Friday - La Douleur Exquise

Sometimes, as in the song I'm wicked and I'm lazy (is no-one going to save me?) - ergo, I didn't rise until 9:45, ate a breakfast cooked by The Duke (that's my husband I'm referring to, not John Wayne!) then watched four Sex and The City (SATC) episodes back to back, showered and here I am, typing away.  One of the SATC shows was entitled La Douleur Exquise which concerned the girls attending the opening of an S&M restaurant and doing other kinky stuff, well in my opinion most of it was pretty vanilla, but Charlotte's encounter with Buster, the proprietor of an upscale shoe shop was the most interesting, especially as she was gifted free shoes in exchange for letting him fondle her feet!  Personally I wouldn't have an issue with that, but as the majority of shoe shops don't stock my size I very much doubt I'd be allowed such an indulgence.

Oh, my feet - yes, you like pictures don't you?  Right - herewith two shots of them for your delectation.  As you can see the minty green polish looks very summery indeed but the huge problem is that there's very little warmth to be enjoyed out there, hence they've been shoved into shoes and the toenail polish has suffered as a result.

You'll see a few marks on this picture taken today - the Birki mules have rubbed my left foot rather badly and you wouldn't really wish to see the soles as they're all sore and bumpy.  I was reading in this week's Stylist Magazine (a London free sheet aimed at commuters) that the famous podiatrist Margaret Dabbs doesn't allow feet to be soaked prior to a pedicure as it masks any issues which may lie dormant, ditto she says that using pumice stones are a bad idea as dry foot files are much more effective.  Couple that to a story about nasty fungi being found on the sole of the foot and between the toes and you've got yourself a mini health hazard. 

Friday: Fishnet Stockings and Minty Toenails

Firstly, a huge apology for not writing for a while - what can I say?  I have been busy and my feet have taken a back seat - that's not a literal thing by the way, how could they?  They are quite sore though and slightly swollen, I think it's because I tend to wear different shoes all of the time and I cannot wear my Birkies at the moment because it's too darn cold!  Anyway, the latest news in my strange world of hosiery and shoes is that I wore a pair of fishnet hold-ups to a party last night and was rather worried that they'd fall down on the tube journey there, but luckily they didn't!  They're Ann Summers L/XL fishnet hold-ups and they even stood up to a huge sprint for the bus later on in the evening.  Hopefully they're still on 3-for-2 and yes, I've just checked and indeed they are!

My toenails are painted in the green colour I referred to in an earlier blog post.  For those with a huge interest in nail polish hues, here's a closer shot, although you'll notice that I've cut out the rest of my foot because they're looking awful in my opinion at the moment - really red and swollen :(  Poor old feet....they closely resemble something out of The Chamber of Horrors!  Eek.

Friday: New Nail Polishes and Aching Feet

Sorry, I haven't written in a while have I?  How remiss of me, but I have been a busy bee sorting out this, that and definitely the other.  I am sitting here typing this blog and my poor feet are aching - I think this is a direct result of always wearing different shoes out and about but my left foot is really playing up.  Nail varnish - right - well, Boots Number 7 are offering their regular '£3 off make up if you spend £5 in store' voucher (which used to be £5 off voucher fact fans - bloody recession!) so I purchased two brand spanking new varnishes to adorn my finger and toe nails, here they are:

The flash has made the colours appear a little bleached out but the pot on the left is called 'minty fresh' and the one on the right, 'salsa'.  I will pedicure my toenails on Sunday afternoon as they're a bit chipped and nasty at the moment and hopefully this wind and rain will disappear and leave only sandalesque weather?  Who knows?  Have we all displeased the Weather Gods?

Right, I must log off in a minute and tidy the drawing room/lounge/front room/parlour (whatever it's called!)  Armed with some polish, a duster, the Dyson and my new Bissell steam mop I've no doubt that it'll be sparking before long.  I think I'll also listen to a Frank Skinner podcast, just because I can really.  Hurrah.  Life's huge fun isn't it?  I think taking The Earl to his optician's appointment this afternoon will really send me over the edge.  Huh. 

Saturday: Fetish Meets the High Street?

It's another UK Bank Holiday Weekend and thoughts turn to shopping.  Er, do they?  Well for me they do anyway.  I was strolling through London's Covent Garden the other day, en route to my choir rehearsal and tarried a little to window shop and here's a few highlights:

Now, don't you think that these shoes and boots are slightly fetishy?  I do - it's the studs.  Do you also recall when Victoria Beckham sported a pair of wedge trainers on a sports field many years ago and she was dismissed as being a fashion victim?  Well, I bet she's laughing now (hopefully, although being constantly hungry causes the body to slip into deep depression so I've read....)

I then went into the Dr Martens shop and spied these lovelies - oohh, metallic and spiky!  Yum!  They retailed at about £200 though which is top dollar.  I doubt they'd go up to my size either, but that's both a blessing and a curse for my bank account anyway.  I bet they'd be dead comfy though, unlike high heeled shoes.  Sigh.

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.