend’s brother, or in fact any of his family. My friend was taking me along because his girlfriend couldn’t make it due to prior arrangements and we both didn’t really know anyone other than the immediate family.

My friend’s girlfriend smiled as an idea popped into her mind and when the moment was right, she suggested that I left my wedges on for the wedding, which my friend actually went along with. After a little pressure from the pair of them I said I would wear heels, though I had more to choose from and perhaps they would like to select a more suitable pair for me.

10 minutes later, I’d switched to these: (clicky!), and we set off on a 2-hour drive to the venue of the rehearsal.

At the rehearsal, things went fine. My friend's brother joked about bringing a guy in drag to replace his girlfriend (which I think was more a joke at my friend's expense insinuating his girlfriend looked like a man in drag – which she really doesn’t!) but following a lot of positive comments from several guests (all of whom I still have no idea who they are!) including a couple of gents informing me they basically had to carry their high-heel clad girlfriends into the room while I carried myself really well and wished their women could do the same.

I had to leave the rehearsal and head directly home, however when I left, I was on such a high I simply had to stop off along the way and do a little more window-shopping, trying on a stunning pair of heels in Next (clicky!) and a pair of boots I simply fell in love with (clicky!) but decided not to buy as I didn’t have the funds available at the time. I will be getting those boots as an Xmas present to myself soon I imagine!

I pulled into a service station a few miles before home and changed out of my nylons and the platform courts I’d worn to the dinner. I checked the time – 8:30pm. I’d put my high heel boots on to work on Friday at 8:45pm, with the exception of the 4 hours around and during the meeting, and no more than 30 minutes in the shower each day, I’d been out of heels for 5 hours – 6 at a push of the last 60. My feet of course were very sore, slightly swollen and a bit red, my calf muscles hurt and I could feel the onset of at least one blister thanks to the platforms I’d worn at the wedding. When I first stood up in my flats it really felt strange. By the time I’d arrived home, everything was much better, though I did remark to my wife that my feet hurt with all the driving and walking around I’d done!

Looking back now, it was an excellent weekend and I still feel happy thinking about it.

[Day 2 - Saturday]

I had a sound night's sleep though my feet were a little sore when I woke up. Getting out of bed instantly in heels was the most magnificent feeling, though they had to come off shortly after as I needed to shower before the meeting.

With the meeting scheduled at 10:30, I made sure I was in more suitable male attire before leaving my room at 8am where I had breakfast, got the meeting room prepared prior to the guests arrival and went through the meeting without much incident.

<<--fast forward 4 hours-->>

The meeting concluded successfully and I waved the clients good-bye before running back to my room to get changed into a more casual shirt, 60den black hold-ups and this pair of courts (clicky!. Sorry, I forgot to take pictures of the outfits in my excitement!), had lunch at the hotel and then set off to my friend’s house where I’d be staying the night before the wedding.

Upon arrival, I decided to do something a little daft. I buttoned up my shirt, put on a tie and my crazy pair of platform boots that I bought a while ago now (clicky!), with the story “This is what I’m wearing for your brother’s wedding, will it do?”

Naturally, as he opened the door to me in crazy-high platform boots with a somewhat-acceptable outfit, he burst out laughing and I ended up joining him as I slipped on his laminate flooring going through the door and nearly took out a side-table. When his girlfriend turned up to see what all the commotion was about, she insisted she tried them on, almost pulling them off my feet and was amused to find we share the same shoe-size when she did (and fell over trying to sit down!)

After a lot more laughing and getting my boots back, my friend and I went back out to bring in my bags which he rightly asked, “Are these filled with shoes too?” as he struggled to pull one out of the car. When we got inside, I decided I’d had enough hiding it and could trust my friend to not say something to my wife, plus since I’d already broken the ice with my outfit I opened one of the cases and handed a pair of heels to my friend’s girlfriend (clicky!) to which her face lit up and she instantly tried them on too. My friend didn’t even think it strange and was quite impressed with how she looked in them. When I told her she could keep them it was my friend (not his girlfriend) asking why I didn’t want them. When I told him I’d never get a chance to wear them he still hadn’t clicked that I wear heels, but she had.

“When do you wear heels?” she asked.

“As often as I can” I said, to which my friend started to work it out.

“Why hadn’t you said anything before?” my friend asked.

The conversation that followed wasn’t the usual one – neither one asked if I was gay, if I wanted to be a woman, in fact neither one asked if I liked wearing anything other than heels. Afterwards my friend gave me a hug and told me to stop being stupid, that he wasn’t going to judge me over my footwear and I’m always welcome to wear what ever I felt comfortable in, to which I joked about the boots and slipped into the knee-high Dune boots I had worn to bed the night before which his girlfriend again tried to steal from my feet!

The evening flew past with a lot of drink and a good laugh before we all retired to bed, where I left the boots on again.

I normally leave the write-up of my escapades for the blogs but I figured I'll follow the form of many of our other more notorious members here and start my own thread, starting with this weekend, which I must apologize for as it's a bit of a long read and I've split it into 3 posts!

I had a double-whammy of a busy weekend with Saturday penciled in for a meeting with several different EU clients for the company I work for at a Hotel just outside Gatwick. Sunday was the dress-rehearsal for my closest friend's brother's wedding.

[Day 1 - Friday]

Recently I've taken to wearing a pair of 4inch block heeled boots under a pair of long black trousers in the office, so was happily well heeled for the entirety of Friday's working day and left without changing for the 250-ish mile drive down to Gatwick. (outfit for friday: clicky!, better shot of the boots: clicky!)

Along the way I decided to make an early detour since there was no strict check-in time at the hotel, so I went for a wander around Manchester city center before the stores started to close and switched to my most recent purchase - a pair of Dune boots (clicky!). With the length of the black trousers, almost no heel was visible as I walked, which left me in heaven for the hour or two I was in Manchester, where I tried on several pairs of heels and a couple of outfits without comment before continuing my journey.

On arrival at the hotel I was unsure if any of the clients had arrived yet so considered changing to more typical footwear. After a moment's deliberation with myself I just got out of my car in my boots, grabbed my bags (which were half-packed with heels!) and went to check in. I checked in without comment and after settling down in my room I ironed my shirt, hung my jacket and went down for dinner. As I had expected though, two of the clients had already arrived and were tucking into their meals as I entered the hotel restaurant. They saw me, waved me over and I joined them.

The meal went on, again without comment to my heels, possibly because they hadn't seen them!

We enjoyed a few drinks after the meal with a lot of work-related chatter before we went our separate ways for the evening where I went back to my room, got changed for bed but left my boots on (inspired by another thread in the girls section here I think, regarding wearing heels while asleep). Needless to say I fell asleep feeling very happy.

Hi, Welcome to HHP! The weekend just gone I was out in Manchester city center doing a little shopping in heels with no comments what-so-ever. Honestly I felt rather comfortable there compared to places such as Leeds & Birmingham! What types of heels are you into/do you have? Is it just heels that your into? Chris