Shyheels

For some variety I’ve just picked up some fresh ground Monsoon Malabar coffee. I love its earthy notes.

Snap! Yes I like pour-over coffee and use my copper cone and filter papers, one cup at a time. And definitely Ethiopian!

Sounds like a pleasant trip, and always nice to receive compliments

That’s my thinking. I’ve got quite a portfolio over the past year, enough seasons and setting for calendars and cards. I’m something of a coffee snob - I prefer beans from Ethiopia and Yemen. I find Jamaica Blue Mountain to be quite overrated. With electricity being a limiting factor in boat life I do not have any fancy coffee machines, but use a Hario cone filter and a whistling kettle on my gas stove.

Funny you should say that, I'm well on my way to doing just that! Life on the canals is very picturesque. We drink a lot of coffee in Britain, by the way - by no means assume tea these days. I am well equipped for both on my boat, with multiple types of coffee and about a dozen styles of tea!

Life in the magazine world is not too great at the moment so I too am looking for new pastures. I’m working in a novel and hoping I can find some other outlets for my writing and photography. It has always been a chancy lifestyle and career but never more so than now.

I once found myself staring at a very unusual necklace this Brazilian woman was wearing - I don’t remember what it was but it was very exotic in some way - and I realised as I studied it that my gaze could be interpreted in a very different way. I was quite embarrassed by the realisation and made myself scarce.

I guess it’s just the combination. It sounds like you varied it tastefully and in one case it was the heels that provided the finishing touch in the eyes of others, and in another case it was the leopard Sherpa.

Yes and no. It’s surprising how many people just exist in their own bubble. And of course shoes - and heels - are down at ground level, out of direct line of sight. Perhaps if he’d seen you at a distance and watched you approach over a period of 15 or 20 seconds he might have noticed but within the confines of a grocery store he’d be looking at your face.

I’m very lucky to be able to work from home. My commute from bed to the table in my galley is about twenty feet!

I suspect she was probably a bit more colourful that that!

I’m very sorry to hear of your loss. Losing a parent is an always tough blow not matter what their age - they’re the ones who have always been there. I hope you find some peace

That’s a mighty long work week. Especially if you’re also commuting any distance. I hope you’re being well compensated. I should think a lot of things in one’s personal life would go by the wayside under such a regime.

Not actually seen out and about, but rather a cautionary tale that was related to me by a friend of mine - a rather chic French woman who is an expert in high heels. She was seated on a bar stool at a nice cocktail bar and had, thoughtlessly, hooked her stilettos over the crossbar between the stool legs - and even more thoughtlessly forgot to un-hook them when she went to stand up. Apparently she did a full body-length face plant in the bar, an otherwise very elegant woman about six feet tall. I’ve no idea what expletives she came out with at the time, but she could see the humour of it hours later when she mentioned it to me in an email.

Yes, heels are definitely in a downswing. I suppose I am fortunate in that my tastes run to chunky heeled boots in the 3-4” range for which there still seems to be a reasonable market - albeit not in my size range. it still surprises me though they there are not more active members here. This is a friendly and welcoming forum and I’m certain there is a latent desire out there to at least try high heels and see what all the fuss is - was? - about.

Impressive statistics! It certainly has been quiet here lately. Not much high heels news from my part of England.

Nice stories! Very positive.

That’s certainly true - living along the canals I am very unlikely to encounter anyone in high heels, let alone stilettos.

I also wear my knee boots and OTK boots outside my jeans. As you say, it’s noticeable. Even so, a lot of people don’t notice. And those that do seldom give it much more than a passing glance.

Here in northern England boots with mid heels (2-3”) are quite common, even 3.5”. Not stilettos, no, but they are heels. Funnily enough twice in the past week I’ve encountered women wearing boots with chunky heels on the towpath. Fairly lowish heels - about 2.5” - but heels nonetheless. And you woukd not wear anything higher or slenderer on a towpath!

I saw several pair, much to my surprise, the other day in the Manchester train station. The last time I saw any was at London Bridge train station on Grand National Day (horse racing)

Stilettos are a rarity everywhere these days.

Vlad the Impaler had his own stern fashion code. When emissaries from the Ottoman sultan refused to remove their turbans in his presence he had their turbans nailed to their heads

Yes there are lots of changes over the years - in Victorian times a woman who wore make up was a painted woman and well into the 20th century a woman could be arrested in parts of America for wearing trousers. But the stricture against wearing hats indoors has been around a long time and is still widely observed and while I am all for fashion freedom and not being a slave to arbitrary customs and rules, I do think removing one’s hat in church, or someone’s home etc is a nice mark of respect

Very well said indeed. Our self consciousness at stepping outside the norms magnifies everything in our minds. the truth is that unless you are wearing something absolutely riveting - say, Barbie- pink thigh-high stilettos - a good percentage of passers by won't even notice, and those that =give a double take probably will have forgotten you ten minutes later, as they re-focus on their own lives. I don't wear my stilettos in public - mainlybeause I am not skilled enough to feel totally confident in them - but I wear feminine styled block-heeled knee and OTK boots regularly over skinny jeans and while I occasionally sense that I've attracted notice, it's never been a big deal. I think owning the look, being confident, makes all the difference. If you accept who you are, others will follow that lead.