Where did you go barefoot today?

I think it's more acceptable, or at least more understandable, when you're barefoot in the summer heat. I get a lot more awkward looks or comments when I venture out in February and March than I do when I go out in July or August. Even if people aren't tolerant of bare feet, the practice is more understandable when it's hot.

 

I walked out to my garden barefoot this morning, such a lovely day to go barefoot...

 

I got thrown out of a mall today. Not the usual one I shop in but still. The guard intercepted me which leads me to believe they were tracking me on cameras. This is a first for me this summer being day 115 of being barefoot.

 

I shopped barefoot in 2 grocery stores, a Home Depot, and a Target.

 

I went in my backyard with my pooch !

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It's always interesting to me where I encounter problems and where I don't. As I've mentioned before, I hardly ever have any issues when I'm out and about barefoot. To date, this year I've gone to over 330 public businesses, locations, buildings, etc. and have only had one bad experience. That was a couple of weeks ago when I went to a liquor store. I walked in past the employee in question, wandered around till I found what I wanted, and then she refused to ring me up because I wasn't wearing shoes! I guess I've gotta wonder why she didn't say anything when I entered! Oh well, as I reported at the time, I went to another liquor store and found the same item $1.00 cheaper!!

Okay, today I thought I'd be the ultimate sacrificial lamb. I needed some watch batteries and had some other shopping, so I went barefoot to a high end mall. I figured I'd be stopped before I ever got to the entrance. Much to my surprise, I entered, went up the stairs in the middle of the mall, and went to the watch repair store - no issue! I wanted to check out something at Macy's at one end of the mall, so I wandered down there, walked through the store, couldn't find what I wanted, and left. I took the escalator (You know, with the "No Bare Feet" warning) back upstairs. I needed to answer the call of nature (that's what I get for having coffee before leaving home, LOL) and walked by a Security Guard on my way to the restroom. No comment! By then, I figured my watches were ready to be picked up, so I wandered back over to the watch repair shop. While inside, another mall Security Officer passed by, looked inside, smiled, and waved! I finished my business, and exited through an adjoining sporting goods store. No comments about my feet the entire time I was in the mall, no issues, no nothing! I pretty much walked from one end of the mall to the other, past a couple of security guards, and nothing! I don't get it. Some people act like it's the most horrible thing to be barefoot, but then I can go to an upscale mall without a problem. I really think it all has to do with the mindset of the individual versus any policies.

 

So I got thrown out of another store for transgressing barefoot. Odd thing was this is a small hardware store I've been in uncountable times barefoot. No one, including the owner ever said anything. But the owner wasn't there, just an employee. I'm thinking that its because, both times I got hassled, I was wearing shorts so I was more obvious. So, despite some conclusions (presented here) that what you wear doesn't matter, I'm thinking wearing shorts is a bit of a problem.

 

Hi barefeetdude, for some reason i couldn't reply to your PM, but i live in Hull and spend most weekends working (bf) at a nature reserve.
My pic is on their website www.watersedgecountrypark.org
Click on events and it's at the top left, it may take a few secs. for it to change.

 

Last weekend I did all of my shopping getting around on single crutch and with my foot bare.

 

Kia Ora!
nǐ hǎo!

Only a couple of weeks to go to the 3 month mark. It's going to be hard readjusting myself to wearing shoes when the cold returns. I went to buy a book yesterday, and I am definitely going back today. Used book stores are such great places and every one I have been to is barefoot friendly.

E haere ra!

 

I have'nt really worn shoes since summer started. lol

 

I have been off and on crutches for the last two years, and I think crutches are the ultimate go anywhere barefoot pass!

Today went to check out an old truck on a farm barefoot and on crutches. It was still frosty in the shade whch was a bit of a challenge for my bare foot, and the mud was a bit difficult for my crutches, but I managed to keep my cast dry, with the awesome feeling of mud oozing betwee the toes of my good foot. Winter is a great time for bare feet.

 

Yesterday I went to do some urban barefooting - the usual trip to town and do some grocery shopping. The town center was almost deserted, since I (being not interested in soccer and that world cup thing) went there shortly before a game with German participation started. This time, no shopping-cart accidents, so my toes were undamaged.
It was quite hot, with 34°C in the shade and very warm sunlit spots on the paved sidewalks. The cool tile floors in the subway station and the supermarket felt wonderful underfoot.

In the evening, as it had cooled down after a rain shower, it felt just great to walk barefoot to a pal's place,. where we had our regular fantasy role-playing game campaign going on... my character is kind of turning into a superhero, lately, being 100% resistant against poison and now also 100% resistant against fire (regular as well as magical fire)... that's what you get for being obsessed by the ghost of a dragon. So, he could now pursue the career of a fire-walker.

Today I have made a barefoot walk into the laundry room so far, which I will repeat in a short while, since the machine should be done soon. Later on, there will be the usual walk in the park, too... after all, I need to gather some Mother Earth energy before it's back into "the machione" for office work again tomorrow. Alas, the two weeks of barefoot freedom are ending today.

Wiggling bare toes of a part-time bow-wielding woodsrunner,

~*Ganesha*~

 

Nice 5 mile walk to and from a car boot sale (like a yard sale, but with cars rather than a house being the point of sale) - some smiles and good eye contact from some nice people on my meandering there and around the site, but the usual 'no shoes' and pointing from a loudmouth man on arrival. Car boot sale was on a mostly gravel area, so it was a bit 'hurty', but I cared not a jot. Lovely free foot massage, and very dirty feet now...

 

Went to a wedding barefoot yesterday with my wife.

 

It's 100 degrees out and I expected to get scorched but all my practice is paying off, as I'm sure Iowa has discovered also.

 

Kia Ora and Ni Hao!!

FINALLY made it out to the pacific ocean and got to wade around a bit. For the first time in my life I got to see surfboards being used in person, and it was amazing to watch how well some of them can surf. Being on such a huge beach with a massive ocean in front of you was surprisingly intimidating, but an exhilarating feeling nonetheless.

I got to do some barefoot hiking today! I asked a runner for directions to the trail and the first thing he said was i like your style and pointed downward. he started talking about the barefoot running craze, and he said he owns a pair of VFF's. next, I went to the trail and all of the different surfaces felt so amazing that I am definitely going to take up hiking when I move to NZ as I hear their mountains are even better than ours in usa. I never knew hiking could be such a joy until I tried it barefoot!

Cheers!

 

fixed the bike, grabbed my tent, borrowed a backpack from friends and went to an yearly road artists' festival in Pelago, a small burg on the hills 30 km north east from Florence. This happening is coupled to a rave party, improvised street entrepreneurs and a lot of weirdness to say the least and seems to magnetize barefooters in the radius of 200 miles around . or I'd better say that it attracts the fraction of population more relaxed about barefooting and nudity in general, hippies, neohippies, counterculture folks of all sizes and colors, a big bunch of punks that seem to be less fond of combat boots than i expected, and country people that simply didn't lose the traditional habits. it is obvious that it's not a place for millionaires.
apart from barefoot performers in the ticket area I watched some of the most consistent BF'ers and though I didn't spot any of them marching on the scorching asphalt from the horribly hot slope where we all squatters camped to the medieval village there were many (including one amazingly beautiful girl in a silk sari i never dared to talk to :blush5 who apparently shunned shoes all the time. luckily the crowd showed some respect for the olive grove in which we were camping and only a few lonely idiots wronged it for a junkyard .

in this occasion i literally drew out of dirt and mold my old boots because I chickened out at the idea of riding an old bike over 300 km of highway and mountain hairpin turns in my bare feet, but since i was wearing gloves and helmet i thought that adding boots wasn't big deal (each time i stopped i abandoned boots and helmet) when i arrived i befriended a bunch of really wacky fellas which agreed to keep locked in their van my stuff, including of course the boots, after that i helped them fixing their power generator and them with my motorcycle tools and first aid kit. so my boots got locked there all the time. i was caught off guard though when a young girl that kept me good company for awhile started bothering about me going barefoot in town with her, which honestly puzzled me since she was shoeless as well in the camp so i couldn't see the point. i mean, there were more chances to thread on unpleasant stuff in the camp rather than on the road . also, even in this context i managed to get looks from people but just when marching on scorching black asphalt at 0200 PM .

btw do you people know how much slippery can dry grass get ? i barely avoided to slip and fall almost a dozen times and this also caused a tragedy for which the town authorities are the major culprits. since this festival isn't precisely your quiet backyard party and the crowd pisses out bad the natives they decided to confine all the campers in that damned olive field far from the burg instead of letting them free to camp in less perilous and less steep spots of grass and clearings in town , thus causing the incredible overcrowding of vans, trailers (lots of) cars and tents in a dangerous place without the least comfort (no water, no power, just three portable toilets that no one dared to approach) and eventually one poor dude was ran over and crushed against an olive tree by his own parked van which skidded unexpectedly. don't know about his fate. I myself had quite a lot of troubles attempting to leave the camp because the steepness of the place which prevented me to start the engine, the slippery ground, the crowding that made dangerous operating a bike among scores of people collapsed on the grass, vehicles, tents and stuff and last but not less important i was totally exhaust because of almost no food, no sleep , way too much heat and the above mentioned chick. i managed to drag the bike by hand to safety and finally understood why I was the sole motorcyclist there...

 

Well, since my two-week leave is over (with the second half suffering from a bad summer cold - including two days of lying in bed coughing as loud as a Rottweiler dog's bark, nose running like a faucet and fever...), it's the usual barefooting on my way to and from the office - with a special treat yesterday, since shortly before the end of my shift, it suddenly became dark, and a heavy shower poured down... most people were concerned about getting to the bus stop or parking lot without getting wet and I was rejoicing, thinking about the joy and pleasure of splashing barefoot in fresh puddles. And - magnificent timing - as I was finished with my day's work, the rain had stopped, the early evening sun was peeking out again, and I had the delightful feeling of rain water and puddles underfoot - not quite as cool (as far as temperature was concerned) as I expected, since the sun-warmed pavement had warmed up the water to being lukewarm, but very pleasant nonetheless...

That shower brought a little cool spell with it overnight, with morning temperatures today being just around 12°C - a pleasant change to the scorching hot temperatures we had a few days ago... I will definitely enjoy feeling slightly cool surfaces this morning - for I know that there will be more summer heat with temperatures above 30°C waiting for me this week (definitely the best to spend a day in a large office without A/C... ).

Wiggling bare and happy toes,

~*Ganesha*~

 

I spent the entire holiday weekend on my crutches with my foot bare. No hassles in any of the places I went.