Shyheels

Those are lovely boots. Well worth the investment

@higherheels I’m impressed! Standing for half an hour in 12cm stilettos is pretty darn good. to say nothing if walking to and from. One if the things I do for practicing on my boat in my 12cm heels is standing to eat my lunch and I can definitely feel it! I’ll get fit calves out of this if nothing else! I take your point about good design making a big difference. My Jean Gaborit boots are so incredibly comfortable and easy to walk in. @mlroseplant Have you any rides planned?

It does sound a little awkward and as though he hadn’t a clue or is unable to comprehend an alternative fashion choice. I’m glad there was no negativity.

It was warmer this morning so I was back into my 12cm heels, doing a few lengths of the boat - a good 15 to 18; steps each way given the shortened steps one takes in such high heels - in between periods of writing. Practicing in heels has the added benefit of getting me up and moving every twenty minutes or so, something I really need to be doing as it is so easy to become absorbed in your work and find you’ve sat hunched up for hours on end. Our high heel challenge lifts me out of that unhealthy rut. @higherheels I am also deeply impressed by your 800m walk in 12cm stilettos, all the more so after my practice session this morning! @mlroseplant It is curious, but nice, that we take things seriously enough to want to walk well in our heels. And sometimes that does mean treating it as a sport that you go somewhere to practice

Yes! I love boot season - which I somehow manage to extend to all year round! Another night of clear skies snd low temperatures coming up, another early morning in heavy suede OTK boots! Perfect. congratulations on the successful outing in the 12cm Louboutins! That’s great! I can imagine that after practicing in the Hot Chicks you would definitely find the Pigalle’s a bit easier. I know I’ve really noticed the difference practicing in my 12cm heels makes when I put on my 10cm boots. Even just wearing them on the boat is making a definite difference

Very true! I’ve been trying to think of where I can go to get some real world practice in my challenge heels. The nearest place is a park about a mile and a half away from where I’m moored - a distance and time commitment that is a serious disincentive. I can practice here in the boat - about 15 paces each way, back and forth - until I get enough fluency not to look stupid elsewhere

It’s definitely been stolen from me as well

I’m think more along the lines of AI taking nearly jobs, the rank and file all receiving universal basic income and living at subsistence level with no prospect for change, while the billionaire class rules the world.

There are so many scary ramifications to this. I see it ultimately as a means of controlling society in ways that humanity has never experienced before

Impressively high for what amounts to a 1.2km - ¾ mile - walk! But to borrow a phrase from a dong near to my heart, those heels look made for walking. You should see the towpath here - most unsuited for walking, even in Vibram soled hiking boots. Fortunately I have some very nice knee high boots with sturdy soles and low heels so I can keep up my style for tall boots. And on the cold mornings, such as today - down to freezing with thick ice firming on the boat - I have my heavy suede OTK boots with 8cm heels. Love these!

I can understand the appeal. It’s seductive. But ultimately it is going to be very, very harmful and there may be no way back.

That’s impressive - a 600m walk in week in your challenge height heels. I’d love to go for such a stroll in mine, but I’m really struggling to find a place. We had two inches of rain last night and now the towpath is unpleasant even in heavy Vibram soled hiking books.

I simply boycott it. AI is just wrong on so many levels. Dud you know Amazon now has a limit of three books a day one is allowed to publish through them - three a day! - because of the sheer tonnage of AI rubbish being churned out. And at least two of my titles have been used to train AI - with no benefit to me. And what is so great about endless AI produced royalty free images? I’m a photographer. - there is nothing good about it at all, especially since my work has been pirated and used to train AI. i see nothing good whatsoever to come from or out of AI

I’ve been lured away into mid-heels. Very heavy rains and temperatures down to 4°C have prompted me to dig out my heavy suede OTK boots with chunky 8cm heels. They are lovely and warm and very appealing on nippy mornings in the boat. We’re at that tricky transitional point in the year when it’s nippy enough in the mornings to want warm boots but not quite nippy enough for me to want to start the coal fire - yet. The daytime temperatures are a pleasant 15°C or so. i can change into my stilettos in the afternoon

I suspect I’ll find it challenging to find the “right” pair of sandals as I too am very picky about appearance, comfort and quality. Boots I know and understand. I’ve always worn boots, going back to a childhood in the mountains where hiking boots came to be a kind of personal trademark - something that distinguished me from the other kids in my class, with their natty town shoes. I’ve had this bias ever since and been fortunate that my choice of career allowed me to avoid wearing both neckties and brogues!

You make shorts presentable, although I just don’t wear them myself - other than for cycling or to the gym. It’s always jeans for me and I usually manage to find a reason to extend boot season to year round, something that’s not really too hard to do in the north of England. I will say though, that you do make sandals look appealing - enough so that I am contemplating investing in a pair if I can find something nice in my size

Exactly. I agree, I do think there is community out there who would happily join and contribute if they knew about us, and understood that we simply wear heels as a point of fashion.

It certainly is! I’m back on my boat, unpacked and practicing!

Yes, the challenge is very much about personal goals. Speaking for myself it has been quite helpful knowing both of you @mlroseplant and @higherheels are doing it too, in different styles and in different countries! What a pity we don't live closer - what fun it would be to meet up over coffee in our respective challenge heels!! I know I've definitely benefitted from all this - gaining skill in my 12cm boots and really moving fluidly in my 10cm ones!

I like those!

Absolutely! And given your mileage you’re way ahead of me in any case! Im en route back to my boat at last! Freedom!

I stand corrected - at least one of my group wears heels apparently. And when I think about it she was the one most likely, a southern lady. I didn’t see her heels but she referenced them in a conversation we had while attempting to do a walk around one of the lakes only to find it was flooded. She was not happy about getting her hiking boots wet as they are going back to America tomorrow and she’d planned to wear them in the plane, saying that she didn’t want to wear her heels in the airport and on the plane. From which I deduced she had brought heels and presumably wore them after hours. And now that I think of it she was also the only one in the group that was familiar with the story about men in heels back in the 17th century …

Yes, quality makes such a difference in terms of walkability. I have a pair of Jean Gaborit OTK boots with 9cm near-stiletto heel and they are a dream to walk in. They are fully custom so the fit is perfect, and the leather is extremely high quality - a very luxurious Nubuck suede - and they are beautifully designed not such in looks but in the fundamentals. I wish I was rich enough to afford to buy boots from them in 10 and 12 cm heights. I feel certain I would find both of thos heights much easier to wear.

I like purple and I know what you mean about four inch heels feeling all of a sudden so much easier! The challenge is certainly bringing benefits

Italian Heels are nice, well made and of real leather. They come in a huge range of sizes and colours and have charts to help you pick out the correct size. I have two pair of their Tina knee boots - in 10cm and 12cm. I like them. They fit well and are comfortable even if the 12cm ones are a bit challenging. My Jean Gaborit boots are much nicer - buttery soft leather and fully custom fit - but then they cost four or five times as much.