Keep seeing kids walking around Zurich and out hiking without shoes on. Clearly not a poverty thing. Is this 'normal' here, part of being swiss?
It's the barefoot revival! The healthiest thing possible, you should try it too. Try not to live a parallel life like your avatar.
Think I'll stick with my sandals..
I once saw a guy in the organic shop next to me, barefoot.
Only, it was so cold outside that I was already wearing gloves (on the bike).
Was one of those "WTF?" moments.
And makes one feel totally wimpy ;-)
Natag
5 October 2011 18:43
5
In Australia my nephew goes to school without shoes. It's quite the norm there!
Healthy ? With all the glass and other debris on the ground ? With all the oil and other such substances ?
Normally you don't encounter oil and other such substances while out hiking. Obviously, common sense where you go barefoot and where shod
Min_B
5 October 2011 19:56
8
Maybe in the outback... I grew up in a small town of about 2000, but we still had to wear shoes to school...
I love being barefoot. Or wearing thongs (flip flops, for those Americans ;-) ) When I was managing a Surf Shop and studying it was all I wore! It was great!
Thyia
5 October 2011 21:08
9
They are flip flops to the Brits too, thongs are what women wear
I remember my embarrassment when one of my friends was showing me round her house.
I'd taken my shoes off upon arrival, as normal, and padded quite happily upstairs and down until she led me down the gravel path in her garden.
How was I to know that she'd grown up in Zimbabwe and developed soles like leather in the process?
Ouch.
Whatever, to go around barefoot, is a sign that you are out of a medieval and horrible and extremely poor environment
Sebude
5 October 2011 21:14
13
I feel like you DB, love being tootsie free but boy do I dislike stepping on gravel
Min_B
5 October 2011 21:18
14
Or from a beach town, or safe area, where extra protection of the feet isn't needed because there isn't broken glass and needles around...
There must be a few Saffs here that , like me , played bare foot Rugby in Transvaal ? What the hell were those ball/jack type thorns that , when belting down the right wing , would cause me to pull up and hop the rest of the way ?
chiap
5 October 2011 21:35
16
Blackjacks
As children, when playing outdoors, we never wore shoes! At school I remember some kids would actually take their shoes off during recess/break time to go and play on the field.
Stains we battled to get off the soles of our feet were: grass stains from freshly cut grass and mulberries (that had fallen to the ground obviously )
*sigh* good times
You are joking of course?
Natag
5 October 2011 21:47
18
Nope not the outback, Cairns. Urbanised area, not the country.
Thyia
5 October 2011 21:59
19
I never put anything on my feet when I go out to the mail box (not in winter) but I don't half get some funny looks from the neighbours.
Olati
5 October 2011 22:12
20
When I was a kid, my Mum would make me wear shoes to school....... but I would take them off when I got there.
Rainy days were terrible, as it was quite obvious that I did this as I would go home with clean shoes and socks over my muddy legs.
(....... some things you just don't think through when you are 8yo)
Later on, Nike and Reebok etc became all the rage, and you would do ANYTHING to get a pair on you feet.
Barefoot is the way forward......... shoes are for the suckers of marketing.