I could work from home in sweatpants and slippers, I suppose…nah!

Conveniently cut off my smug grin and my slippers!

Today, Ed is mostly wearing…

@Ross said in Iron Heart Japan Fit Pics - and other great images from Japan…:

Not sure I can pull that one off quite so cool…

@Denman-John - they are the Viberg Service Boot BCT in HRWN Oak Chromepak - on the 2030 last E fit, to be precise. Lovely boots - recent purchase, so very few miles on them so far, but will be my go to for the coming months.

So…@Alex very kindly reached out to me yesterday, and a little over 24 hours later, I have the sample on my back!
The phrase ‘standing on the shoulder of giants’ never felt more apt, bearing in mind the forum legends that have previously put sample items through their paces, as well as the legendary status of the 12oz hickory, as used on the IHSH-07.
My wife gave the fit a nod of approval, so there is no excuse not to wear it continuously for the new few months and see what desk surfing does to the elbows! Straight into a conference call this afternoon, with garage clearing duties and a tip run scheduled for the weekend - I’m showing it the high life from the off!

Interestingly (?) the pocket tabs are grey compared to the red of the IHSH-07 - everything else is the same as the 07 as far as I can tell, but obviously there may or may not be changes by the time the production run comes in.

Just prior to the party, my wife and myself spent a week in Italy - Tuscany and Liguria, to be specific.
We haven’t visited either of these regions previously, so we decided to bear the crowds and largely seek out the ‘greatest hits’ the area has to offer - hoping we’ll get the chance to go back in the future to get off the beaten track.

We stayed in Florence (Tuscany) for the first few days, which is a wonderful place to wonder round, see the sights, people watch, and generally eat and drink well.

Ponte Vecchio:

Piazzale Michelangelo (view from):

Opera Duomo (inc. view from the bell tower):

Piazza Santissima Annunziata:

Piazza Signoria:

We spent a day out visiting Pisa (see the tower, move on, type of place):

Then on to Lucca which is a beautiful walled city from the Renaissance era with a circular central piazza:

We then stayed a few days in La Spezia - ultimately, this is a fortified port town, but was a nice base for a few days:

From La Spezia, we visited Porto Venere:

We then spent a couple of days visiting the villages of Cinque Terre, although the weather restricted walking the (somewhat perilous) trails between the villages:

It’s definitely a tourist hot spot, so not for everyone, but we had a wonderful time there.

I’ll add a separate post in the next day or so with thoughts and recommendations based on information we were provided and/or gleaned from the week, in case anyone is travelling in the area.

Contemplating whether to go 666 or 777 when the ducks restock…
IHSH-303

Hope you’re well, Reuben. @neph93

Oh, and I forgot the @endo homage in our Florence apartment building!

Good few years back now, but I unexpectedly saw a barn owl when out taking some landscape photos one evening. The camera was not set up for a movement shot, and the lens was less than ideal in terms of focal length (so this is a significant crop), but I was so pumped for seeing the bird, let along getting any kind of shot of it…

Viagra Boys - Man Made of Meat

Lyrics are brilliantly ironic, but this line specifically made me LOL…because I lack maturity, thankfully.

“I’m subscribed to your mom's OnlyFans
I spent five bucks a month to get pictures of her flappy giblets”

My older brother gave me this full-length wallet for my 18th birthday - so a long, long time ago. No idea on the make-up, but it used to have brass(?) corner stays, although they disappeared at some point past.
I don’t use it day to day anymore, but it is treasured - it largely stays in a drawer, keeping some IH tokens (and spare stickers) safe!

Very unscientific, but you can get an impression of the post-wash length difference in the before and after photos (against the fly placket).

Just to update, I remeasured immediately after washing (and a very low heat iron), and compared to the ‘out of the bag’ measurements, it had snugged up upto half and inch through the body (chest, waist and opening) as well as in the back length - not much movement in the shoulders or the sleeve though.

I was not able to wear it over the weekend (except for Friday date night), but will now see whether it eases back out with wear - initial impressions are that the chest has loosened up once more, and I’m using the pockets to see whether I can regain some of the lost length in the body (nothing too vigorous).

Dropped a bollock whilst cooking dinner this evening, so expedited the planned wash - quick rinse with no spin, then a 30’, 30 minute wash with slowest (400rpm) spin. Now hang drying - will iron and check the measurements in the morning.

@AdamC - there’s blood in the water…dun dun dun dun dun…

So, exactly a week since its arrival, I have worn the shirt very nearly every waking hour since - which has meant desk work, dog walking, cooking, diy and the aforementioned garage clearance and tip run.
As is attested to throughout the 07 thread, the hickory is a joy to wear, but a bugger to photograph. I did dig out my mirrorless camera to improve on these iPhone shots, only to find my card reader is not compatible since upgrading my laptop - will try and sort that sharpish.
Anyway, the shirt is coming into its own with a bit of crocking and creasing - plus the daily usage is starting to see a bit of softening. I took some quick measurements - the chest has relaxed a tenth or two, and the arms have shortened (creased) a similar amount. I’m going to (cool) wash and drip dry it in the next few days to see what effect, if any, that has.

@Bridger said in Live Concerts:

@Matt well done Matt.

I scored fantastic seats for London.

Huge respect to NIN for keeping prices down in this age of price raping fans (I am looking at you Depeche Mode and Oasis)

Well done @Bridger - would have been interested myself but will be out of the country.

Interested in your comment re ticket prices - and certainly not trying to be inflammatory.

I checked, and paid same for 2 DM tickets 18 months ago as the current single Ticketmaster prices.

Am I reading that wrong? Happy if I am.

A US company's prototype jet has broken the sound barrier in a demonstration it hopes will pave the way for a successor to the Concorde. Boom Supersonic's XB-1 is the first civilian aircraft to achieve the feat since the British-French supersonic airliner, which was retired in 2003. The XB-1 broke the sound barrier for the first time over the Mojave Desert in California. During the test flight, it reached an altitude of 35,000ft before accelerating to Mach 1.1 (844mph) - 10% faster than the speed of sound.
Denver-based Boom Supersonic hopes the XB-1 will pave the way for the development of Overture, the company's supersonic commercial airliner. The XB-1 is around 63ft-long, around one-third the size of Overture, which is intended to seat between 64 and 80 passengers and travel at speeds of up to Mach 1.7. Such speeds would be around twice as fast as subsonic passenger jets, but still slightly slower than the Concorde.
The Overture has already been pre-ordered 130 times by companies such as American Airlines, United Airlines, and Japan Airlines.

So, still trying (and failing) to catch up with Concorde, for which “France and the United Kingdom signed a treaty establishing the development project on 29 November 1962”.