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End of August/beginning of September 2010 - the turn of the seasons
becomes apparent
Since the end of August, the air has grown cooler, especially in the morning, and the subtle change of colors in the foliage has set in, which leads over the short and fiery time of Indian Summer to fall and then towards winter. During my early morning ritual on work days - a mug of coffee and a smoke nude on my balcony, the stars of the winter season are showing already, as Orion is rising in the southeast already. And also my bare soles feel a difference, since the ground feels cooler even on sunny days and walks on grass in the afternoon feel cooler, since in shaded places morning dew does not dry as fast as it did in summer. It is really delightful to feel the warmth of the late summer sun on plushy, ankle-deep grass paired with the moist coolness of dew in the shade:
The beginning of September also marked the time of the return of my favourite movie to the cinemas, as the special edition of Avatar with eight minutes of additional footage was launched on Sept. 2 in Germany. This was paired with a sight not everyone has seen so far. As I wrote before, I had asked at a tech market about an Avatar advertizing stand no longer in use, and just on the launch date of the movie, I received a call that the other interested party could not be reached and so it was going to be mine. On that evening, the feeling of anticipation about sseing new scenes of the movie was supplemented with the prospect of having my two blue friends at home soon, too. After seeing the movie, I went to the tech market on the Saturday afterwards, picked up the cardboard figure and took it home on the subway with me. I do not know really what the people were staring at first in bewilderment: my bare feet or the cardboard figure depicting Jake in his Avatar and Neytiri. Since the stand had been in use for a while, and had to be repaired with duct tape on the back side several times, I opted to take it with me full size. However, even though I was radiating weirdness, I found something even weirder: rocker people riding bicycles... all complete with their typical vests - only that they were riding eco-friendly unmotored bikes:
In total, I had the occasion to visit Pandora by means of the special edition five times at the movies - every time barefoot, unhassled. One funny encounter was at the mall of the town I live in, when I passed a group of giggling teenage girls, as they beheld my bare feet - the usual, I thought. After shopping, I went for a smoke outside the mall, and the same girls approached me, and one of them asked "is it pleasant to walk barefoot?" - to which I replied "Yeah, it's fun and healthy, too". Well, at least a little interest beyond the usual fashion victim behaviour. She also asked, whether I was a Buddhist, partly because of my Ganesha print on the usual style of t-shirt I was wearing. I explained who Ganesha was, and that his name was given me as a nickname. She then asked "Do you mind then if we call you Ganesha, too?" to which I smiled and replied "No, I wouldn't mind"... Other than that I had some lovely barefoot moments before and after work, including an early morning sunrise that looked like someone had set the city of Essen on fire, and some rainy weather barefooting after work, where I had the occasion to leave some beautiful footprints.
The weather forecasts were telling us, that this weekend might be the last true and warm summer weekend before fall sets in. Well, I am not quite convinced of that. Nevertheless, it was a perfect forecast for barefooting.
Saturday was the usual urban barefooting day with the usual errands to run:
grocery shopping and paying my usual café a visit for an Italian cup of
cappuccino and a large soda. The only difference was that this time I did
not carry my mini laptop computer but a classic analogue information collection
known as a book.
And this was the usual sight under the table:
After enjoying my beverage in the warmth of a summer noon, I went to the
mall to go to a tech market to buy a micro SD card for my new smartphone
(which also contains a better digital camera than my previous model) and
also a protective little slipcase, since it's not the best thing to have
it directly in the pocket with keys or a lighter or such things. At the
checkout, I noticed a cardboard advertizing stand for DVDs and Blu-Ray
discs of Avatar standing at a side without dics in it, and I thought
'Well, why not ask about it?' As it turned out, someone else already had asked
to have it, but the cashier offered me to take my name and phone number to
contact me, in case the first interested party doesn't react to their call.
Oh, and of course, the trip inside that market went by without any hassle, even when I had to ask an employee where to find the SD cards. Grocery shopping in my usual supermarket went by unhassled and accident-free, too. No toe injuries from shopping cart rear wheels this time. The Sunday was forecast to be unstable, as far as the weather is concerned. I took a barefoot walk to my usual park and decided to take a picture of something that reminds me of the fictional place known as Pandora
In the movie Avatar such trees - known as "Tree of Voices" - act as nodes to a global network to store memories in, referred to by the Na'vi as Eywa. The only thing is, that the tree in the picture above is not from the movie and not on Pandora, either. It's in that park, right there:
Taking a picture of that tree, I was standing on one of the park paths, which felt like a pebbly beach underfoot. From there I went to the lawn areas to feel some soft, plushy and moist grass on my bare soles, and also saw first harbingers of the fall season: mushrooms.
As the sky began to get darker and the air feeling very humid, I felt like walking through a tropic forest rather than being in a park. I took the back exit of the park to go to the bus stop nearby. Since there was an African festival in front of a culture and theater center near Schloß Broich (where I was a few weeks ago for a visit to a medieval-styled market), I decided to pay that festival a visit. That center was built into a former roundhouse, and the place in front of where the turntable for the railway engines used to be had been made into a small amphitheater-like place. I already knew the park near that venue being a barefoot-friendly place, as far as surfaces are concerned, and I thought that among the visitors, I wouldn't be the reason for strange looks or raised eyebrows as I usually am in the mainstream urban environment. On boarding the bus, a cool breeze hit my face and I was happy to realize, that this brand new bus had A/C and it was turned on. Then, as I showed my motnhly subscription ticket to the driver, he was pointing somewhere and saying something, so I removed my earphones, and heard him not reprimanding me for boarding his vehicle barefoot, but pointing out a little reader device, where I should put my ticket next to. Those subscription tickets are credit-card sized and contain a little chip, which is read there and if everything is OK (monthly fee paid), it displays a green check symbol, and reads "ticket valid". Another little stone in the wall of gathering information... if they wish, the transport companies can make movement profiles from those. Well, I got off the bus a few stops ahead of my destination to go to an ATM and get some money for that festival and then changed to the subway line going there. They don't have those reading devices as yet. As I got there by subway, I saw heavy rain falling as I approached the stairs leading upwards. I decided to wait it out in the subway entrance, and got out on the street when the rain stopped. Only, it didn't stop for very long, so as the rain resumed, I was just at the park entrance, with no shelter in sight but a few trees. So, standing under a tree it took longer to get me wet, but I got wet nevertheless. But, on the bright side, that was a prime opportunity to splash my bare feet in puddles and feel rain-soaked grass and soil beneath my soles. Quite many people were surprised by that shower and decided to leave that place, as I was walking twords it. Reactions to my bare feet were few and of the well-known sort, such as mild version of "The Look"®. One positive and also cute reaction was coming from a couple passing me, or rather the East-Asian woman walking besides her European boyfriend, who took a look at my feet, then at my chest (as I was wearing a dark red t-shirt with a silver Ganesha print on it), then up into my face. And when our eyes met, she beamed me a broad and merry smile. Well, perhaps she wished to tell me, that my bare feet were just perfect for a man of my Buddha-esque physique. As I passed her and walked on, I could already hear African music playing - or rather: African pop music, also known as Soukous - quite famous in Zaire and Congo, and very lively and danceable, too. It's almost impossible not to tap a bare foot to the rhythm of that music. Despite the wet conditions that made barefooting the perfect choice of footwear (in my opinion, at least), lots of people there were wearing Crocs, flip-flops and sandals... Of all the visitors there, I was the only barefoot one. Since it was a family-friendly event, lots of kids were playing on the turntable, right before a small stage. None of them were barefoot, either, and running around in the aforementioned footwear, too, occasionally slipping and sliding in them. One prime argument for the better traction of bare feet, to be sure.I browsed the market stands selling African clothing, jewelry, foood and drinks, and saw one stand which was utterly non-African, since they were selling goods from a neighboring sub-continent, i.e. India. The perfect occasion to replenish my supply of toe rings (one of them had broken a little while ago, as I wrote below) and buy some incense. I then went to one of the drinks stands and got me a nice cool Caipirinha, and sat down on one of the amphitheater stpes facing the stage, sipping on my drink and enjoying the music. And, as I wrote, my bare toes didn't stay still to that rhythm. As I was sitting there, having a nice time on a Sunday late afternoon, a fashion show was announced to begin, showing the works by designers from Congo and Senegal. 'Well,' I thought, 'Maybe this will be the chance to see other barefooters', thinking of traditional African outfits. However, the first models walking down the stairs from the top of the flat amphitheater down onto the turntable and up onto the stage were wearing platform-soled and high-heel shoes - since the creations were clearly influenced by traditional African dress, but nevertheless western-urban chic. My initial little disappointment faded as I saw a more traditional piece being presented by a barefoot model, her bare feet perfectly complementing the style of the robe she was wearing.
But, as I wrote, the urban chic was prevalent in this show, and so bare feet remained the exception.
After finishing my cocktail, and having watched enough fashion for my taste, I decided to direct my barefoot steps towards the near subway station and head home. Even though it had stopped raining, I was still quite wet, and the humid air plus the lack of sunshine didn't help in drying up fast. I took the scenic route through the nearby castle's inner yard, where also people choos to have their wedding parties, as I could see from the slowly decaying petals lying on the cobblestones... Of course, i just had to walk through those, making my exit feel a little special...
And as you can see, I had put on my new "prey", the aforementioned new toe rings
right at the festival site, now making a total of five toe rings (three left, two right).
I was almost feeling nude wearing only three of them.
For some people, watching rain fall can be a source of sadness, gloom or even depression... I feel profoundly different, when I see rain falling, since I think of the various delights my bare feet are about to feel as soon as I go out to walk barefoot. Therefore, watching the rain fall this Sunday morning until shortly after noon gave me a feeling of pleasant anticipation. It was about 1 pm, when the constant rain had stopped and I decided to leave my apartment for the park nearby. The sky was light grey and there was a hint of sunshine behind those hazy and thin clouds. On the way to the park over the paved sidewalk I made sure not to miss a puddle, amazed at how warm they felt, even though it had been raining all morning. As soon as I entered the park, the sun broke out from her hiding place behind those hazy, light grey clouds, and feeling the park paths, made of sand with small pebbly stones beneath my bare soles it was like walking barefoot on a beach. The rain had drenched them good, and the ground gave way to my footsteps, enabling me to leave a clearly visible trail of nicely defined bare footprints. Much to my delight, there were lots of puddles on these paths, too, some shallow, others ankle-deep. Again, I made sure not to miss any of these, splashing my bare feet in them, wiggling my toes and grinning, letting my inner child come out all the way. Sand and earth also gave my soles a nice massage together with those small pebbles mixed in. Furthermore, barefooting that surface had a cosmetic effect, too, acting as a natural peeling to sand down some of the excess callous on the sides of my heels. Something funny happening while enjoying the feeling of sand, soil and puddles was a young couple entering the park from a side entrance, walking the paths, and carefully avoiding each puddle as not to get their fashionable senakers wet or dirty. I walked a couple of meters behind them, careful (as I wrote above) not to miss any of them and even splashing my bare feet audibly in them. They only gave me brief glance, walked on and then left the park again by use of a back exit. On reaching the back part of the park, my favourite western corner of the place, I switched from the paths to walking on the wet grass and enjoying the feeling of a spongy and plushy wet green carpet underfoot. I spent a total of almost two hours in that park, thoroughly refueling my wellness batteries, before the sky began to get darker. Just as I arrived at home, a heavy shower began falling, refilling those wonderful puddles where I had left my footprints for the world to see.
Well, I did not post an addendum onto the forum pages in the same thread where I had placed the text above, but something happened afterwards, which I put into the "Others barefoot in public" thread:
And that last sentence is just the plain truth... other people might get depressed by watching rain fall. I rejoice, looking forward to the delight of splashing barefoot through puddles, feeling wet grass, soil and cool mud underfoot and between my toes. This Sunday's barefoot walk in the park will be a very pleasant one. |
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