re-post
It is commonly thought that people who insist on shoes-off in their homes are neat freaks who are obsessed with keeping their homes clean and tidy.
I dare say that there are some people who prefer shoes-off who are genuine neat freaks. And those who are Obsessive-Compulsive about cleanliness may well be among the shoes-off community.
Of course this is culturally relative. In Japan it is thought that money is dirty and unhygeinic because it is handled by untold numbers of people. Japanese people also regard any objects placed in bathrooms, such as books or ornaments to be 'dirty'. A person in a western society who held such attitudes would almost certainly be regarded as Obsessive-Compulsive.
I have known a number of people who really were excessive in their desire to keep their homes clean. Interestingly, these people did not require visitors to remove their shoes. I suspect that they probably spent so much time in cleaning their homes that they were happy to waste time cleaning up after their visitors.
Many people who keep their homes shoe-free are not domestic goddesses who like nothing better than spending whole days doing spring cleaning. Rather, they are busy working people who have far better things to do. They do not want to clean up for the sake of it, but they know that living in a clean environment is healthier and far more pleasent. Knowing that time is precious they would rather keep the mess to the minimum and spend as little time as possible cleaning up after their visitors. Prevention is better than cure.
Nobody needs a house that is spotless, but it is pointless to allow dirt and dust to accumulate when it could easily be kept out by leaving shoes at the door. A floor is meant to be walked upon, but that does not mean that one should not reduce wear and tear and save time and money.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Degrees of Offalism
re-post
0. All children and adults may keep their shoes on.
1. Small children required to remove shoes, teenagers and adults may keep them on.
2. Children and teenagers required to remove their shoes, adults may keep them on.
3. All family members required to remove their shoes, visitors may keep them on.
4. Family members and close friends asked to remove their shoes, other visitors may keep them on.
5. Family members and visitors normally asked to remove their shoes, but exceptions made for parties and some formal occasions.
6. Family members and visitors are normally required to remove their shoes on all occasions, including parties.
I would say that you only count as having a shoes-off policy if you are at level 5. Level 4 is close, but in my opinion is not really a true shoes-off policy.
0. All children and adults may keep their shoes on.
1. Small children required to remove shoes, teenagers and adults may keep them on.
2. Children and teenagers required to remove their shoes, adults may keep them on.
3. All family members required to remove their shoes, visitors may keep them on.
4. Family members and close friends asked to remove their shoes, other visitors may keep them on.
5. Family members and visitors normally asked to remove their shoes, but exceptions made for parties and some formal occasions.
6. Family members and visitors are normally required to remove their shoes on all occasions, including parties.
I would say that you only count as having a shoes-off policy if you are at level 5. Level 4 is close, but in my opinion is not really a true shoes-off policy.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Alobar and Kudra
I guess I owe everyone out there an apology for the lack of updates (like anyone gives a shit anyway).
It's funny how things tend to reverberate in and out of your life. Sometimes we can give such little thought and consideration to our actions that the tiniest most insignificant little details of our lives can tend to be the behemoth of problems that threaten to swallow us whole. Taking the once unnoticeable for granted seems to be the epitome of my current situation. When something affects our lives so drastically as to force us to call everything into question, it puts a strange myopic perspective on our view of the present.
An injury for example.
The first thing I ask is 'How long?'. The next step is asking 'why me?' , unfortunately the answer to this last question can sometimes lead us down dark paths that only misguided children and wayward philosophers tend to wander.
Our circumstance can be explained away, but how it leaves us feeling is something entirely different.
As a climber, I've suffered from many little injuries. Pulley ruptures, little shoulder tweaks, an occasional knee pulley inflammation, etc. Nothing that has really kept me from enjoying the outside. My latest injury, embarrassingly enough, was the result of interacting in a sport that I just recently picked up again after years of hiding it in the closet of my apartment. It's funny how indestructible I have led myself to believe I am. I never gave a second thought to being able to pick up a basketball at will and sprint up and down a well lit court with 9 other sweaty guys/gals. It's just not an environment that I find intimidating, scary, or self destructive. But then again, those small details of our lives can rear their ugly little heads when we have convinced ourselves they are no longer a threat and end up taking damagingly large bites out of the precious time we have to spend with our friends and the activities we would rather be doing.
This was the case when I found myself leaving the ground in one last fate-filled launch towards the hoop, only to be pulled down to earth by the gravitational pull that weighted me like every other jump. I landed fine, with the exception of feeling as if I had been struck in the back of the leg by a billy club. I immediately knew something was very wrong. Something I had never felt before, and hopefully will never feel again.
A mis-diagnosis in the ER led me to a second opinion by an orthopaedic specialist three weeks later. Who was able to dampen my spirits in no less than the time it has taken to boil an egg.
It's funny how the word 'surgery' can roll off the tongue of someone in the medical profession with as little ease as it took to snap my Achilles tendon in two. I sat on the crumpled tissue guarding the smooth vinyl covering of the brown examination room seat cradling my head in my hands. 'How long?', 'Why me?'.
I was so optimistic after the last weekends activities. Hiking, snowboarding, and literally leap frogging down the busy sidewalks of Bellingham.
But the facts are undeniable. The large gap in my Achilles was a glaring reminder that something would have to be done sooner or later. I was hoping for a short recovery time that would only take me away from my adventures for 3 or 4 weeks. Replace weeks with months and you have a more accurate picture of why I feel as if I may find no comfort in anything/anyone. At least in the present state I'm in.
I wouldn't feel this way if I wasn't so plugged into a community that thrives on being active in an outdoor setting. Maybe if I was more into television than telemark, or rock collecting than rock climbing it wouldn't be that big of a deal.
Maybe if I wasn't so scared of missing out on experiences with the people that weave the fabric of my life like a silk rug, I wouldn't feel like the next three months would be such a waste.
The big picture is not so bad. I'll heal. I'll climb again, run, carve, skip, hop, and stand on my toes again.
Is it foolish to worry about missing out on things you have no control over missing?
Do you need to just let yourself feel 'left out' sometimes?
I don't know. But I'll tell you how it goes.
Below: more pictures from my phone.
Larabee State Park, Mount Baker, and Mt. Baker National Forest.
It's funny how things tend to reverberate in and out of your life. Sometimes we can give such little thought and consideration to our actions that the tiniest most insignificant little details of our lives can tend to be the behemoth of problems that threaten to swallow us whole. Taking the once unnoticeable for granted seems to be the epitome of my current situation. When something affects our lives so drastically as to force us to call everything into question, it puts a strange myopic perspective on our view of the present.
An injury for example.
The first thing I ask is 'How long?'. The next step is asking 'why me?' , unfortunately the answer to this last question can sometimes lead us down dark paths that only misguided children and wayward philosophers tend to wander.
Our circumstance can be explained away, but how it leaves us feeling is something entirely different.
As a climber, I've suffered from many little injuries. Pulley ruptures, little shoulder tweaks, an occasional knee pulley inflammation, etc. Nothing that has really kept me from enjoying the outside. My latest injury, embarrassingly enough, was the result of interacting in a sport that I just recently picked up again after years of hiding it in the closet of my apartment. It's funny how indestructible I have led myself to believe I am. I never gave a second thought to being able to pick up a basketball at will and sprint up and down a well lit court with 9 other sweaty guys/gals. It's just not an environment that I find intimidating, scary, or self destructive. But then again, those small details of our lives can rear their ugly little heads when we have convinced ourselves they are no longer a threat and end up taking damagingly large bites out of the precious time we have to spend with our friends and the activities we would rather be doing.
This was the case when I found myself leaving the ground in one last fate-filled launch towards the hoop, only to be pulled down to earth by the gravitational pull that weighted me like every other jump. I landed fine, with the exception of feeling as if I had been struck in the back of the leg by a billy club. I immediately knew something was very wrong. Something I had never felt before, and hopefully will never feel again.
A mis-diagnosis in the ER led me to a second opinion by an orthopaedic specialist three weeks later. Who was able to dampen my spirits in no less than the time it has taken to boil an egg.
It's funny how the word 'surgery' can roll off the tongue of someone in the medical profession with as little ease as it took to snap my Achilles tendon in two. I sat on the crumpled tissue guarding the smooth vinyl covering of the brown examination room seat cradling my head in my hands. 'How long?', 'Why me?'.
I was so optimistic after the last weekends activities. Hiking, snowboarding, and literally leap frogging down the busy sidewalks of Bellingham.
But the facts are undeniable. The large gap in my Achilles was a glaring reminder that something would have to be done sooner or later. I was hoping for a short recovery time that would only take me away from my adventures for 3 or 4 weeks. Replace weeks with months and you have a more accurate picture of why I feel as if I may find no comfort in anything/anyone. At least in the present state I'm in.
I wouldn't feel this way if I wasn't so plugged into a community that thrives on being active in an outdoor setting. Maybe if I was more into television than telemark, or rock collecting than rock climbing it wouldn't be that big of a deal.
Maybe if I wasn't so scared of missing out on experiences with the people that weave the fabric of my life like a silk rug, I wouldn't feel like the next three months would be such a waste.
The big picture is not so bad. I'll heal. I'll climb again, run, carve, skip, hop, and stand on my toes again.
Is it foolish to worry about missing out on things you have no control over missing?
Do you need to just let yourself feel 'left out' sometimes?
I don't know. But I'll tell you how it goes.
Below: more pictures from my phone.
Larabee State Park, Mount Baker, and Mt. Baker National Forest.
I guess
Friday, February 18, 2011
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
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
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Tip For Party Hosts
re-post
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.
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.
Saturday, February 12, 2011
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.
Friday, February 11, 2011
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.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Twister
re-post
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.
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.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
A Rather Obvious Answer
re-post
"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.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
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!
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!
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