Day 231: Shoes off.

This is me at work.

In my years of work in England I don't think I ever took my shoes off, except if they got wet and I dried them on the radiator (weird stares from colleagues), if they broke and I couldn't wear them and be practical (weird stares) or if I hurt my feet on the way and was in pain (weird stares). The moral of the story is, if your feet are uncomfortably sodden with rainwater, flapping about in broken tramp shoes or bleeding out into your socks, in England it is less embarrassing to just keep a stiff upper lip and not take the shoes off.

In Sweden if you wear shoes inside at work you get weird stares. If you wear shoes inside at someone's house you are never invited back. I work in a school and I realise that kids probably, being kids, lick the floor and stuff (well they are liberal here, kids can do what they like) (except lick the floor because Swedes are obsessed with health and safety) (do they lick the floor or not? Requires further study) and therefore there should be no outdoor contaminant on the floor in the school.

Furthermore, Sweden is very gravelly and the gravel gets stuck in the sole and then you drag it all over the place, which is extremely annoying. And while I always enjoy the satisfying sound of the vacuum cleaner picking up lots of crumbs and stones, I do not enjoy treading on gravel when walking barefoot in the house. Sweden is gravelly because there is grit everywhere to stop ice buildup, it took me a few months to figure out that buildings and pavements weren't just eroding at an alarming rate.

Most people have indoor shoes and outdoor shoes and switch seamlessly between. Most people have terrible fashion sense when it comes to indoor shoes, with crocs being the shoe of choice in many places, clogs in others. The option for those without an indoor shoe are some ridiculous blue plastic shoe covers which remind me of a ward in a hospital for highly contagious diseases. They don't work either, if you have gravel in your sole it will rip those fuckers wide open.