mtbc | Evening walk barefoot

As an undergraduate in England I started walking everywhere barefoot: at the grocery store, on bus trips, through icy puddles in the winter, for weeks at a time. It was great: I taxed muscles I'd not known I had and I opened up a new tactile world of experience. I overheard many bemused comments but nobody challenged me directly. It also felt safer driving: I could feel exactly where the pedals where and which they were, it was just a matter of using my heel if I needed to brake hard. In 1996 I moved to Ohio and got out of the habit because it was plain that stores and restaurants would be most discomfited by such behavior and on returning to England in later years I got the sense that it would no longer be as easily tolerated there either.

Today the weather was beautiful but I stayed indoors earlier helping to fetch, sort, repack and stow boxes so, not wanting to lose out altogether, I went for an evening walk in our village barefoot and much enjoyed the experience. I felt the tarmac and grass under my feet and saw the Moon waxing gibbous above. At least I still get to go barefoot sometimes and when I wear sandals I can just slip them off and carry them awhile when the opportunity arises. Recent weeks have brought us much lovely sunshine and I plan to take occasional brief breaks to enjoy being outdoors.