Where did you go barefoot today?

Yeah, that's mostly true. I've sure been lots of places barefoot without being hassled. Sometimes I get curious questions or a misguided concern for my safety. I have had all the usual confrontations more times than I wish however, and so there are a few places that I'll just go ahead and slip on my flipflops.

 

went to Radio Shack, Pier One, Bed Bath and Beyond, O'Rielly auto parts, Kroger and Office Depot

 

Went to Fine Fare and On the Run barefoot, but to Burger King, my Ugg boots were the only way in as I respect the sign banning bare feet. BTW, it was 43F/06C and still the snow/ice is melting when I did this.

 

Well, it's a bit belated (Hippy New Year, everyone, BTW), but I was able to be barefoot on the final day of 2010, due to temperatures being as "mild" as around 0°C/32F, although the weather was holding a potential danger, since it was drizzling, rather than snowing, which might have turned sidewalks into treacherously slippery black ice tracks... Fortunately, it didn't, and since the sidewalks I regularly use were mostly cleared of snow and slush, I decided to make a barefoot shopping trip to town.

And since I was about to show my bare toes to the the world, it was time to get them into nice shape, including cutting my toe nails. And as I was doing so, holding my toes, while cutting the nails, I felt the formerly blistered skin underneath the frostbitten toes of my right foot coming loose, and as I carefully pulled, it came off, revealing fully-healed, new and quite tender skin below. So, the sources I've read were right in telling me, that a full healing can take up to three weeks... in my case it were 15 days, which tells me that my body deals with such small injuries quite well. From one of the two toes, the old skin, which had felt like leather, when it was still on, came off looking like a tiny leather bag. To show the size of that - literally - self-made piece of leather, I put a European penny, a 1-cent coin (diameter: 16.25 mm - 0.64 inches) next to it on my palm. Certainly, those crime shows on TV must have influenced me in using a scale marker like a penny and taking a picture of it:



I wonder, what my favourite TV criminologist, Abby Sciuto, might think about this... After all, Pauley Perrette was seen barefoot a few times on NCIS and elsewhere as well...



Anyway, in some spots a bit of the old skin remained, and the danger was, as it is with any open blister, that the tissue underneath might be too tender for my plans to go out barefoot and have my toes meet near-freezing cold ground (or even colder in spots where salt had been used), possible skin irritations from that salt, the occasional still-frozen slush and snow, or the melted slush, which feels even colder than the frozen sort. Those two toes now felt like totally untrained tenderfoot toes, very soft and fragile. I decided to take a few precautions to protect me feet from the cold, such as putting on my leg warmers, not putting on toe rings, packing a pair of emergency shoes (my usual office Birks, to be precise) and applying bag balm to my soles and toes to keep the skin supple and warm - the massage effect from rubbing it onto my feet as well as the insulating quality of that thick cream warmed my feet up considerably... and made them smell nicely of marigold, too (that being one of the ingredients of that cream). Furthermore, the protective layer of grease also prevented salt to gnaw on my now partly tender toes. Thus prepared, I went out, felt the pavement underfoot, which was not as cold as I figured it to be, and went on my way to the tram stop. On one short strip of sidewalk, I encountered partly frozen slush and hard-packed snow, with fine grit strewn over it, for anti-skid purposes. On this, bare feet again proved best as far as traction is concerned. And even though I stepped on little spots of frozen slush with a fine film of rain water on it, I never slipped. Score one for bare feet in winter. I made it to the tram stops, with feet showing no signs of coldth damage, and even the tender toes felt OK, with only a slight tingle from the cool temperatures.



After waiting five minutes, the tram arrived and I got on, feeling my feet warm up immediately, the protective bag balm coating still working. And even though I had walked on parts of the sidewalks that had been salted, there was no burning or irritating sensation on any part of my bare soles. I sat in the tram, reading a book, listening to my favourite music (of course, I had my acoustic shielding device - the MP3 player - with me, as usual). There were next to no reactions on my barefoot state from other passengers on the tram, "The Look"® did not occur as yet.
On getting off the tram at the central station underground stop, some people saw my bare feet, and those were the first occurrences of "The Look"®, but only mild ones. I didn't see people making fun of it, but just astonished faces on the way from the underground stop into the mall and to the ATM. On entering the supermarket, it felt like someone had issued a warning of sort, that people should get out and hoard comestibles, since there was a long weekend ahead. All checkout lanes were open, with ten or more people queueing up at each line. I got a shopping cart, and made my way through the aisles, getting the goods I needed, and never thought about the only danger for bare toes while doing so: the cart's rear end with the wheels to stub toes on... and so, I went through the supermarket without any toe damage. After I had what I came for, I joined the trend of the other shoppers in queueing up at one of the checkout lanes. Standing there, my bare toes met the unbelieving stare of a little girl, who then pointed out my bare feet to her mother. She glanced at my feet, then at my face, both disapprovingly, then ignored me. Since that girl and her mother were of Turkish - and most likely Muslim - origin, they treated bare feet in public as looking at something "unclean" in the terms of their religion. I have often met looks of disapproval and even loathing on the faces of Muslim people when they beheld my bare feet - and sometimes they even spat out disdainfully after seeing me walk barefoot. Talking about bare feet and hygiene... I think that such behaviour, leaving wads of their spittle on the sidewalks, is way less hygienic than walking barefoot. Other than that occurrence of "The Look"® from that kid, my shopping went by unhassled, and after paying and packing my bags, I went out of the mall - which was way overheated, as usual - and went outside, to cool down a little and have a smoke before my tram was due to leave. At the mall's exit, a few spots had been cleared of snow and slush, and the pavement was feeling cool and wet underfoot.
Standing there, enjoying the cool and relaxing sensation of the wet pavement, I met two strong occurrences of "The Look"®, as a woman, accompanying an elder man, was about to enter the mall and took a quick glance at my bare feet and hery eyes went so wide that they were in danger of popping out of their sockets, her mouth open - with that expression, she looked me in the eyes, then back at my feet, then poked her accomplice, just as they entered the mall. Had her jaw been unhinged, it would have done the typical Tex Avery cartoon wolf's jaw drop to the ground with its trademark metallic clang. The wide-eyed look of shock also reminde me of that typical wolf's reaction before wolf-whistling and howling (typically on beholding a cartoon bombshell of a woman)



The second reaction was a man, who also had a smoke a few steps away from me, not noticing my bare feet for a few minutes, but as he beheld them did a double-take, and moved his lips, most likely asking "Isn't that too cold??" while pointing at my feet. Since I had my MP3 player turned on, I could most easily ignore his question and on seeing my non-reaction, he shrugged, went to the ashtray/trachcan combo, stubbed out his cigarette and went inside. At least he properly disposed of his cigarette butt other than flicking it to the ground, as some other people passing by did.
Other than those two strong reactions, "The Look"® occurred only seldomly, since people tend to look downwards less often checking for footwear in colder seasons. Therefore, as I went inside again to get to the underground stop to make my barefoot way home, I received again next to no reactions. And the same can be said about my tram trip home, with filled shopping bags placed on the tram's floor between my feet. On exiting the tram, a few passengers stared out of the window, just then realizing, that there was a man walking barefoot over near-freezing ground. I was paying more attention to the ground conditions, though, since the drizzle had increased, leaving more water on patches of frozen slush - and there was one such patch I had to master just at a ped crossing I had to use. Aside from having to wait for a couple with their pram (!) to cross the road safely, holding me up as well as car traffic - the mother had some difficulties pushing the pram through patches of almost ankle-deep, partly frozen slush - I had no problems walking on that surface. Even though sidewalks were tended to by people living in the adjacent houses (as it is their or the landlord's duty to do so, depending on their tenance contract), ped crossings were the duty of municipal winter road maintenance, and that clearly focused on keeping the roads free for motored vehicles, not caring much about pedestrians, be they barefoot or shod.
Even though the father had taken over pushing the pram through the slush, they only made slow progress, blocking my way, too, since they were en route to the same apartment house I live. Anyway, I got back home safe, unhassled, pain-free and with my "new toes" feeling A-Okay, too.

All in all, it was a successful test of barefooting for my newly healed toes as well as a fitting end of the barefoot year, spent unshod outdoors for a short while, too.
And now, it's off to a happy barefoot new year - with lots of barefooting ahead, to be sure.

Wiggling bare toes, wishing for a milder rest of winter,

~*Ganesha*~

 

With the disappearance of snow and ice here in Nottingham the feetsies were out again yesterday (rainy but relatively mild, 5 degrees C) and today (colder but above freezing) and how great it is to be barefoot again. Went to Tesco Extra yesterday and was anticipating a demand to re-clad my feet, but no such hassles, despite passing several 'important' looking staff members. Just a few 'looks' as described by Ganesha, but no hassle at all.

Also been able to slip off shoes at work a few times (I work in a call centre environment) without any adverse comments from colleagues, which bodes well, despite the 'shoes must be worn' thing in the contract.

Happy and healthy !

 

Forgot to add the comments I got when the snow and ice was abound - couple of sales assistants in shops I normally frequent asked me where my feet were, as opposed to where my shoes were, which was refreshing !

 

The first Sunday of the new year, and the weather decided to play nice, too... to live up to its name, the sun came out today, raising temperatures slightly above frost level to up to 2°C/35.6F, making it mild enough for me to not only go barefoot to the gas station across the road to replenish soda and smoke supplies, but also to take a barefoot Sunday stroll to the park - my usual Sunday barefoot pastime. Since it was a spontaneous decision, I did not prepare my feet with bag balm, but decided to meet the sidewalks with bare feet as they were... I also broke my "silver rule" about toe rings, and wore one on my left foot.

As I had seen and felt on my barefoot shopping trip on New Year's Eve day. most of the sidewalks had been taken care of by the people living next to them, rather than by municipal winter road maintenance. And on the way down to the park, those friendly neighbourhood people had cleared the sidewalks not only a foot wide, as most lazy neighbours would, but cleared a nicely wide path, allowing two people to pass each other by without having to do acrobatic evasive maneouvres. Of course, the cleared bits of pavement were also strewn with various anti-skid helpers, such as different sorts of grit and in some places. One exception was a small strip of sidewalk, where none of the still-frozen slush had been moved away, but a special sort of organic and bio-degradable anti-skid was strewn onto: sawdust.



OK, that's a different approach of making me feel like a barefoot circus sensation, for sure... but, all kidding aside, it's a nice and barefoot-friendly approach, really. Another effective and foot-friendly alternative would have been sand, as I encountered that in last year's winter, 2009/2010. I sent a silent thanks towards the house, where the sawdust trails were leading to, in my name, as well as in the name of all other barefooters and bare-pawed dogs, not having to pad through irritating salt at least on this part of the sidewalk. Although this was quite thoughtful, I found that in the places, where frozen slush still was lying on the pavement (e.g. on having to cross small intersecting streets), my bare feet gave me excellent traction. Since there were only a few people around, passing me by, "The Look"® only occurred occasionally... until I came to the bus stop near the park entrance, where a group of four elderly people was having a conversation, almost oblivious to their surroundings. And since I approached soundlessly on bare soles, they didn't hear me coming, but as I stood right in front of them, they hurried to move out of the way as gracefully as they could, since they had to step onto frozen surfaces to let me pass. And, even though I had my trusty MP3 player with me, listening to my favourite Trance album (Ekoplex, Creatures of the Forest), I could clearly see their mouths change from talking to gaping mode, remaining open in mid-talk, as they saw me walk barefoot past them towards the park entrance.

On entering the park, I saw that the first part of the entranceway had been totally cleared of any snow or ice, which is understandable, since that paved part of the entrance also leads to the adjacent theatre building's back entrance, and for delivery trucks to be able to reach it without trouble, that way had to be cleared totally. However, beyond that, all paths leading into the park were totally untended and still white with old snow. I tried out the first part of that path, carefully stepping onto the old, crusted snow, making my way to the first fork turning left, where I could take a look over the frozen pond and beheld a winter wonderland, while standing on that frozen white stuff, toes tingling...





And since that tingling sensation was increasing especially in the two newly-healed but still tender two toes on my right foot, that had sustained frostbite more than two weeks ago, I decided to kaap my barefoot visit to the park this short, turned around and exited the park after only a few minutes. Furthermore, the path leading deeper into the park has a more than ten-degree downward angle, and that layer of old crusted snow, which had thawed at the top, then frozen over, then thawed again, etc. for a few times just appeared a little too unsafe to walk on for my taste (barefoot or shod). On exiting the park, I marveled at the light filtering through the trees that only occurs on winter afternoons, when the sun is low over the horizon, milky clouds appear and the whole sky gets a buttery yellow appearance.

I made my way back up to the large crossroads near my apartment house, again silently thanking the friendly neighbours for their good work in making the sidewalks safe to walk on.

As I arrived opposite the place I live, I noticed what a sidewalk looks like, if a lazy neighbour tends to it... those guys even leave the dog poo lying there. Yuck!



Some people tend to believe, that it means good luck to step in that... as things can only improve for the better afterwards. However, I rather stick to other and less pungent lucky charms. A Happy Barefoot New Year, everyone.

Wiggling bare toes,

~*Ganesha*~

 

2 days ago i went for a run through some local trails. Due to the mild weather and recently melted snow it was extremely muddy over long sections of the trail. I took my trainers off and carried them for a while but I was soon in agony and had to put them back on. As Ive found out, 8 degrees C is too cold for me and I could barely feel the mud anyway as my feet were going numb! I only lasted about 3 mins. I passed a young couple jogging who were smiling but didnt look at me or my feet as they passed, An older couple acted like they hadnt seen anything, even though it was plainly obvious I was carrying my trainers in my hand. English folks are far too polite to stare the majority of the time! Looking forward to warmer weather..

 

I like to say "Here, there and evereywher" - but due to Health and Safety Regs (Which ARE good in there own right) I am directed not to do so in work - so have to resort to 'Crocs/sandals)
Still at the moment, Im on leave so - woo hoo !

 

My cat went missing on Sunday which meant a hike through the woods yesterday afternoon - very cold underfoot, but soon warmed up as I squidged through the mud looking for my errant moggy. No luck finding him (he turned up for tea that night, 48 hrs late) but a nice hike nonetheless.

Today, a quick schlep into my local suburban shopping centre - a few comments (we'd had a light but ineffective sprinkling of snow, and temps were above freezing) the best being from a bloke who cycled past me asking 'Lost your shoes ?' I replied not lost, just not being worn and he said 'that's the best way isn't it', to which I replied 'yup indeedy'

 

Due to mild weather (temps over 10°C) and the thaw melting away old, crusted snow and frozen slush, I was able to spent a whole weekend unshod:

• Friday: barefoot on my way to the office and in the office for the first hour of the work day, before the bosses arrived. Leaving the office barefoot after work was the starting point of an unshod weekend.
• Saturday: with temps reaching almost 15°C, I certainly went barefoot on my weekend shopping trip to a tobacconist, a drug store and my usual supermarket, without hassles. Later, in the evening I went to our RPG group barefoot in the rain.
• Sunday: The barefoot Sunday stroll in the park... greatly enjoying the different textures of a park, where the ground had turned from frozen to slightly muddy. Even though it was slightly cooler with temps around 6°C, it was a feast for bare soles.

As usual, I have put a detailed report and pictures in my barefoot diary on my web site.

And even though the temperatures have now just reached 0°C, I am planning to leave my apartment for the way to work in my bare feet, too. With dry grounds, it's not as dangerous as the times, when snow and slush were covering the pavement... and the weather forecasts are telling me about temperatures rising again to well over 10°C by mid-week... so, apart from the hours at work, my toes will wiggle freely and bare this week, too.

Wiggling bare toes with delight,

~*Ganesha*~

 

Nice squishy wet conditions today if a little cold 6 degrees C (43 F). Set to be a mild but wet end to the week with temperatures rising to a tropical 11 degrees C (52 F) which in my mind is perfect bf-ing weather

 

Went to town and then later went to school to change one of my subjects for next year. Then nearly trod in dog shit on the way home.

 

Back to Tesco's again - third time I've been bf in there. Security bloke gave me a funny look, but no hand was put up with a No Entry sign so happily shopped away. Got a nice comment from a girl in the lift asking where my shoes were and saying she needed two layers of socks and shoes on as she was cold. I told her I wasn't cold at all.

 

I agree about Louisiana being barefoot friendly. During my last trip to New Orleans I got around on my bare foot most of the time. No one seemed to notice.

 

Even though last week limited my barefooting due to those office dress code rules, I was able to take lots of barefoot steps before and after work, and even in the office, before the bosses and bigwigs arrived... the current mild weather with temperatures above 10°C (50F) is just ideal for barefooting - especially on rainy days, when I make sure not to miss a puddle.


As usual, I put footnotes (pun very much intended) of these last few days onto my barefoot diary page, too.

Wiggling bare toes, now happily facing a fully barefoot weekend,

~*Ganesha*~

 

My boss says no barefooting around the office, but at my desk is fine - a reasonable compromise as I spend most of my time at my desk anyway. Once I reach the door, shoes are put on (entering) and taken off (exiting)

Woman on the bus politely asked me why I wore no shoes and I took much pleasure in discussing the merits of a shoeless existence with her - she was very interested.

Still not having any problems in my local Tesco Extra despite my own misgivings that they'd impede entry to the store. Sometimes you can be pleasantly surprised.

Did discover however, that one of the shopping centres in Nottingham, the Victoria, has a 'footwear must be worn' policy, although none of the security bods have ever enforced it with me (yet).

 

It is the third weekend of this year, and also the third weekend fit for spending time barefoot outdoors. So far, the new year and its weather has been barefoot-friendly, indeed.
And since it's Saturday, of course, it's also the time for some barefoot shopping, as usual.
So, I went my usual way by public transport to the city center, into the mall, encountering "The Look"® occasionally, but no comments - at least I did not hear any, protected by the acoustic shields of my MP3 player. I went to the tobacconist and the supermarket, all unhassled and, with my usual two shopping bags, went outside the mall, which was overheated as usual, too, to cool off and have a smoke before taking the tram back home. Nothing out of the ordinary so far.
Two teenage fashion-victim boys were staring at me, perhaps bewildered more by the fact that I was owning and operating a state-of-the-art smartphone while being barefoot. People still seem to think that being barefoot is a poverty thing. OK, I'm not rich by Western standards, but I live debt-free and have enough money to live a comfortable life and have some things that can be viewed as pure luxury, since they aren't real necessities of life (owning two computers, for instance, one stationary and one portable, is pure luxury, indeed).

After those two teenagers had passed me, a man stepped up to me, smiling, wearing a typical winter outfit, with a light coat, scarf and woolen cap - too warm for my taste on a cloudy day with 10°C. I thought that he was about to bum me for a cigarette, tuned down my MP3 player, took an earphone out, and heard him ask "Excuse me, I'm curious and I wondered why you're standing here barefoot?" - He was addressing me with the informal German "Du", which is normally seen as rude or at least bad behaviour among strangers, but since he was friendly and otherwise well-behaved, I did not mind. I eplained to him the wellness and health reasons for my barefooting. Of course, he did ask, whether it wasn't dangerous, since I might catch a cold and such things... at which I smiled and explained to him, that even though the word "cold" implies cold weather, it's actually a viral infection and not the cold weather causing it.
In fact, my walking barefoot provides some inurement against cold, I explained to him, quoting the health rules of old Father Kneipp. He then said, that he wondered whether I was barefoot due to some illness, but I again assured him, that it's for health reasons, taking stress off my joints and ligaments and for general wellness reasons, too.
He nodded, smiled and then said "I thought it was for other reasons that you're barefoot..."
I did not inquire any further what he meant by that, but it might have been the typical associations of 'hippie', 'sect' or 'cult'. I decided to leave it at the health and wellness reasons - I was not sure how he might have reacted to my spiritual reasons... He did not look like a member of the target group for such thoughts and feelings. We exchanged first names - he introduced himself as Hans - and he wished me safe walks on all my ways. I smiled, shook hands with him and wished him a nice weekend.

Definitely a different and very positive reaction to my bare feet.

Wiggling bare toes,

~*Ganesha*~

 

I don't usually go out feet bared. Most times if my feet are bare I'm just thumbing through a magazine, or trying to get in some me time on the laptop. It's not hard to put on socks though, I just don't feel like doing it right now, but if I go anywhere I usually do.

 

Where didn't I go barefoot?