Bikergoth

^Haha!

^{31% Boots, 26% Sandals - (which is slightly worrying...), 24% High heels, 13% Sneakers & 4% flats}

^{Apparently I'm sturdy & dependable but still have enough sass to know when to make a big investment.}

^{That was fun!}

Whig

Sorry Megan, my bad about using Stephen Lawrence as an example - you are absolutely correct of course. I was thinking of someone else to use as my example, but I can't for the life of me remember who it was.

That's a very interesting point you make about self harm as an expression of power - I've never looked at it from that perspective before & it's certainly made me think. Thank you for giving me an alternative viewpoint. Equally with your point about Bomber Command, although in that case it could be argued that the Nazis came to reap what they themselves first sowed several years earlier.

You kind of support my point about human nature with your statement about people getting a new television. People will do this because they simply can if there is no-one in authority to stop them. Humans can behave in an extremely selfish manner sometimes & I don't really believe that someone being killed by the police, (or local law enforcement authorities), is any kind of excuse for this type of behaviour, however wound up the 'local community' may be. I agree that people usually try to behave well towards each other, (I am always courteous & polite to everyone I meet), but I also believe that when we get down to basic animal survival it's every person for themselves or their 'tribe'. Maybe my past experiences have left me with a cynical, biased view but I feel that humans are basically pack animals. They do not tend to tolerate outsiders very If you go back in history it's all various tribes fighting against each other, & it goes back for centuries whichever group, religion or country you look at. Romans, Celts, cowboys, Red Indians, Nazis, Jews, Christians, Muslims, Catholics, Protestants etc. The list goes on & on.

It's a really sad, unfortunate thing to say, but I don't think the human race will ever be able to live in peace as long as someone owns something that another person covets, be it a new television in a store, a tasty car or even another country. All people seem to require these days is a minor excuse to start misbehaving, even if it happens to be some poor guy getting shot by the police . As has been proved so often during fights in the past - whoever has the biggest stick will win, be it the caveman in the next cave, the aircraft with the biggest bomb, or the policeman with the gun. If you go up against them then expect the worst...

There's my second tuppence, so that's now fourpence worth I've had on this thread!

Lol! Finally managed to look at the link yesterday.

It sounds bloody familiar but neither my lady or I can place it...

I want to say something by The Cure or Siouxie, but I know that's not right.

With regard to ILK's last comments in response to Shafted's  'Details please?':

Yes, the British police do have armed response units who are highly trained but they have accidents too. Innocent people have been hurt or killed by the police in the UK, but it obviously doesn't attract the worldwide press. UK based members of this site should recognise the name Stephen Lawrence... Our police are also now issue with Tasers, the miss-use of which have been blamed for a number of deaths over the last few years.

My apologies for getting on my high horse & I sincerely do not intend to upset or offend anyone, but the following needs to be said. This is MY opinion only based on what I have seen, dealt with & observed. It may help ILK understand but it may not...

We in the UK may be lucky enough not at present have situations comparable with Detroit, South Central LA, Bronx NY, Camden NJ or a South Philly, but does anyone remember the 'troubles' in Northern Ireland, (& in particular Belfast), in the 1970's/80's? I believe it was named the 'troubles' as the UK government of the early 1970's would not dare admit to being at war in their own territory. I had the pleasure of serving in the British Army back then & did three tough tours of N Ireland in support of the Royal Ulster Constabulary. In the process of trying to keep the peace we were shot at, bombed, mortared & stoned on a regular basis. We also had to try to police massive riots as each side goaded the other by trying to march through each other's area of the city. Women spat in our faces as we carried out foot patrols & children as young as five years old threw stones & bricks at us. A couple of my mates were injured by debris in 1977 when a chest freezer was hurled at their patrol from the top floor of a block of flats. I also lost several good friends out there, one of whom was raising money for disadvantaged catholic children by doing a 'fun run' when his minibus was blown to bits on the way home in Lisburn in 1988. All I could find of him in the burning wreckage was one of his legs still attached to his trainer - after the fun run we had raced each other to the minibus & he won. I got in the bus behind.

As far as we were concerned Belfast was a normal British city on a par with London, Glasgow, Cardiff, Manchester, Liverpool, Southampton, Edinburgh or Sheffield, so please don't say that our police have never had to deal with situations like the current day problems in the USA. Having dealt with the emergency services on numerous occasions, I know for a fact that the RUC had 'observers' attached to them from mainland police forces, & that a lot of today's high ranking police officers have served on attachments in Northern Ireland.

During the 1970's-80's Sinn Fein/PIRA were financially backed by 'normal' American citizens, (allies of the UK I believe), who contributed heavily to the Sinn Fein/PIRA coffers. I know this happened for a fact, as I was on leave with three mates in a packed bar in San Francisco in 1979 when a guy came round shaking a collection box. He cheerfully rattled his tin & asked everyone: 'Dollar for a British soldier's life?' Nearly everyone in the bar donated lots of notes & all their loose change. When he eventually got to us he ended up unconscious with a broken nose, devoid of his collection box while the rest of the people in the bar stood by, looked away & did nothing.

It's only since 9/11 that the US government FINALLY decided that Sinn Fein/PIRA was a terrorist organisation & should be outlawed. Most ex-service personnel I know really welcomed this move as we firmly believed that had the Sinn Fein/PIRA cash from the USA dried up, the so called 'troubles' would probably have ended in the mid 1970's, saving countless innocent lives. Try explaining to a distraught father that his seventeen year old daughter has just been blown to bits by a car bomb a couple of weeks before Christmas. It was an ugly war...

I have had to face riots, shootings, bombings etc. in the name of the law while serving my country. The point I'm trying to make is that if lawlessness exists in our society, it's because the local population in a particular area believe they can get away with anything because the local law enforcement have lost all control. Therefore they have also lost all respect of the local community & until respect is restored people will behave like wild things. Unfortunately it's human nature to behave in this manner - Whenever law & order breaks down rioting & looting tends to take place. Histiletto  - you've hit the nail on the head.

I would like to end on a somewhat lighter note...

To this day my three friends & I owe a huge debt of thanks to the citizens of San Francisco & Sinn Fein/PIRA for their kind donation of close on $800.00. It was happily spent by four British soldiers on leave & involved, (among other things), copious amounts of beer. Cheers!

Rennies

Hic!

Cardigan

I always savour the moment when putting on my lace & buckle thigh boots. When taking them off the laces have to be undone nearly all the way, so with no ski hooks & careful Victorian-type lacing then the buckles, it takes on average ten minutes to fasten just one boot - Absolute Heaven!

I agree with all your above comments. I also favour my best boots & take extreme care when & where I wear them, while wearing my everyday boots more often & perhaps not being as careful as I should with them. My platform thigh boots that broke last month had passed from 'best' category into 'everyday' a number of years ago, but I didn't realise how much I would miss them until they'd gone - especially as they were a one-off & I can't replace them. Over the past year or so if I really get on well with a certain pair of boots, I've found myself getting another pair exactly the same in case my original pair ever get damaged.

I bet all of us can sympathise with your comment about magazines suggesting an alternative substitute that bears no resemblance to the original pair. You've only got to click on the 'View similar items' icon on an eBay page to enjoy the blood-boiling pleasure of trying to find one or two useful items among a massive selection of useless dross. 'Nuff said on that I think!

I definitely think you're right about the fine details - I sometimes appear very fussy about what I want to put on my feet, but it's got to be exactly right, as what I wear on my feet says a lot about me as a person. I'm guessing that a lot of you out there also feel the same way...

Lol! Good answer, Mr Shafted.

If I'm out shopping for boots I normally wear tights, (if it's winter), under bootcut jeans or stockings if it's summer. On my feet I usually wear either combat boots, New Rock knee length 'Reactor' boots or my favourite New Rock 'Cuna' knee-boots. Nothing with a mega-high heel so that I can make a run for it if I need to... I live in a big city on the South Coast & there are a lot of very nasty people around here.

Before I became brave I used to take my lady with me & ask her to try them on for me as we're both the same size feet. If my target shop is crowded with youngsters or it simply doesn't 'feel right', she will still try them on for me, but if the shop is empty she will engage the sales assistant in conversation before asking me if I'd like to try on a certain pair of boots. I find it helps break the ice & can lead to some very amusing exchanges with the sales assistants, who usually end up being really helpful & enthusiastic. One of the young sales assistants has since become a good friend & tips us off when any new boots come in, usually managing keeping a pair aside in my size until I have had the chance to try them on

Me!

Yeah! I've been told I did much the same in '63. Apparently me & the girl next door made an igloo & we got caught kissing in it by my dad. (I was all of 5 years old at the time!)

I have no memory of my own of that particular incident, although I remember huge amounts of snow & most of Luton grinding to a halt. My dad was off work for a couple of days & joined in with the local snow shovelling volunteers managing to get the main road from Luton to Dunstable open in about three days between them all. I do remember that he took me to a nearby railway bridge to watch a steam train with a snowplough on the front trying to batter it's way through a massive drift. We were there for around half an hour watching it reverse up, take another run up & ram the drift which resulted in clouds of steam, smoke & snow all over the place before doing it all over again.

Good fun for us kids...

Gonna have to guess at 'Silence is golden'...

My damn PC won't open it!

Rum

Muffin

Patient

Gymnastics

Middle

I voted very slowly, (but clicked the mouse very quickly!), as I can still get the same amount of excitement when I put on a pair of boots today as when I first purchased them over ten years ago. I love the anticipation & building excitement of slowly lacing myself into a favourite pair of thigh boots, (one pair takes nearly twenty minutes to lace myself into & to fasten all the buckles), & then the lovely feeling of satisfaction when taking the first steps in them again if I haven't worn them for a while. I have never lost that initial excitement when putting on a pair of boots.

A few words on my type of obsession for Mr SleekHeels:

My lady & I share our boot collection & are currently in the process of replacing a lot of our older PVC purchases with their modern equivalent in leather wherever possible. We both much prefer the feel, texture & smell of real leather over PVC. When I first discovered we had a mutual interest in boots I seemed to be buying at least one new pair every week - a case of quantity rather than quality. A lot of the 'cheap & nasty' boots I purchased years ago have now been replaced due to what I call 'natural selection', they fall apart or get damaged beyond repair. I tend not to buy as many pairs now, but the boots I do purchase are of better quality. My lady & I both enjoy seeing each other in boots, wearing them all the time at home & also tend to take a lot of photos of each other wearing our varied collection of boots. Primarily my obsession was to be able to not only wear boots with really high heels, (the higher the better), but to learn to walk properly in them too. Many a happy day has been spent doing 'runway training' under the tuition of my lady, I think thrills & spills would be the politest way to describe it. I even fitted slate tiles on our kitchen floor so we can hear the 'clip-clop' sound of our heels - the sound of heels on a hard surface is another thing I adore about wearing them.

I also tend to go for certain manufacturers when purchasing boots & remain loyal to them. I went through a stage a few years ago of buying all I could from Fantasy Shoes as I really like their styles, especially the 'Victim' platform soles. Unfortunately they went out of business about four or five years ago so they aren't readily available any more. The odd pair pops up on eBay now & then but people want silly money for new unworn examples. Second hand ones can be found but as in all things, it's a case of buyer beware - the soles can break down inside & start to disintegrate. Over the last few years I have favoured Topshop 'Brittany' or 'Barley' platform thigh boots & Jeffery Campbell 'Lita' ankle boots.

One thing I haven't come across on this site yet, or perhaps no-one has yet confronted it - does anyone get extremely upset when a favourite pair of boots/shoes/heels finally become too knackered to wear? I had a lovely pair of butter-soft leather platform thigh boots that I wore nearly every day for nearly nine years & the sole split in half as I was wearing them. I had no way of repairing them so they had to go in the bin. I absolutely adored this pair of boots & actually cried when they went into the bin. I was so upset I had to get my lady to put our other rubbish into the bin so I couldn't see my favourite boots abandoned & discarded in there. It took me a good couple of weeks get over loosing them.

I never buy heels I only half like as, along with most people, money is an issue at the moment & I don't see the point of buying something I don't fully like. Definitely not addicted to shopping for the sake of it. I actually hate shopping unless I'm out for a particular pair of boots!

OK, that was more than a few words. I hope I haven't bored you all too much & I hope someone finds it all useful. SleekHeels - if you need to know any more, please ask.

Dreamin'

Dance

Off  to Dallas, Texas for instruction on an 18-wheeler methinks...

Seriously though... Driving a truck in 5-inch heel boots is a crime against those poor boots, I wouldn't dare treat any of my boots like that. Fair play to her for doing it, but not my cup of tea.

Love the guy with the camera too... He's too busy trying to film Jenifer's chest when he should be monitoring her driving. Nice touch trying to get her to force her way out into a stream of traffic coming from her left in order to turn right. I can think of a few guys from the DVLA that would more than likely give birth to kittens if they saw this video. Lol!

Lol! Very true Petey 

I don't recommend trying to ride a Harley in Litas either... Hellishly difficult to change gear, not to mention the funny looks! I wear an open face lid & more than once while I was waiting at traffic lights I heard someone say, 'That bird's got a bloody beard!' Quite funny in retrospect but at the time it wasn't - I was quite a way from home & pulled over to put the boots on as an experiment just to see if it would be possible to ride a few miles in light traffic. Unfortunately it got very busy really quickly & I couldn't find anywhere to stop & change back into my normal bike boots so I ended up riding nearly thirty miles home in them. One thing I did like though... It's a lot easier to hold the bike up wearing platforms if you've got short legs... Lol!

In any case both experiences, (driving cars or riding bikes), can really damage the 'spine' of any high-heeled boot or shoe. (Improper angles of strain on the heels & all that old scientific stuff - No doubt someone will enlighten me as to the correct terminology - Dr Shoe perhaps?).

Sad as it may seem it's flats only for driving for me I'm afraid. There's enough idiots in the UK that don't seem able to control their vehicles without me adding to them! I've probably now left myself wide open to the wrath of the 'road safety brigade' but to be honest it was a silly one-off that I won't be repeating ever again.

Inheritance

Hey Petey!

Congrats on the forthcoming wedding & I love the photos of your collection - I'm very pleased for you. There's nothing better than having an understanding lady behind you who's into boots & heels. I understand how you must be feeling as my lady also supports me fully with my wearing of boots.

Love your Lita's btw - My lady & I now have a dozen pairs of them between us in different colours, materials & various stages of spikeyness! We find them really comfy - a lovely style of boot. I think our favourite pair are the white leather which are totally covered in spikes. Not the sort of thing to wear for a cosy evening by the fire, though! The spikes do tend to cause damage &/or injury if we're not too careful...!