Thread 7 - TalkLair: “In fact it’s an oblate spheroid”

[Kucinghitam]

Continuation of previous threads (thread 6).
The new lair of JTT escapees is all cosy and homey; we have truly settled here. Outside, the garden is blooming with spring flowers. Inside, the hearth is glowing, pictures are up on the walls, rugs are down on the floors (and assorted pets curled up on them).

We just won’t mention the gnawed bones of our prey over there in the corner of the cave…

@DeanVolecapeAKAelderberry I've been missing something for a good while now so will ask Our Tone if he's seen it.

I swear it wasn’t the width of a finger. It was like a petrol hose.

Request ‘deep sedation’ which is almost a GA. I must have driven the anaesthetist crazy on the day, I was more or less having a panic attack beforehand asking her to promise I wouldn’t wake up.

I'm 100% on the OP's side.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4812047-to-wonder-what-runs-through-some-peoples-heads-sometimes?

💯 % yes!

I was lying in a secluded area of the park last week, enjoying the sunshine, when a couple came over and plonked themselves down within a couple of metres of me. They then proceeded to have argument, which included him repeatedly telling her to fuck off. Why?!

I'm on the OP's side too! It happened many years ago, but I remember one time me and my then bf going camping and, although there was plenty of space, another similar age couple put their tent up so close to ours that the guy ropes overlapped. We were teenagers and wanted to shag, so it was enormously off-putting.

Heh! My take is, it happens, occasionally, to all of us. But then there the other 95% of times when it doesn't happen. I think you're a happier person if you can just take these things in your stride. The rest of the world is not plotting against my happiness, that's my affair.

I've got a wedding and hen do this weekend and the biggest bastard to find has been the right shoes. I ordered a pair of great sandals yesterday. Flat, I can't do heels because my balance is not so good, and a wonderful shiny silver. Bastards are about an inch too wide on either side so they're going straight back. I've now ordered two pairs that will arrive tomorrow in the hope that one of them will fit. Lots of places do wide fit and that's great but I really wish they would do narrow fit as well because it can be a total pain in the hole when your feet swim about in sandals. I love Birkenstocks but I can't wear them because they are really FUCKING wide.

Today I am mostly being sweary. I am in a good mood though. The other H&M X Mugler item has sold at almost the price that I had at the Buy Now price. I thought I was going to be nearly £100 short of what I wanted (I'd still have been in profit because my starting price was in profit) and today just before the auction was up the bids went up by £70. Huzzah!

No cat visitors this morning which was good*. The sun is out. Life isn't too bad at all.

*Obviously the lack of a cat visitor made me miss having a cat visitor. Never satisfied!

You can get narrow fit Birkenstocks!

I also have to attend a wedding this weekend, MouseMinge, and am not really looking forward to it, partly because I have to wear a dress and I just don't do dresses. I've bought one from Next, which is midi length and have decided to wear black Docs with it. Stuffed if I'm wearing heels.

You can get narrow-fit Birkenstocks?! Oh, my days! I will hunt them down. Well, eventually. They are quite expensive.

@Tricyrtis2022 I wear trousers far more than dresses/skirts and I thought about trousers/jumpsuit for the wedding but ended up going skirt for the wedding and dress for the hen do. The dress is a great maxi loose and flowing black dress that I'll get a lot of use out of and I love that I managed to get a petite maxi dress because being a total shortarse it's hard to find that sort of thing. The skirt is also black and basically a knee-length puffball. I'm going back to the eighties and loving it. There is a choice of two tops. They are both black. To add colour to the whole thing the sandals will be green and are both chunky flatforms which is, I believe, the word for this style of sandal. I'm looking forward to it all because the actual wedding is happening on Friday, the hen on Saturday and the wedding celebration/reception on Sunday. It's all relaxed and happy and the couple are so utterly right for each other that it will be a real pleasure to be part of the celebration of their love.

@MouseMinge Lots of places do wide fit and that's great but I really wish they would do narrow fit as well because it can be a total pain in the hole when your feet swim about in sandals.

I have extremely narrow feet which now simply walk out of anything that isn't laced up. In desperation, I recently went to Clarks, who told me they had nothing narrower than a D fitting.

When I was in my mid-30s, very well paid and not otherwise extravagant, I used to shop at Ferragamo for AA shoes with a AAA heel. But even they don't cater for the skinny elegant foot any more. It's not as though there's a way of making your feet wider!

I have the opposite problem with a pair of short flippers. It’s like my feet gave up moving forward when I was 10 and just spread out instead. It’s a shame as they’re otherwise perfectly formed. I’ve given up trying to find nice shoes that fit.

We all just need to be incredibly rich and buy custom made shoes. How hard can it be!

Many of our friends are considerably wealthier than us, so I do know somebody who has custom-made shoes. IIRC he mentioned that his smartish office shoes cost around £700 per pair.

I would LOVE custom made shoes. I loathe having painful feet.

MrBint has very narrow feet, mine are narrower than average and an awkward shape (high arch, proper toes). We both get shoes custom made - and it's not as expensive as you'd think.

It can cost a grand a pair (or more) if you go to the sort of place that advertises custom brogues for people who are Something in the City. But if you go to hippy vegan shoe makers and historical recreationists it can be about 1/10 of that - and they're made to be resoled and repaired, so they last for years.

Green Shoes in Devon, and Kevin Garlick on the Isle of Wight are our go-to shoemakers. It's ideal to have a first fitting visit, but you can take your own measurements and do it all by post.

I don't know whether my feet have got tougher, or I've got better at picking decent shoes (probably the latter) but I have many memories of horrendous blisters and pain from my teenage shoes, whereas since my 30s most of my footwear has been at least non-blood-drawing. I tend to wear flat knee-high boots all autumn/winter, smart trainers or flat pumps the rest of the year. Flip-flops and sandals when I go home.

I have narrow-ish feet; most trainers look like boats on my feet.

I'm currently in the market for a comfy-but-stylish pair of walking sandals, and so have been lurking on various S&B threads.

North Face Hedgehogs (they keep renaming them, but it always includes Hedgehog somewhere among the 'Fastpack GTX' word salad) are the trainers that work for me. I think they do a sandal version.

I bought a pair from Durham Indoor Market in 1999. They were from a place which sold apparel to the huntin' and fishin' set. Handmade brogues, which were usually £300, but on sale. They had my size, but they weren't wide enough.

They measured my feet and told me to come back in a fortnight and still only charged me £225, even though they were originally on clearance!

I had them repaired lots of times, but the uppers finally started to split about 6 years ago. I left them in the garage for a couple of years, before finally deciding that the really had to go in the bin.

I was quite sad.

@Kucinghitam me too. I think it is because these days I pretty much only wear - Birkenstocks, flat lace ups, trainers or shoes from Clarks (with a very low or substantial block heel). Whereas when younger I would wear all manner of cheap and comfortable shoes.

A ruptured achilles tendon in my early thirties put pay to any idea of high heels or very flat ballet pump style shoes and I have never had blistered or painful feet again

They were from a place which sold apparel to the huntin' and fishin' set

I get my winter trousers from one of those places and they're the best I've ever had. Same with boots. They're expensive but worth the money.

Re comfy shoes, I have very small feet and spend much of my time on them, so decent footwear is essential. Currently favouring Merrell slip-ons and trainer style shoes for mufti and Lowa boots for work. One of my main rules for footwear is that I need to be able to wiggle my toes in them.

Tricyrtis2022 · Today 09:37

I get my winter trousers from one of those places and they're the best I've ever had. Same with boots. They're expensive but worth the money.

Oh yes, they certainly are. 16 years for shoes I wore most days was dashed good value!

I looked the stall up and they've gone, it's a toy shop now.

I have wide feet which makes shoe shopping tricky. I’m currently mostly wearing Mephisto sandals (like Birkenstocks but with the advantage of not giving me backache; I need my heel to be a bit higher than the ball of my foot) or Skechers (who offer a very limited range in wide fit).

I have various pairs of shoes with heels about the place but my knees complain loudly if I try to actually wear them.