The Slick Brasier | The Stylist Property Know-It-All

So you want to go on a gap year and do something weird and worky to pass the time and scrimp together enough cash to by grass skirts and hula hoops but those crazy fun police have made everything illegal. Gone are the wine making houses, the dolphin feed experiences or the big cat caring jobs instead all that we have is melon picking.
Yup, not how I expected to spend my year away from uni looking for employment either but, here I am picking...wait I’m not even doing that. I’m packing them. Packing them into crates after someone else picked them. I have been staring at the same conveyer belt for three days packing thousands upon thousands of melons into crates dependant on size and I still don’t have enough for a glass of white.
Kill me now and long live Australia. Back packing activities are the best. If only Wolf Creek was real.
Melon picking in Australia
Images: tradenote

Since moving to London fairly recently I have found myself window shopping a lot. London is a very very expensive city to live in and right now my expendable income is pretty much zero. However there is one specific window that keeps on dragging me back and it is located in Harrods. But this not shoes, handbags, dresses or jumpers. It’s pugs. A four legged, scrunchy faced canine with little to no real use in life other than looking cute and sitting inside my dog bag. Yes I said dog bag and yes I intend on buying one right after I get the mut. Call me a moron of the Paris Hilton variety but I don’t care. I want a pug and I don’t care who knows it.
Images: Dune Chaser

So I have been looking for a hard wearing yet almost dressy winter shoe for a while and I think I have finally found something. I think the key considerations to look for are imediatly, comfort and something that will take you warm but also, an element of style, something that is on trend. You can be forgiven for jumping straight towards the UGG boot. But don’t believe the media hype. They are not cool. Hell, they don’t even look good.
Do not forget this.
I digress, my answer to this winter footwear conundrum is as follows. Doily knee high boots from Aldo. Absolute bliss for the toes. These are stylish and pretty looking like a tea part in the summer and are made from a very insulating leather that crawls right the way up to your knee, keeping out those cold cold winter winds that Mumford and Sons sing so keenly about.
On my early Christmas present list.

I was shocked after reading an article on the Telegraph about a new airline seat to fit more passengers on the plane.
The ‘SkyRider’, designed like a saddle enables budget airlines to cram more people in. The seat allows 23inches of legroom, which is 7 inches less than an average seat! The SkyRider is to be unveiled at a conference this week.
My initial thought was “wow that looks uncomfortable” and then reading more about it; I think it is just ridiculous. The makers say the seat is comfortable but recommend that it should only be used on 3-hour flights. Contradiction?
The seats on some budget airlines are bad enough already; some aren’t cleaned regularly enough, have hardly any legroom and are just not comfortable.
With Ryanair also claiming if they could they would create standing positions for some flights, the ‘budget’ in budget airlines is just going to far.
That said, who doesn’t want to pay for a cheap flight? Everyone (including me) moaning about the conditions does not stop us booking on the planes. As Michael O’Leary has said about Ryanair: “We're the Tesco of the airline industry - people may not love us but they'll certainly fly with us” – which is very true.
See the SkyRider at:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travelnews/8001351/SkyRider-new-saddle-seat-allows-airlines-to-cram-more-passengers.html

I was watching BBC London yesterday and it featured the BT Tower and the view, as it is to be open to the general public this weekend. (18 & 19 September)
The event is called Open House London and anyone can wonder around the capital’s greatest architectural structures for free. There are 700 buildings to choose from including the BT Tower top floor.
The BT Tower top floor use to be a restaurant but is no longer normally open to the public. The views looked amazing on the news and the floor revolves, so you can sit in one place and over 20 minutes take in the whole 360-degree view of London.
Unfortunately the tickets for the BT tower were going to be balloted, as demand was so high. The closing date was Monday, so I have missed that. But at least I got a look at the views on the TV!
Image By Alex No Logo aka blackheartking.com