xaphod

ADDENDUM Normally, after a party, for several weeks one finds peanuts emerging from undreamed-of hiding places and glasses parked impromptu. It seems that the last party was somewhat different, because I'm finding labels that say 'upper leather - lining fabric - sole manmade - size 7' behind the taps in the bathroom. Damn strange party this ! X PS .... Firefox, you forgot your Guinness glass. I'll keep it safe until we organise a transfer.

Hi, all, The house has just become very quiet now the guys have all left for different parts of the UK and Europe. There is some advantage, though .... I can now walk around my lounge without tripping over the 20, or so, pairs of heels on the floor ! Firefox arrived here late on Thursday night. After a liquid evening meal in my local, we started by staying up till 4am talking and doing damage to my whisky supplies. The next day we shared his car to Lakeside, arriving at 1325. It seems that Luc and Jeff had a clear run from Dover, and had been there for about one hour. Calv had picked up Beeblebrox at Stanstead airport and they had already met Luc and Jeff, so, in true fashion, the organisers arrived last. I'll leave it to the others to describe the fashion details, but suffice it to say, some of the public were a little confused when, after pointing out a guy wearing heels to their friends, they realised there was another, oh hell .... and another over there, what .... two more there .... WHAT'S HAPPENING? Excellent fun. The first shop we entered was Blisters, an independent with an elegant range of quality styles. Some sales racks remained and Luc found a pair of Mary Jane wedges, one of 3 pairs left. He tried the size 8s, but he thought these were too loose so bought the size 7s. Having realised they were a bit on the large side, Calv tried the 8s (he normally prefers a 9) and bought them. I have been looking for some light Summer shoes instead of ankle boots, but I had ignored the remaining pair of size 5s .... some damn woman must have bought the last size 6s. Realising there was a possibility the size 5s might fit, I whipped out my size 39 twinkletoes from their comfortable hiding place in the spiky Sachas to try on the last pair .... perfect fit. 'Could I have the other one please?', I said to the astounded assistant. Another sale was made. I bet the people in Blisters didn't think they were going to sell the last 3 pairs of Mary Janes to 3 guys in a matter of minutes. There was much more shopping, Luc remarking that every other shop had at least some shoes somewhere. The score for the day:- Luc - 3 pairs Calv - 2 pairs Xaphod - 1 pair Luc can tell the story of the bouncy running shoes .... they were just too much ! In the evening, on the way out to the M25 we stopped off at Brantano in Lakeside complex, before negotiating our way to Hampshire on a nasty rainy evening on the motorway (just like Euroheel). Due to our being a little later than we hoped, we went straight to a restraunt in the village near my place. Returning home, the real fun started. We installed everyone in their sleeping quarters, gave them alcohol, then parked them in my lounge with a lot of shoes. I'm not employed as a stenographer, so I will just note a couple of points .... Luc discovered Laphroaig whisky, my 40 year old loudspeakers gained an approval stamp, Jeff won the 5.5" heel elegant walk competition, Xaphod was last in the 5.5" heel walk competition, next door neighbour's boat was used as a backdrop for Luc posing in his green pyjamas and Morella's new knee-high plats (money received safely, M ) The next day a bunch of sleepy heelies were hustled out of my house to catch the train up to London for the big shopping bash. As we were somewhat late, I jumped out to pay for the tickets while the rest of the guys parked cars. OH GREAT, as I entered the ticket hall there were about 20 kids on an outing, also to London. There was the inevitable tittering as I bought the tickets, but hushed awe when the rest of the heelies appeared. In town, Firefox left the tube to meet those joining us at Tottenham Court Road, but we continued to Camden. Exiting Camden tube station, I was given a leaflet saying that doing drugs messed up one's life .... pretty ironic since we made a bee line directly to the pub for lunch ! Firefox arrived in the pub with SteveW and Francis in tow. I guess that Steve was a bit taken aback by a whole flock of heelies in one place. In the Camden shops, Steve bought a pair of chunky boots with a 3" heel and thick-ish sole which he wore for the rest of the day. They were good value for leather at 20 pounds, and Steve did well to resist the sales spiel of the shop assistants, some of whom, I think, would be better employed hustling as bookie's runners. There are many shops in Camden; at a first glance a great variety, but closer examination shows that the stock is very similar, and a charcter seen in one shop one day will be seen in another shop nearby on the next visit. I would trust this lot less than a barrow load of monkeys ! In Oxford Street, we did the usual run of Teepee, Faith, Dolcis, Topshop, Next, Shelleys and Barratts, plus lots of independents which can, on occasion, turn up something interesting. Furious texting organised Richie meeeting us in High Street Kensington. There we only just got to Sacha in time before they closed. I appeared in my Sacha chisel heel and toe knee boots, announcing to the the sales crew that I had some more guys with me this time. Six more guys walked in. Beeblebrox, after saying all day he wanted a black pair of hh cowboy boots, bought a grey and purple pair of 4" heel cowboy boots ! (BTW, Bbrox, I rang Sacha after you left here, and asked them to keep ANOTHER pair for you. I will buy them for you tomorrow). For those who think this might be a horrendous fashion faux-pas, the colour of the vamp goes with denim jeans and, when seated, some of the shaft shows grey which is a nice contrast. The quality is very good, the soles being leather and the uppers also soft leather. Unfortunately we did not notice that some of the seam stitching was defective for 10 mm, but, hell, the price was a quarter of the pre-sale price ! I will have a word with the Sacha people tomorrow and see what they say about this defect. We met Richie in Pizza Hut and acquired more shoes .... 3 pairs for GJ. Francis had to go home early, so the remaining 8 walked along the South side of Hyde Park to Imperial College bar. Firefox notes the beer is still reasonably priced, now 2/3 of the regular pub price. Maybe for this reason we remained, until nanny Xaphod started telling stories of freezing on Waterloo rail station between midnight and 0530, after missing the last train. At Waterloo, a weird happened. We were looking at the departure board to find the platform number for our train when a woman approached Luc. She was pretty drunk and asked 'why the hat and the heels?' Luc said something about 'why not?' and asked, so if I'm strange, what about this guy?' Her gaze slewed in my direction to encounter the hat, the long leather coat, and the knee-high sacha chisel heel/toe boots with leather trousers tucked inside. She put her hand to her mouth, started to giggle and said that I looked stupid. Our platform number had been announced, so I excused myself by saying our train was in, and we had to go. I hope, in my manner, a vain attempt to emulate the 'freeze water at 10 paces' technique used by women, she got the message I thought she was an individual unworthy of much of my time. Firefox accused me of an intentional wind-up on what happened next: boarding the train we found ourselves in the smoking section, and guess who we happened to meet, this damn woman and a couple of gormless-looking fellas. 'See' she said, 'these are the guys I was talking about', and to me, 'you look like Larry Adler in heels.' My reply .... 'what I look like and who I am may not necessarily be the same thing'. We left to find a carriage free of her smoking effluvium. Back home, we had a repeat of the previous night, the main attraction being our version of the Women's Institute flower arranging convention. In this case much debate was had on the optimum arrangement of the shoes we had purchased on this trip for the group shoe photograph. I think next-door neighbour's wife, boss of the local WI, would have been proud. The amount of flash photography would also have received acclaim, on a par with that at an amateur camera club meeting, photographing a particularly delicious nude female (we're merely interested in the artistic composition ..... honest guv ! ) The next day a bunch of sleepy heelies were hustled out of my house to get to the pub where lunch was booked. Luc and Beeblebrox now understand warm British beer better. Goodbyes were said, and the last we saw of Luc and Jeff was them negotiating a roundabout CLOCKWISE, this time, please. The two 4am and the 5am bedtimes are having an effect (temporarily counteracted using matchsticks) on this heely who needs his beauty sleep ..... much good that ever did. Night night. Xaphod

I'm looking to create a database of manufacturers of shoe parts, so we can have access to the same things ordinary shoemakers use.

I'm looking for a supplier of heels .... no not shoes, but just the moulding that a shoemaker would buy to cover and then attach to a shoe. Specifically I'm looking for a maker of 5" machined wooden or moulded plastic heels with a 1" base (bit in contact with the ground) to modify some of my boots. Does anyone know the piece-parts trade associated with footwear manufacture, or any trade journals or other info, which might point me in the right direction?