Guest post from Sandro no.2

Sandro is writing from the perspective of somebody from the former Soviet Union where shoes-off is rather more common. Plastic bags might not be a common alternative or compromise in the west, but some of the arguments he offers against them could also be applied to shoe covers. For most people, taking their shoes-off should not be an hardship so shoe covers should not really be necessary.

On Plastic Bags

Sometimes, plastic/fabric bags are seen an altenative for slippers/stockinged feet. Yet I think there are some reasons to disfavor those:

1)whatever tramplians think of what they call the ugliness of feet, bags look obviosuly awkward, and so would feel anyone wearing them; a girl in in a Russian forum suggested such bags as an alternative when visiting homes, but everybody laughed at this suggesion.

2)such bags are really slippery and so dangerous for the wearer; a lady in a Baku forum said she had been using them in her child's kindergarten until she fell a couple of times, which made her switch to slippers.

3)street shoes are not allowed in kindergartens and hospitals around the ex-Soviet countries; visitors ar often offered bags to put on their shoes; yet quite often shoes-off is still required, with optional bags/stockinged feet/slippers; the reason is dirt from shoes still penetrates fabric and plastic, especially if there is some leakage.

4)shoe bags still don't protect parquet from heels

Tip For Party Hosts

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If you are hosting a shoeless party and a guest arrives who is wearing a very nice pair of shoes or a pair of shoes you know to be new, always complement them. That way, they will not mind so much leaving them at the door.

OT On Wheels: The Woman Who Would Not Take Off Her Shoes; in which I discuss my Disappointment with Home Carers lack of Respect

OT On Wheels: The Woman Who Would Not Take Off Her Shoes; in which I discuss my Disappointment with Home Carers lack of Respect

I asked her, “Please would you mind taking your shoes off? We don’t wear shoes in the house.”

“No, sorry, I can’t. Health and Safety.”

“What do you mean? Don’t you have some inside shoes?”

“No. We’ve been through this before, we don’t take our shoes off when were on the job.”

It might be hard for her to understand the implications of this. For me, this is a direct violation of my express wishes and an intrusion into my living space. My carpet is a little symbolic- I saved for a long time to afford it, because I considered it important for my family. It’s warm, and it’s clean. Nobody in the family is allowed to wear shoes on the new carpet- visitors may occasionally visit the bathroom, but no-one comes into the bedrooms with shoes on at all. Apart, that is, from the Home Care.

Isadora Duncan- Pioneer of Modern Dance

Isadora Duncan (1877-1927) is generally viewed as the originator of the Modern Dance movement. She rejected the techniques of ballet in favour of more natural, emotive and free-flowing movements. She established several influential dance schools.

Rejecting the tight outfits and dance pumps of ballet, she and her pupils danced in loose-fitting Grecian style tunics and bare feet. Isadora Duncan might not have been the first professional dancer in Europe or America to dance bare foot, but under her influence, this became standard practice in modern dance. Her work challenged the assumption that everything needs to be done with shoes on. That is the kind of thinking that this blog is about.

Twister

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Remember that game?

I remember when I was a teenager I used to go to parties and they would get me to play Twister. I used to find the game really irritating.

Twister is one game which must be played in socks or bare feet.

Being a shoe-less game, Twister might seem the perfect accompaniment for a shoe-less party. But is this a good idea?

Being a prudish fundamentalist, I would question whether Twister in mixed-sex adult company is really quite decent, but I will leave the morality of it to one side.

For a low-key, informal party with close friends where shoes-off is expected, Twister might be a perfect game to play.

Nevertheless, some people think removing shoes at a party is really tacky. If you then ask these people to play Twister, they will consider your party to be embarassingly juvenile. While we should make no apology for asking such guests to remove their shoes, it is arguable that we must win them over by the quality of our wine, the delights of our food and the intelligence of our conversation.

On the other hand, you have asked them to remove their shoes and get more intimate. With a few drinks to loosen inhibitions, you could argue that Twister is the logical progression from asking party guests to slip off their shoes.

A Rather Obvious Answer

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"If you are so obsessed with keeping your floor clean, don't invite anybody to your home."

If you are so obsessed with what you are wearing, don't visit anybody's home.

Home Viewing in New Zealand

There are frequently property programmes on in the hospital staff room during the day. At the moment, there is often a program on which is about families relocating to other countries and looking at houses abroad. Usually on this program, it is families moving to Australia. However, there were a family wanting to move to New Zealand on today.

Usually when viewing the Australian homes, the participants keep their shoes on. However, in New Zealand taking shoes off at the door is much more common. The family on the show today all took their shoes off, along with the agent. With this being New Zealand where people commonly go barefoot outdoors, they did not bother putting their shoes on again when viewing the lawn and garden and so went outside in their socks!