Monday: Lido Feet

This morning I dropped off the Earl at school, boarded a bus to Charlton Lido and went for a swim.  I've written more comprehensively about my love of water in one of my other blogs, The Geeky Duchess: http://thegeekyduchess.blogspot.co.uk/ but they don't receive the sheer amount of hits this blog does, probably because they don't contain scores of shots of my feet(!)  However, I can inform you that they're as well written, funny and indeed poignant as this one.  I was sitting on my favourtie seat on the bus, which regular readers will be aware is at the front of the top deck, so I was able to take this shot of the view from Shooters Hill:

For those not in the know or anyone leaving outside south-east London, Charlton Lido had been closed for years but it's recently re-opened, although loads of work is still taking place and there are cranes and diggers everywhere.  There are no indoor changing rooms either and the only toilets are temporary ones, however this doesn't distract from how lovely it is and how adorable it will be in future. 

As for the pool itself - well, it was a 50 metre heated one, which is great because my recollection of lidos in the past is that they haven't been heated and are bloody freezing as a result!  My swimming was rubbish though compared to the six or so other people in the pool, my favourite thing is to just enjoy the smell of the clorine and float around in the shallow end - sheer bliss.  I left feeling tingly and invigorated and yes, my red painted toes loved it too!

Saturday: Miss Kim's Mistress Workshop

Yes, you've read it right - I attended a Mistress Workshop today in Hackney and my word, it was fun.  I have learned a great deal and Miss Kim is an excellent teacher.  I am not going to betray any secrets, but let me tell you that I feel empowered that's for sure!  Probably the best bit of it was the thought that this kind of lifestyle isn't odd at all, it's very much something to be enjoyed with a whole dose of humour.  The ladies were all from varying backgrounds and I particularly enjoyed hearing about why they'd chosen to attend this workshop and how they would take the knowledge they'd gleaned forward into the next stages of their respective relationships and lives.  We, of course, discussed heel heights and my tallest pair is pictured below:

Hurrah, now all I need to do is learn to walk in them......it's all in the glutes apparently.  Wobble wobble wobble, clumping about the place isn't a particularly sexy attribute is it?

Friday: Haircut and My Birkenstock Gizeh Collection

Yes, it's the end of the week and do I have that Friday feeling?  Well, kind of - considering that I haven't worked on a Friday since 2007 they don't have such as significance for me as much as the majority of the working public, however I countered this by having my hair cut this morning and it's a pretty radical crop I can tell you.  As you may have gleaned from reading this blog on a regular basis I'm a person of extremes so there was a satisfying amount of hair on the floor of the hairdresser's and my head now feels much lighter as a result but I love it!  My barnet was really vexing me to be honest - all of that bleach and colour had killed the hair's condition and it felt like kindling to me, replete with a whole host of split ends (that's the hair condition, not the band who had a hit in the 1980s with I've Got You.  When I booked my next appointment for the 21st June I mentioned to the stylist that it was midsummer's day and therefore a whole host of druids would be getting naked on Stonehenge but he didn't know what I was talking about.  Actually that's happening a fair bit lately - I had coffee with somebody a fortnight or so ago and he looked at me with incredulity at some of the things I was coming out with.  Bizarre.

Shoes - right.  Well, yesterday's heatwave allowed me to don my patent white Birkenstock Gizehs and wear them to work, complete with a plaster to cover the scab caused by wearing my Birkie Dorian clogs over a week ago.  Here they are:

I have worn them in a bit last year so the have customized to my unique foot shape and as a result they're not rubbing my feet too badly at all, which was helpful as I went for a long walk in them yesterday.  Actually, I'm wearing them now whilst typing away, mmmm.

Here's a shot of my calves, just in case you're into that kind of thing - apologies if you're not.  I know that I'm a greedy soul but I keep looking on Amazon at the other colours available in this style and I'm impressed.  To date I have several pairs of gizehs nestling in the hallway shoe slick or sitting in their respective boxes on the top of the wardrobe, they are categorized as follows: white patent (as pictured), black patent, pink pearl and silver.  I really want to add plum patent and tango red patent to my collection, but that's really avaricious and they're not cheap, even on Amazon they retail between £34-40 per pair.  Oh to have a pay slave in my grasp....wishing and a hoping on that score.......  Hopefully tomorrow's Mistress Workshop will give me a few pointers to work with.

Monday: Sun, Silver Birkies and Good Conversations over Coffee

Well, I can heartily recommend the feeling of summer - it's amazing!  I had a lovely meeting with a friend in a cafe this morning and I do adore conversing with an interesting, amusing and intelligent person, it's a great break from my normal routine.  In fact, I may one day pen a blog entitled 'conversations over coffee', but saying that, I'd hope to be more discreet than to give away mine, and others' secrets via the medium of the interweb.

As soon as I returned home I jettisoned my sparkling silver Converse (which are hurting my feet!) went straight upstairs and pulled one of the pairs of new Birkenstocks which are sitting proudly in their boxes on top of my wardrobe, awaiting the time when they'd be released to the care of my peds.  I have taken the liberty of snapping them for your enjoyment:

I'd imagine that they'd rub by the end of the day so I'm taking my time to wear them in gently because as you can see, there's a huge red patch on my left foot.  I am rubbing my foot into the suede lining - mmm, new Birkies are adorable.

I am loving my red toes - I asked my esteemed husband, The Duke, if he'd paint them for me and he duly did.  Bright red is my favourite colour and I think it cheers up even the dullest of days.

Finally, this arrived today for me to pen a review of.  I hope it's as effective as it purports to be.  I will let you all know.  Hopefully it will be like an orbital sander for my feet....

Sunday: Today is (Officially) Pedicure Day...and the Sabbath....

Yep, you've read it correctly - today is pedicure day and once I've written a whole load of guff on my various blogs, completed my eBay sales and indeed checked my work email (urgh!) rest assured that I'll be duly removing the dark purple polish from my toenails and carrying out the detailed series of tasks which lead to beautiful peds.  For those who crave a visual image, here's some shots from an earlier session:

Oooh - look - bare feet in bath salts - urrggghhhh....

They're not great when they're not covered in polish are they?  Frankly, they're quite foul in my view.

Imperfections abound.

Anyway, that's enough self-deprecation for any Sunday afternoon, let alone this particular one, which coincides with Queen Elizabeth II's eighty-seventh birthday.  I'll bid you farewell if I may and finally, I do check my statistics pretty regularly and would love to know why a Russian porn site web address keeps appearing - it's not my view that the content or indeed pictures contained within this blog are suitable for such an audience and if you're reading via Google translation, go and jump in a lake* won't you?

* Preferably a freezing cold one.  Ditto to all of the people who vex me on a semi-regular basis.

Friday: No More Bending To Clean Your Feet?

Ugh, after a week off work battling a chest infection which has been rattling around my system for the last month or so, today was the first time I'd left the house since Monday.  I feel like I'm on 'power saver mode' if that makes any sense to anybody, but if it doesn't please let me explain: it's like I'm awake but there's some kind of mental barrier blocking everything else out, or failing that I'm running on less than 30% battery.  However, needs must and I had to do the school run and head towards the shopping centre to pick up a few bits, hence why I saw this lovely item on the shelves in the mighty BHS:

Ooh, just think I wouldn't have to bend to clean my feet any longer whilst I'm showering in the morning (it's very much a case of shower in the morning, bath in the evening in my book..)  I like the idea, of course I do, but it would be another thing which would gather mould in my household after a while, despite my best efforts of scrubbing it with a potentially toxic fumed combination of Cif, Bleach and Limescale remover.  I've no doubt that the bristles would caress my sore soles though, but as regular readers know, I tend to do all of my hard skin removal via the medium of an Addis bowl full of bath salts.

Finally: as part of a review program I participate in I've been gifted a Scholl pedicure unit to test.  Hurrah!  Once it arrives (assuming it's not lost/stolen in transit!) I'll write a bit of a blurb about it and maybe I'll run a feather down my heel, akin to the television advertising campaign for the product(!)

Monday: Transitional Footwear Issues

Hurrah - spring's finally sprung and as a result it's time to jettison the boots and head towards a more seasonal footwear trend, which in my case means my Birki Dorian clogs.  I placed them onto my feet sans socks this morning and duly did the school run (on foot, as usual - I don't drive) but my word, I wish I hadn't (that's worn the shoes, not taken the Earl to school as the latter's my legal responsibility as a parent.)  Eek!  Blisters galore once again from my winter-encased namby pamby feet, this happens every year and I never learn.

Once again, a sight for sore feet - there's a lot of vein action going on there too.

Here's a closer shot of my left foot - nice.  Yes, I do realise that I need to pedicure my toenails as they're looking a bit ratty and you'll be pleased to learn that bright red won the 'choose a nail colour' competition, so next Sunday I will be getting the big bowl out and doing the honours.  I purchased a new pair of toenail scissors and cracked heel cream from Superdrug the other day and assuming I haven't lost it in this confusing mess of a house, I'll be using them next weekend.  The heel cup of a Birkenstock footbed causes friction and results in dry skin by the way, combined with the toe ridge this means that I'm a slave to my pumice stone in the summer months....

Finally - I am currently reading Howard Jacobson's amusing Booker Prize winning novel The Finkler Question and noticed this amusing paragraph on page 10 of the paperback edition:

They had been sleeping together.  There was nothing else to do.  They coupled up on the gymnasium floor when no one turned up to their festival.  She wore Birkenstocks even during lovemaking.  He only realised he loved her when she sacked him.

If it were me I'd only advocate the wearing of Birkenstock Mayari during lovemaking as the two strap upper wouldn't be dislodged by undertaking positions such as the reverse cowgirl, wheelbarrow or indeed the coital alignment technique (Cat).