After having had net access for quite a while, I thought that it might be
interesting, to search the WWW for pages about bare feet - I knew there were
some interest pages about barefoot waterskiing... but I was looking for kindred
spirits, really - people like me who prefer walking barefoot for the sheer
pleasure of it.
And then I found a page... It was the homepage of the Dirty Sole Society...
and I realized very quickly, that I had found those kindred spirits I was
looking for... And what spirits, too... people from all walks of life,
having different views, preferring different styles of outfits, having
sometimes even opposing political views... a wonderfully heterogene group
of people sharing one feature: the love for barefooting. I felt like having
found a new home, and making myself comfortable there. And so I did
(Being the third German, as the official member list of the DSS showed me...).
Since the DSS site was not the only place on the net that I roamed, I had another opportunity to meet other barefooters in person: among the participants of a furry fandom get-together known as Sylcon were quite a few. And even though the little house-con was held in the Harz mountains in a very snowy winter, I did not wear any shoes indoors, and even tried myself at snow-footing outdoors. Here is one picture, with yours truly sitting in the kitchen of the con place, enjoying a warm drink on a cold day. My feet were never cold, however. :o)
The fur standing next to me is known as Fairlight.
After having read a lot about how to barefoot safely and reading and
getting some advice from DSS members, I decided, that early spring might
be the time to begin my barefoot life for real... And, honestly, I haven't
worn shoes since that time, except for two occasions: and invitation to a
friend's engagement reception (rather formal clothing) and my uncle's
birthday (Sept. 8), where we dined out in a rather fancy restaurant...
Other than that, I never wore shoes until now (Sept. 19, 1996),
and even as the evenings and early mornings are getting quite cool,
(and the ground tends to get even cooler than the air!!) I am not
even thinking about wearing shoes yet...
I think that this has made me into a barefooter by now. :)
It was not the warmest of summers we had this year, and so it was rather
gloomy, grey and rainy/drizzly, when a meeting of German fans of the
Furry fandom decided to meet at unci's place (Tobias B. Köhler -
see the links list above...) for a weekend of socializing... Although
I did pack a pair of sandals (shame on me.. :)), I never wore them...
and both Tobias and myself enjoyed the moist and (for May) rather cool
temperatures of about +15C (approx. 60F). The city of Braunschweig had
to get used to those two barefoot guys, obviously enjoying their walks
even in mud, rain and cool temperatures... And how we did, indeed!!
Lunch at the Braunschweig Polytechnic cafeteria was no big deal, as
most students did notice our bare feet, but did not mind (just like the
cafeteria and kitchen personnel!! They seemed to know that bare feet
might violate Health Dept. regulations if working there, but that there
are no regulations whatsoever ) regarding the patrons
visiting the facility...
All in all, it was a great weekend, and not only did I meet another DSS
member in the flesh, but also many other very nice people from the Furry
fandom (of which a lot I met 'admitted', that they are at least warm-weather
barefooters...).
This was now a meeting of Furry fans on a European scale in Linköping,
Sweden (located halfway on a line between Göteborg and Stockholm).
Not only did I meet some of the German furries I met earlier this year, but
also a lot of 'EuroFurs', mainly from northern Europe. There was one major
difference to the first meeting on my part: I did not pack any shoes, thus
deciding to tread this terra incognita on my bare feet only. I must say,
that the paved roads and occasional gravel paths were no different than in
Germany. One difference was, however, that when shopping in my bare feet,
I got no nasty comments, or disgusted looks. People saw my bare feet,
but did not comment or sneer... either Swedish people are not as open
in their reactions to other people's outfits, or they are a more tolerant
people altogether...
Indoors, many of the attendants of this meeting (called 'EuroFurence 2') were
barefoot, but outdoors, only Tobias and me decided to walk our way...
Only on the departure day, one of the Swedish EuroFurs who went with us to the
station to board a train to Göteborg, came with us on bare feet all the
way... It may be, that we 'infected' someone else, here.
A little side note: Some people met before the EuroFurence at a Norwegian
fur's weekend lodge, and on pictures I saw, all of them were shown barefoot
nearly always (with one of them doing martial arts, it's no wonder, he prefers
to train barefoot outdoors as well... and the others?? Well, Tobias was with
them, and might have influenced them just a little... :))
Anyway, this longer weekend stay in Sweden was great fun, both in the respect
of barefooting and of meeting even more Furry fans...
And if you are curious, what Furry means, actually, just connect to my
main homepage... there you will find the
link to 'Jink's Li'l Page', the WWW page about my roleplay character on
two Furry-based/anthropomorphic MUCKs... Enjoy! :)
(this diary entry is quoted from my e-mail to the DSS, giving a little 'report' as to what happened concerning bare feet at that MUD party...)
Well, hoping you had a great one as well, I just want to report what my barefoot weekend was like...
I was invited to a MUDparty (me being one of those crazy guys slaying imagined monsters sometimes... in addition to fighting those real-life monsters who always threaten us with 'you must wear shoes, it's regulations...!!!). So, I packed some stuff, including my sleeping bag and something to wear - except any shoes, of course.
The fellow players from my place already know about my favourite footwear (nothing, that is) and so it was just an ordinary day. Planning to go by train from Duisburg to Saarbruecken, where the party was going to take place, we met on the centerplace in front of it. And there it began again... the looks from other people at my feet, as if they wanted to say 'those can't be BARE feet, or can they...?' While we were waiting for some friends to arrive, I suddenly noticed a young woman in a rather hippie-like outfit passing me, taking a brief look at my feet, smiling and nodding at me... as I looked down on her feet, I saw them being bare as well. I happily returned the smile... A kindred spirit. At least something, and I thought that that would be the only encounter with a fellow barefooter for the remainder of that weekend.
Oh, how glad I was, that I was proven wrong.
Arriving at our destination, we met some fellow MUDders who then picked us up by car to take us to the party place near the river Saar. A couple in black gothic type outfit - one of the MUDders and his girlfriend - constantly looked at me and she finally said, after her gaze had wandered from my wolf head tattoo on my right upper arm to my bare (toe-ringed) feet, that she didn't know what to admire more.. the tattoo or my bare feet. She said that she wouldn't dare doing it all the time but that she tried, and found it extreme fun. I couldn't lure her into taking off her shoes on the spot and try again... but, that was encouraging. The party place was just nice. As we parked the cars, we had to walk a bit, mostly over concrete, then across a gravel bed (which I found exhilarating, after six hours of sitting in the train, to first, stretch my limbs and then wake up my feet walking over it...:)). The party place was mainly lawn, and a concrete giant 'bowl' to make fire and mount a BBQ grill to it was there. It looked like it was going to be a promising evening...
Well, as the party went on, another party guest then took off his shoes and socks, explaining to me that he always walks barefoot on soft surfaces, like grass and forest floor... so, I even met a latent barefoot hiker at that occasion. Another thing that caught my attention was a couple of joggers passing us on the nearby concrete path, one of them smiling and talking to his jogging partner, running barefoot (still carrying his shoes in his hand, but still, having a try at it...). Before I could react properly and perhaps ask him why he wouldn't leave his shoes at home and jog on bare feet all the time (inlcuding giving him some tips about taping the feet properly for running purposes...) they passed. Oh, well, missed that chance. :)
Talking to some other guests, I then got into nice discussions about barefooting, and one fellow then said that he knew it must feel great, and he also accepted the health reasons behind it, but he admitted, that he would have ego problems, showing his bare feet in public... (he also referred to my outfit, of which the bare feet are a part: the hippie style stuff I prefer to wear, and he congratulated me on being so brave to face people's odd looks, sneers and giggles, as this was indeed a display of character. So, bravery and character are values connected with barefooting. Never forget that. :))
All in all, the party was great, not only from the point of view of meeting fellow MUDders, but also from a barefoot point of view.... But, with the end of the party, the barefoot part wasn't over as yet... There was still the way back to Duisburg by train. So, we boarded the train, facing a six-hour tour, having to change trains twice with almost 30 minutes to wait for the next one at each of these stops. And on the first stop, I had my so far best barefoot encounter. Changing platforms, we passed a young woman. She wore a red-and-orange patterned pair of baggy trousers, a sleeveless salmon-coloured blouse, and her hair was made into 1-inch-long dreadlocks, giving her a spiky appearance. :) As I had to stop to wait for my friends to follow, she suddenly grinned at me, almost pixie-ishly, and stepped nearer on, what I could now see as she approached me through the crowds of hectic train passengers, bare feet. I smiled back, and she stopped in front of me, looked down onto my bare feet, and then gently tapped my bare foot with hers. She looked up again, grinned her pixie grin at me, turned, and left. I just stood there, aghast, as this was the first time a fellow barefooter had greeted me in that fashion. It was a gesture of a fun-loving, tender and creative person, and I just felt great having had such an experience. Having others in tow, and not wanting to miss the train (I had the group ticket, after all...), I refrained from following her to talk to her (reluctantly!).
So, that's what I'd call the perfect final touch (literally) to a great barefoot weekend. And perhaps this might become a greeting among barefooters all over the world... a smile, a few steps towards each other, and a gentle tap from one bare foot to the other. :))
I, for one, would like that. :))
yours, 'barely' :))
Andreas Spring
Well, taking a little time off is well in order, and I decided to visit my
mother in Franken , the northern part of Bavaria... And, of course,
I went barefoot...
My mother's first reaction to seeing my rather normal outfit was "Nice..!"
... and as she saw my bare feet, she grinned, asking whether anyone ever
tossed me a dime or some coins so that I could buy shoes...
It was a jocular remark, but it might be understood as a masked discrimination...
So I grinned back, shaking my head, and telling her about the various
reactions I received from people seeing my bare feet, my motives for
barefooting, the health benefits, etc. She understood and concurred to the
health aspects, and being an open-minded and very tolerant person, she told
me that this is probably my way of walking, and she thinks it OK, as long as it
is no health risk... And I could successfully persuade her of barefooting
being beneficiary to my health.
I did pack a pair of leather mocassins for this trip, since we planned to
dine out in a somewhat fancy restaurant on my uncle's birthday... Other than
that, my personal dress code called for bare feet... And I discovered
something again: In that small town my mother lives (Gerolzhofen),
people were seeing my bare feet, but not commenting on them...
at least not in my presence. Having visited that place before, I had
noticed several people there on bare feet in summer, so it seems to
be something totally normal to at least some of the people down there...
And quite rightly so. Even thought it was only a more or less short
vacation (about two weeks...), it was a very pleasurable and relaxing
time - refreshing all of me, and especially my feet.
Well, on November 14, 1996, I was to experience the first slightly freezing
ground touching my bare soles... or vice versa, rather. Even though it is
not advised to walk barefoot in harsh frost (below -2°C), the first
frost, just about below 0°C, was absolutely delightful. Wearing my
usual hippie-style outfit (of which ankle-long skirts are now a constant
part...) I did put on extra leggings and made two cotton scarves into
makeshift ankle-warmers, thus keeping my feet bare from insteps to
toes. The coldth did evoke memories of barefoot beginnings in me, as
it felt again wonderfully tingly and tickly, frost kissing my feet and
making them come alive. The rosy-pink colour of my toes told me, that
circulation was well running and in order, and there was no numb feeling
at all.
However, with this first frost experience it becomes clear, that winter is
imminent, and that with temperatures dropping lower and lower, the time for
wearing shoes in the morning, or at least sandals, to keep the soles from
touching the frosty cold ground, might have come now... although through
the day the climate is still mild enough to walk on as nature intends me
to walk.:)
Well, my feet have now seen almost all, I guess... and even snow and melting snow/slush were amongst those things. With the first cold spell in December, around the 6th, we had a bit of snow... not much, but enough to leave some two or three inches on some spots. The ideal thing for a 'first encounter' between my barefeet, and the special feeling of that flaky and cool substance.
But there was going to be more... a few days later, it was snowing heavily all day, while the ground was not cold enough to hold it... so the snow was melting, while new snow was falling onto it, forming a bed of half-molten snow at the ground, with some fresh snow crusting the top. walking barefoot through this felt to my feet like a sherbet would have felt to my tongue... a real treat, alright. I hope to be able to barefoot longer periods of time in snow this winter, as I have felt it being a true delight (not forgetting, however, that frost can harm the bare feet, if they are not tuned to it... I will be careful, rest assured.
Well, last weekend was nice really... As I already mentioned in my last mail (Subject: A delightful day), I went to a Party to meet fellow players from the Virtual Community _Realm of Magic_, to socialize and have fun... in that Community, I bear a little Latin phrase in my title, namely [in pedibus nudis], clearly indicating my preference in footwear... and several people at the party reacted to that fact, stating (with a grin or friendly smile) "It's clear who _you_ are, alright!" (which was not as clear as one might think, since another guest took off his shoes inside the party room to walk barefoot there... :)) Actually, it was the same group of people (roughly), and then some, who also attended the MUD party last I went to last summer... (see my barefoot page, part 6 for details) However, the place where we met, a sort of youth community centre, was not quite prepared for bare feet, it seemed... Before the party, we were in the parking lot, waiting for the host, chatting... and cars passing by might have easily piled up in scrap metal, for all of the drivers turned their heads to gape at my bare feet... OK, luckily nothing happened... but there we have it... I wonder if the sh*$ police might take that as an argument to scrutinize barefooting - bare feet diverting onlookers so much that they run into objects or other people... (I do not mean to be just joking, really... I think it was in Korea, where a man, making a call with his cellular phone, holding his head low ran into a tree, headlong, causing fatal injury!! - Now imagine someone running into a lamp post, because (s)he gaped at the feet of a barefooter, in utter disbelief). The day after the party was fine as well, and back in Duisburg I was again confronted with the usual reactions: looks of disbelief, or even disgust... the occasional snicker, and taunts... One thing surprises me, though... Especially (rather nosy and loud) youths call me 'Jesus!', with a taunting tone of voice, and lots of laughter... Not only that this is merely uncreative... had I counted how often I've been called that for my being barefoot, having long hair and a beard, there would be hundreds of occasions of that. What I find surprising is the intention to taunt with that name... I am not overly religious-minded, really (although I am a baptized Protestant), and I rather adhere to the Pagan side of religion, if any, but 'Jesus' becoming an insult...? Or, at least, meant to be an insult, or taunt...? A rather disquieting trend. OK, before I trail off-topic here, one very positive barefoot encounter on Tuesday night, when I went to Burger King for dinner (totally un-Jesus-like, really - no heresy intended): I had a Whopper and a side order of Onion Rings with Salsa, and was told to have a seat and already start, they would bring the onion rings to my table... I started my dinner, and the waitress (or what they call their people there) brought the onion rings, smiled, and then noticed my bare feet, giving me a look of surprise, then a friendly smile, asking "Oh, you're _barefoot_? It must feel wonderful in a weather like this!" I smiled bayck, nodding, confirming that it is wonderful in fact in any weather as soon as temperatures are above frost level... She smiled again, and went back to her work... no mentioning of any health code phantom laws, no reference to any house policy whatsoever... and the Asst. Manager of the restaurant was sitting a few tables from me, positively able to see my slightly dirty barefeet under the table, and did not seem to care. :) I would not claim now that Burger King is a 'Bare Feet OK' restaurant (as I do not know how the conduct of the employees and managers is in England or the US, but at least they tolerate barefeet here in Germany. - Or at least, here in Duisburg, Germany. :)) wiggling my toes in delight, still enjoying the warmth of summer now having begun here with temperatures in the 70s and higher, Yours Andreas
Hi all, well, it seems like my best barefoot encounters and experience happen on weekend, especially Saturdays... :) Last weekend was no exception... I went out of the house in the morning, to spend the time from 9 to 12 in the university labs, reading mail, surfing the web, and also MUDding. Some people on the way saw my bare feet, but no comments. Neither negative nor positive... they seemed to now accept it, since the weather was rather hot, even in the morning hours. No hassles in the bakery or at the tobacconist, either. A wonderful start for a barefoot day. At university, there was hardly anyone on Saturday morning, and I had the terminal lab all to myself... just perfect. :) (Not that I mind being surrounded by other students... on the contrary... I like them gaping at my barefeet, be it in admiration, or bewilderment...:). At noon, I went into town, getting some food and other comestibles for the weekend, entering the little mall I chose, shopping, and leaving it again - looked at a lot, but again: unhassled. It might well be true what Paul supposed in his message from June 6 (Subject: Barefooters in Mountain View): > Perhaps Bill Shakeley's report about that article wherein it > was mentioned that bare feet may be coming back into style is > true. Let's hope! At least his encounters with more and more barefooters might be a sign for that. And then: summer approaching (or having arrived, rather...) lures more and more people into getting rid of their sh*$s and enjoy walking naturally... And that's also what I saw when sitting down for an early-afternoon drink (cappucino and mineral water) at an outdoor cafe (actually an ice cream parlor, but they have a nice cappucino, and you sit directly in the middle of town, able to do 'peoplespotting' there, and lt them spot you - in this case I made pretty sure that people could spot my barefeet!). A few tables away, a woman in very stylish, goth outfit stood up to go to her bicycle, and with delight, i saw her black bare soles, as she left (her friend was still shod, but at least she knew better... :)). Then: Another young woman passed me on her bicycle, barefoot - a young man, long-haired, wearing ragged jeans shorts, and a Heavy-Metal Band T-shirt (don't remember the band name, though) passed me on bare feet... I grinned, wiggled my bare toes, and was delighted to see him smile back. And then there was the group of 4 young women (all about 16 or 17) who came from a fountain after having a lot of splashy fun (since it was about 87F, and they needed some refreshment), holding their shoes in hand, and walking barefoot... I admit, it was not a whole barefoot crowd, really, but considering that normally I am about the only barefoot person in town (even on summer days), it was rather much. The Sunday was a bit more refreshing, since we had almost constant rain showers and the odd lightning and rolling of thunder... (the remainder of the terrible storms that had raged over the Netherlands and were then making their way over the Rhine in weaker form...) I very much enjoyed feeling the cool water splasahing around my bare feet and calves, and even though it was still hot and humid, I felt refreshed... I got more looks of disbelief than on Saturday, but still, no one hassled me for my barefeet. Seems like the good wishes of fellow DSSers do indeed work... Thanks, Marrq (who wrote on June 6): > Glad to hear that you made it thru the get-together without any > hassle, and hoping that the remainder of your days (and of > everyone else's) are barefoot-hassle-free forever... I sincerely hope so too... (and one note: The get-together was hassle-free, because I am sort of known to be barefoot among the MUDders I met, and since a lot of them are also into Live_Action RolePlaying and the like, they know about strangely-costumed people... so neither my outfit, nor my barefeet were a surprise to them... I got really nice comments on my toerings, too... :))) Well, it might be that from now on I might be posting regular weekend-reports, as more and more barefoot encounters are occuring with summer approaching on swift - and I bet, bare - feet. :) wiggling his toes with delight and until next time, Andreas
And again, the weekend on barefeet has been fine and perfect...
save for one little thing I encountered... - later more of that.
First of all, it is now really summer here, with temperatures
going up to 30C and even beyond... (scratching almost the 90F
mark, for all those non-centigrade ppl out there. :)) So, I de-
cided, that the best place to be at this weekend was to be near
some water to jump into, when desired. We have some lakes here,
really nicely situated with lots of greenery - trees and bushes
- surrounding them. I would not call it a natural forest... it
is an artificially created area, after all, but fine enough. So,
on Friday morning I went near that place by bus (no hassling
from the driver, but then, I never been hassled by officials on
public transport over here, and it seems, that they have no de-
sire whatsoever to quote any phantom laws on being barefoot...
Just occasionally, I get asked by drivers if my feet weren't
cold (on cooler or rainy days...) or if I am not afraid of glass
shards and other nasties... so, it's more or less the usual ques-
tions I'm confronted with there, if any.
After that bus ride, there was a ten-minute walk (approx.) through
that 'forest', which has mostly hard-packed dirt paths with the
odd bits of small gravel here and there... fine enough, as it got
me to wake up from walking that surface... in some places, there
even were patches of moist, slightly muddy soil, which I enjoyed
walking through greatly... I did not even think about packing any-
thing like slippers, sandals or flip-flops... and later on the
way I realized that maybe I should have... since the way to my
favourite spot on the shores of that lake led me now over some
concrete, into which rough gravel had been embedded - with edges
standing up, no way for the gravel bits to move, or a soft surface
underneath them... this was for the first time in a longer period
a real unpleasant barefoot feeling I was encountering now... I de-
cided for the next time when I go there, to pack a pair of canvas
slippers with a thin but sturdy plastic/hard rubber sole (the sort
you wear for kung-fu training sometimes - I don't do martial arts,
but those shoes are OK, when it comes to wearing them for a short
time...). But, as soon as I arrived at the spot I wanted to go, I
found everything nice and perfect again... and so I got out of my
clothes (completely, as I am a nude swimmer), and spent a great
morning there... by lunch, I went back to town to shop, and get
to the university to get mails and other things done. Shopping was
(as usual) problem-free... it seems that in Germany, people tend
to stare at your barefeet rather than being ready to quote any
sort of phantom laws... and quite frankly, I do not care at all
about being stared at. :)
Saturday and Sunday were then really perfect. I took the aforemen-
tioned slippers with me to get over with those nasty parts of the
track, and it worked fine. - In a post some time ago, nasty and
small bits of gravel or glass pricking our soles at times were re-
ferred to as 'Klingons'... well, to stay within that imagery, the
nasty parts of that trail were more like the Borg!
Anyway... I spent the whole Saturday and Sunday (from about 8.30
am to 6.00 pm) happily naked at that lake - and even had a nice
encounter there, when on Saturday I got out of the water, being
greeted by two women - part of a little group who was taking a walk
and then felt hot, yearning for refreshment... - who greeted me,
smiles, and then asked about how the water was, and if the entrance
into the lake there wasn't too stony, and all... I told them, that
the place was just fine, and no problems with stones... so they
smiled, and promptly got out of their clothes (no bathing suits or
anything... they just got nude as well), and went in. After they
had taken their swim, they thanked me, saying that it was me setting
the example for their nude swimming.. otherwise they might not have
dared to get nude themselves... (That lake is no clothing-optional
or nude area.. but it is not forbidden there, either...). I smiled,
thanked them, and said that perhaps all that people need to dare
doing something that feels good - like nude swimming, or walking
barefoot, for that matter - once in a while... and that it is easier
to do so, when they have someone as a sort of role model, showing
them that there is nothing to it, really. They nodded and smiled,
and then one of them also said 'If people don't like what you do,
they can always look away... that goes for nude swimming, as well
as bare feet, or being different generally...' Well... since the
rest of the little group (who did not dare to get nude and swim)
sort of pressed to walk on, they got dressed again, and left, wish-
ing me all the best... well, I don't know if I influenced them into
trying walking barefoot as well... but I think they might even try
that. :)
It surely feels nice being a role model. :)
The rest of the weekend (I spent the late afternoon/early evenings
in street cafes, and the late evenings in open air pubs) was nice
as well... and apart from seeing people kicking their sandals/shoes
off under the tables in abundance, I only saw 2 or 3 other 'genuine'
barefooters (meaning: no shoes on them, dirty soles, happy face... :)
which means that even with a generally barefoot-friendly (at least
non-hostile) atmosphere, people have not realized that it is more
pleasant to do that... even though advertizing and fashion tell
them now in abundance as well (newest example: a tobacco/cigarette
company has now the slogan 'The Power of Now', and depict a barefoot
hippie couple on their large ad posters, which are propped up on
giant stands at the roadside... So, this is at least a way to show
the public, that the colorful and hip outfit plus bare feet is get-
ting fashionable again... (although I, like others, do not believe
in the benefits of fashion as a reason to go barefoot... it can help
it, at least, but as a sole reason it is too weak, and might lead
to problems, if ppl do it just for being cool and trendy, rather
than for health benefits or truly spiritual reason... - the trend
faction might for instance walk 'wrongly' - slamming the heel down
first, and things like that - or not watch the trail ahead... and
then might end up cursing on being barefoot, and thus spoiling the
generally barefoot-friendly mood... worst case, I think, but never-
theless, possible...)
Anyway, I'm trailing off the weekend topic here, and before I do
that any further, I rather close (BTW, the nude swimming fun went
on on Monday morning as well... as I now have decided to spend at
least an hour in the morning at that lake spot and have a nude
swim before starting whatever I have to do... :))
Hoping you had a nice barefoot (and/or ccompletely bare) weekend
as well,
Andreas
(he who swims without clothes - and without shame, too)
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
.oooO Oooo. "Set your feet free, and your mind will follow!"
( ) ( ) Andreas Spring Dirty Sole Society Member
\ ( ) / barefoot_spring@hotmail.com
\_) (_/ http://members.tripod.com/~a_spring/
Walk this way! http://privat.schlund.de/SpringAndreas/
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Please note: the signature above is taken from the original mail back in those days... My web page URL and mail address have changed slightly since then.
Peter Rupprecht wrote:
>
> Hello to all,
>
> I wonder, does barefooting have a certain contagious quality?
>
> Among my various activities I serve on the board of our regional church
> camp.
[very positive and delightful experience snipped for brevity reasons :)]
> So I wonder, does barefooting have a contagious quality? If so,
> then perhaps our best strategy for public barefooting acceptance
> may simply involve the setting of our example. Let's do the math
> on this. Three people positively influenced in one week by one DSS
> member. Multiply that by 170 DSS members over the course of a year...
Might be the way to go, really... about the question of it being 'conta-
gious' as you asked... (*smile* I would rather use the term 'positively
influential'... doesn't sound that 'dangerous' to the ears of those who
connotate 'contagious' with disease... and we are anything but ill,
really... :)):
It takes one to set an example and the 'pack effect' (one deciding which
way to go and the rest follows...) will kick in, I guess. This goes
especially to pursuing such pleasures like being barefoot, which in most
cases has been indoctrinated into the average people's heads as being 'bad'
and 'unhealthy' - I was able to spot that a few times myself, including the
absolutely amusing reactions of onlookers, who - first scorning me for
my strange looks (incl. barefeet) - fell utterly silent, when seeing a
young woman across the street stopping, looking at my bare feet,
smiling, removing her shoes, and walking on on her way on bare feet, too. :)
Another example of that 'pack effect' I have often seen at the lake
where I normally swim - which I normally (and most naturally) do in the nude.
As it is a nice and tranquil spot, where one is safe from lurkers, but
no 'official' nude swimming area, I tend to always go there rather early to
secure a good spot for me (OK, a bit egoist I am there... *grin*), and
I have often seen others coming to that lake seeing me, greeting me in
a normal and friendly manner, then looking again, seeing that I am sky-
clad, and doing the same (sometimes even though they did have swimwear...)
The most delightful example was the two women on a walk, who had no
swimwear with them, but yearned for a swim on a 90F+ warm day... were
undecided whether to dare it or not, then saw me, grinned, greeted me, got nude
and went into the water... they then thanked me afterwards, saying 'without
you setting the example we wouldn't have dared!'
I think that applies for barefooting as well (OK, it is not as big a
step as getting nude is - but then, judging the looks on some people's
faces I get, they could not be more baffled if I were totally naked in
public *giggle*). As soon as you set an example, and at least one per-
son follows it, a whole (positive) avalanche can set in... if it
doesn't, well at least then the people see that one is not alone in pursuing
pedal nudity *smile*.
> Peter Rupprecht
Andreas Spring ('BarefootAndy' on CyberZine WebChat. :))
(barefooting: keeping in touch with the world - being happily
nude while clothed. - hey, at least it's my definition! *grin* :))
Now, the subject line may sound off-topic, or even kinky, if someone interprets it that way, but it has genuinely to do with being barefoot... to be precise, with my being barefoot... but let's start at the begin- ning.. :) I am currently helping a friend who is going to deco- rate his apartment, and I was busy yesterday and today with helping him to pack stuff to move it up to the attic and out of the way during that. Of course, I helped in my bare feet, and had no problems with that, too. :) On going there today, I stepped out of the tram (after hassle-free tram rides. :) - just 'the look' occured a few times, as usual), and went over to the house where he lives, when I suddenly heard someone say 'Hi there', merrily, next to me. Looking aside, I saw a punk/hippie sort of guy, with short dreadlocks, a nose and lip piercing. He smiled at me, sitting on his bicycle, and said, without any further introduction: 'I'd like to invite you to a Sunday break- fast!' - I was baffled for a moment, asking 'Sunday break- fast??' - not knowing at that instant what else to say... He smiles, and then explained, that he belongs to a group of protesters, living in a shack and wagon protest village nearby, where young people have protested against the con- demning of houses in favour of a new supermarket being built there instead. He then also explained, that they have a vegan breakfast every Sunday, open for anyone - and that he'd like to invite me, since he saw me leaving the tram, and since I looked like 'a nice and right-type of guy' to be there as well... of course, my outfit consisted of the typical hippie-esque jeans, with a black t-shirt, orange-red striped thin cotton jacket, Fatah-style kerchief on my head, various rings on fingers and toes and leather anklets... The guy looked several times at my bare feet, smiling. So, I would say, that this is the first example of bare feet being sort of the entry ticket for events, rather than being barred from attending something. :) Encouraging, I think. I don't know whether there will be other barefooters there - the guy himself (I didn't ask his name, even. :)) wasn't barefoot, when he asked me... but even if there are not, I am sure there will be people not giving me 'the look' but rather smiles, and honest interest in my being barefoot... and perhaps I can get some of them to be barefoot as well... :) Of course, I will report to you, as to what happened on that occasion. :) So much for the outstanding barefoot experience this week so far. Side note: Visited a pizzeria today with the aforementioned friend and another one after today's work in his apartment, and had a pizza and salad with a Coke... hassle-free... - and get- ting an ice-cream to go was no problem either... even though the two waitresses working there, clearly saw my pedal nudity. :) Being barely afoot, and enjoying it thoroughly, Andreas 'BarefootAndy' Spring
As I wrote in a previous post, I received an invi- tation to a breakfast for my outfit, and, especially for my being barefoot with my outfit - that being the 'right look' for the guy who invited me. :) Well, here now a little report how that turned out. First of all, I have to say, that even though the weather here has become typically unstable, with rapid changes from bright sunshine, over occasional clouds to swift and quite heavy downpours... - the typical April weather mix, with temperatures about 50F. Not the warmest and nicest weather, but still mild enough for being barefoot. At least as far as I feel it. However, judging from vari- ous examples of 'The Look' which I got at the weekend galore again, some people did not seem to think so. So, my Saturday walk barefoot stroll throught town, where there was an artisan fair and market taking place at that time, went by hassle-free, but some people were again looking at me, in the usual incredulous way. As far as meeting other barefooters is concerned (or 'foot- spotting' as one might call it... :)), that Saturday was a clear zero count - I seemed to be the only one, for sure. The stroll through town did not last long, since I was en route to a friend's apartment, whom I had helped decorating the bedroom and kitchen, and where the final touch was to be added to the kitchen walls and ceiling. Of course, all packing and carrying boxes to move them up to the attic during the works, the paint jobs and later on the moving furniture and boxes back into the rooms was done on bare feet (on my part, that is... :)). The Sunday, then, was to be the day to answer the in- vitation to breakfast I received last week. So, on a rather sunny late morning, I left home in my usual hippie-esque jeans plus T-shirt and striped jacket outfit. To be sure not to be cold, I wore a grey woolen pullover under the jacket, and left my shoes at home, as not to be tempted by a sudden shower, or the like, to quickly unpack them, and put them on - I intended to stay barefoot on that day. On arriving at the site where I was told the breakfast was going to take place, I spotted some old wooden trai- lers, some brightly painted - the typical, alternative communal trailer village, arranged seemingly without any particular order, on a pasture. Showers and occasional rain had made the grass-covered pasture quite muddy in some points, and puddles on it were ankle-deep... I was glad to have rolled up my jeans above the ankles, so I could enjoy the quite cool water in the puddles, without getting them wet. :) On the spots that were muddy, the mud squished nicely between my toes, and I was going from mud spot to puddles, to mud spots... my bare feet getting dirty, then clean, then dirty, then clean again... It was great fun walking there. :) On arriving at a central kitchen wagon, one of the in- habitants, a long-haired neo-hippie guy, greeted me with a smile, and asked whether I came for breakfast... I nodded, smiling back, and confirming. He smiles, telling me, that most inhabitants of the wagon village were not there but in Amsterdam, where a rave and street party was scheduled to take place... so I met only 3 other inhabitants, plus 4 other guests of that village. And, to my surprise, none of those were barefoot... although they all did not mind my being barefoot - quite on the contrary, they thought it being cool, but said, that they thought it being too cold on that morning to be barefoot. I told them about the trick to keep the rest of the body warm, when walking barefoot - hence my wearing the extra pullover, too. One of the visi- tors nodded, and told me that when it is warmer he sheds his shoes as well, and that he recalls fun times with him and friends in summer, wearing skirts, without anything underneath, and being barefoot on hot summer days - that being the best outfit as far as not feeling too hot in summer was concerned - not to mention the variations of 'the look' (something very familiar to those hippie- esque and freak-ish looking people :)) he and his friends got - although at that time mainly for wearing skirts - something rather uncommon to do for men in the Western world, really... although skirts are very comfortable to wear in hot weather, as I like doing that at times, too. Anyway, the barefoot count on that Sunday was: 1 - myself. OK, that does not include the two dogs living there, and their litter of six pups, the latter very closely exami- ning my bare feet... perhaps the only moment, when being barefoot was not too advantagous, since the claws of those cuties were rather sharp and pointed... but they did not leave any injuries. :) The breakfast itself was very relaxed, just as the con- versation with the people who, as far as I could see, are very much at ease living the way they do. I did catch my- self at the thought of trying such a life out as well, seeing those gentle souls living together, and in harmony. I am sure, that in such a community, anyone can freely and openly epxress his/her personality, no matter which walk of life one chooses. A pity, that I did not meet any other barefooters at that occasion. But it was nice to at least meet people who know and under- stand the feeling-well aspect, as well as the aesthetic as- pect of being barefoot... for all of the people being there thought my bare feet looking cool. :) Refreshing, really (as was the walk from the trailer site to my aforementioned friend's apartment, to help him in the final touches of the apartment decoration. :) All in all, I enjoyed myself greatly that weekend... I might have been even happier to find more barefooters at the trailer village... however, I have been invited to come by there anytime I'd like, and, if I wished, even to stay there overnight, if desired. - And I am hoping for seeing bare feet there, when it gets dryer and a bit warmer... I am thinking about dropping by there for Easter, and have a look, whether I am right... :) happily sans shoes, Andreas 'BarefootAndy' Spring
Hello, fellow barefooters... after all those 'spring has sprung' messages, which have appeared here recently, and my own first warm-weather barefoot steps, I was look- ing forward to spring sun warming my barefeet a little more over Easter as well... but, alas, the weather forecast was not lying when predicting relatively cold weather for the Easter days.. and even now, as I am writing this, the weather is rather grey and gloomy, and much too cold (not over 50F/10C) for the season... at least so they say.. and with nights' temperatures below 40F I am now only a daylight barefooter... Anyway, I did spend a barefoot Easter, not wearing any shoes most of the time from Saturday to Easter Monday... And again I spent a lot of time at the wagon camp I mentioned in my 'Sunday breakfast' mail, enjoying the company of those communally living free souls, showing them my free soles. And again, none of them bared their feet, still marvelling at my seem- ing ignorance of the rather cool weather (which was really getting down to cold temperatures, with a chilly wind, dropping to 37F/3C on Easter Sunday, even though the sun was peeking out from between threatening clouds most of the times...). One little note on the downside: I injured my left thumb ever so slightly, when getting firewood from a pile of old wood, and one piece decided to unluckily scrape off a little bit of skin next to the nail. The resulting little wound looks like made up by a Hollywood make-up artist , but is superficial and harmless... no injuries to my feet, and even though my hand got hurt, I won't get to wearing gloves. :) I had a nice talk with a visitor to the camp (with several actually...) who was very curious about how I can stand the cool weather and different surfaces on bare feet... she was very eager to know, and we talked for a long time, and in the end she looked at the site, which is a grass-covered place, quite muddy at the moment, too, since we had mostly rainy weather recently, and snickered that she would like to see one of her friends trying to cross this place in sty- lish high-heeled shoes... It made me grin as well, and she said, that in warmer weather she would certainly try to walk around barefoot more often. I gave her a few tips on how to walk the right way (i.e. taking the weight and force off the heel, and using the whole foot in walking, bringing the main weight down to the broad front part...), and she took that knowledge in with great interest. Perhaps I now made another barefooter. :) One never knows.. I hope now for warmer weather, and meeting her again - on bare feet. :) Other than that, it was again 'the look' on some occasions, no hassles in shops when getting some food at supermarkets... Oh, one nice thing... :) On the colder of the Easter days at the wagon camp, I was tending a campfire (hence the thumb thing.. :)), and the puppies I wrote about in another post as well were taking advan- tage of my bare feet... as the fire was burning brightly, they settled down by it, huddling together, lying on my bare feet, warming themselves both at the fire and on my feet (and also nicely warming my feet, like a living blanket. :)) - nice example of a barefoot symbiosis. :) hoping you had a nice barefoot Easter as well, wiggling his toes, Andreas 'BarefootAndy' Spring
Well, if this weekend hasn't been ideal for barefooting - as far as the weather was concerned, that is, - then I don't know what else could be called 'ideal conditions' :). All of a sudden, the so-far rather wet and grey spring deci- ded to bloom right into summer, with a bright cloudless sky, sunshine and temperatures around 30C (86F). Getting up on Sa- turday morning (after an already bright and warm barefoot Fri- day and a warm night), I decided to leave shoes at home, and made shorts the dress of the day - the weather forecast had made me bold enough to do that, I guess. :) Packing something for breakfast, I departed for the univer- sity, for my habitual visit of the terminal lab, tending to my usual 'net activities. Riding the subway (or rather: a tram going underground at a few stations throughout the city) to the university once again went hassle-free - apparently the DVG (Duisburger Verkehrsgesellschaft - the local public transport company here) has no regulations concerning passen- ger footwear - at least no tram or bus driver here ever com- mented on my bare feet as being against any of their company rules. Barefoot count on that morning ride, as I sat on the tram and looked out of the tram window: none. Occurances of 'the look': many (virtually everyone who noticed my feet, and I did not make any effort as to hide my pedal nudity. :) The stay in the terminal lab did not evoke any particular reactions from the other users, since in that lab mostly 'regulars' are sitting at the terminals, and those already know me for being barefoot. At noon, the time when the uni- versity buildings are closed on Saturdays, I went into town, for browsing through some book stores, and taking a look at their offers (some of the low-price special offers there hold real gems at times), which went by hassle-free as well. I got 'the look' from some customers, but no one commented. On the part of the sales personnel, 'the look' was one of surprise at first, but then often went with a smile. Once again I was grateful for the absence of any 'NSNSNS' signs or sales attendants quoting any anti-barefoot policies over here. But i also caught myself wondering (and not for the first time) why it is that with so much freedom towards bare- footing, so few people seize the opportunity to take that final step to shed sandals, sneakers and other light (yet constrictive) footwear and walk barefoot as well. I suppose, there are two strong reasons applying here: the common mis- conceptions about bare feet (them indicating a low social status, or that feet need protection, et al.) and the fear of other people's reactions. After all, walking barefoot is a step (literally) to set oneself apart from the mainstream public, and that does create attention and feedback from the people - ranging from the often-quoted 'look' over smiles, chuckles, to even scorn, laughter and taunts. In addition to that, being barefoot seems not to be 'trend-y' at the moment, at least not over here, so that a possible acceptance as a fashion issue (a strong incentive, though not perhaps the best one from a rational point of view...) is not given here, either. I only saw some bare feet in the city, where people sat down at fountains, removed their shoes and socks, to dip their bare feet into the water, let them then dry off in the warm sunlight, only to put their footwear back on again. It looked as if they almost felt guilty for having enjoyed a moment of barefoot freedom, as if they had tasted forbidden fruit, or the like, and did afterwards not wish to go on with their 'sin'... A pity, really. I sat down on a bench, to take some preparatory notes for things to do on Monday (including writing this very mail) and let people walk by, looking around if I would see any other fellow barefooter (one might call it 'foot-spotting'). Even among the people I saw who belonged to counter- culture or were of alternative sort, as far as their outfit went, there were no barefooters to be seen... apart from my- self, I only saw a young woman, dressed in a bright yellow summer dress, walking the streets on her bare feet. It seems, that even in alternative and counter-culture circles, bare feet are not part of the (also often fashion-dictated) re- gular outfit - this being true for (neo-)hippies, as well as goth and punk people. And so, their choice was not for the healthier and certainly more comfortable footwear (i.e. none) but rather for the typical plateu-soled shoes/sandals, or even heavy army boot-style shoes... From a barefoot point of view, my Sunday visit to the Mül- heim wagon camp (see my post about the invitation to break- fast a while ago) was more of a success, since many people there were taking the opportunity of the fine weather to be barefoot around the camp and also when running errands out- side of it. The very warm weather lured me and a few of the camp people to go for a dip into the waters of the Ruhr (or at least, a clean side arm of that river), and most of our little group went barefoot (including myself, of course. :)). That first swim of the year in outdoor waters was very re- freshing, but also posed a little problem as far as the way back to the camp was concerned: most of that walk led over sunlit pavement, which was, due to the bright sunny and hot weather, boiling hot... and the skin of my soles, now softened from taking that swim, were not quite happy at the scorching heat underfoot. I did make it back, with very tingling soles, almost on the verge of having them burned... and spent some time sitting around grassy patches, and not walking around too much, as to relax my soles... walking around the camp (mostly dirt paths and grass there) cooled and relaxed my soles quickly afterwards... and so I was in the late evening ready to get to returning home on my bare feet without any problems. :) All in all, it was a nice barefoot weekend again, enjoying this first taste of real summerly hot weather in full bare- footedness, ;) A little sad, that there weren't too many other barefooters around, with whom to share it.. even if only by exchanging knowing smiles and a nod of greeting on passing each other... :) Happily barefoot, with a forecast of nice weather ahead at least until Thursday. :)) Andreas 'BarefootAndy' Spring
Blessed Be, fellow barefooters :),
Just in case that someone has missed my barefoot weekend
reports, I was merely busy doing other 'net stuff and catching
up with reviewing e-mails and articles - I can now perfectly
understand Jaime's caption beneath some of his postings ('play-
ing catch-up with my e-mails... they are winning!').
However, sort of 'condensing' two barefoot weekend reports
into one mail enables me to compare the barefoot climate at both
weekends... climate referring to both weather and people's reac-
tions to seeing bare feet... :).
The weekend of May 16/17 concluded a week of splendid summerly
weather, with temperatures in the high 80s, very close to passing
the 90F-mark. More than just a first taste of summer.
I spent the Saturday mostly outdoors, wanting to take in as much
sun and warmth as possible - and possibly also having some barefoot
company as well. I can say, that I wasn't disappointed in either
respect... . First place to go on that morning: the university,
for my habitual net visit. On the labs closing at noon, I went for my
likewise usual Saturday visit of the inner city, for doing some nice
and easy barefoot strolling and store browsing/shopping - or at least,
that was the plan... not that I was hassled or denied service in any
of the stores I visited - those being an Indian/Nepalese clothing-
jewelries-stuff store (where I am known for my barefooting, and already
both talked to sales people about it, as well as meeting one or two of them
working barefoot there as well. :)), a large multi-storey bookstore, and a
huge dept. store (belonging to the German Karstadt chain). The bookstore
personnel greeted me, friendly as usual, as they had seen me on various
occasions in there in my bare feet, both browsing and buying... and the
Karstadt sales attendants noticed my lack of footwear, alright, but seemed
to not care about it at all - at least they did not show any reaction, other
than a mild form of 'the look' :). Concerning 'the look', I must say that it
was less frequent on that sunny Saturday afternoon than usual, making me guess
that the warm weather made people think that being barefoot is rather more normal
in such warm weather, than on cooler days... Anyway, the reason for not getting
through the city as easily as usual was the unusually large crowd of people
gathering at a central site in the city for a special outdoor event, namely,
a party with live TV transmission in front of the municipal theater hall, on
a large lawn. The reason was the National Soccer Federation (DFB) cup finals,
which had premiere league teams from Duisburg both in the women's as well as
the men's match.
That event drew a lot of people to that spot, and due to the warm weather, I
spotted quite many bare feet, but no barefooters.. meaning: people in street
cafes, at fountains or on the lawn at the party site were happily slipping out
of their summer shoes, to wiggle bare toes... but there was no one (apart from me)
being barefoot without any shoes nearby...
I spent two hours of that afternoon watching the live transmission of
the women's cup final (who beat the current premiere league champion,
FSV Frankfurt, 6-2), and left, as the crowds got bigger, gathering for
what they thought being the main event, namely the men's final. As more people
gathered there, and meandered through the crowd to get a nice spot to watch the
game, I noticed their absolute unawareness of other people's footwear... and to
avoid having my toes squashed by some of the highly fashionable heavy trainers
and boots stomping by, I chose to leave (not to mention the prospect of drunk
and howling soccer fans, which was not too appealing to me either... oh, by
the way: the Duisburg men's team lost their match against Bayern
Muenchen, 1-2 ).
I then went to visit friends in Muelheim - the neighbor city of Duisburg,
so to speak - and heard that there was a medieval-style market at a restored
castle near the city center there. So, it was quickly decided to go there, and
have a look at what might be going on there. Of course I went barefoot, quite
eager to see, whether there will be fellow barefooters, or not. And, as I wrote
above, I was not disappointed.
The castle is situated right at the main road leading from Duisburg to Muelheim,
and, quite conveniently, there is a tram stop right in front of it. The back side
of it is facing a large park area, and we approached the entrance from that side,
seeing that the park was alive with people taking a walk, being with their kids on
the nearby playground, or proceeding to enter the castle yard, where the market was
being held.
As I and some others were about to enter, I spotted a young woman in a long, black
velvet skirt, and long sleeveless green vest, stepping up to the entrance, barefoot...
she wore a bells and beads anklet, and on her right foot I spotted some sort of tribal
tattoo on her instep. She smiled, as she saw me being barefoot, too, and I smiled back,
greeting her, saying something like "I'm happy to see that I am not alone...", lifting
a toe-ringed foot... her smile got brighter and she nodded, wishing me a fine day... so,
one more true barefooter, at least, was present on such a warm day. :) - Inside the yard,
I spotted a few of the medival-style traders and musicians being barefoot, without sh**s
in sight, and with quite dirty soles as well... since the yard was laid out partly with
cobblestones, partly with a dirt/small gravel combination, the sensory sensation of walking
barefoot was quite a nice one. The walkways in the adjoining park were all laid out with
sand and small gravel, providing a nice massaging surface for bare soles. :) People were
busy walking around and tending to their business, so I did not get to talking to any of
those barefooters (and perhaps advertize the DSS or barefooting in general) - but I felt
wonderfully at home, since here no one was giving me the look for being barefoot... :)
It was just taken for being perfectly normal in these surroundings.
Among those medieval-style people wearing shoes was no one really wearing modern-type shoes,
but they rather wore the roman-style sandals, made from one piece of thin leather, which are
laced together on the instep... Those are a type of footwear that is thin enough to still make
you feel like walking barefoot, but providing enough cover to not get cold feet in cooler
temperatures (just like authentic-style mocassins would).
When it was time to leave, I lagged a little behind, and almost
missed the tram back, which my friends were taking... as I stepped
out of the main castle yard entrance, I saw them waving frantically
from the tram stop, as the tram was approaching... I saw a little
grass-covered strip, the sidewalk and the paved road between me
and the tram stop. And since trams only run every 30 minutes on
weekends, and also since the road was clear, I decided to try and
run for it, trying for the first time a 50-and-something metres
barefoot sprint... - and it worked out just fine. :) (although
I am not turning into a barefoot runner now, since my ankles and
knees are not built for that after years of constant strains from
both overweight as well as from walking around shod...
All in all, that Saturday, of which I spent the rest with some
friends, sitting barefoot around a nice campfire, was a perfect barefoot
day.
Now, to get to last weekend, the report on barefoot activities is
rather short... the weather had changed considerably in comparison to
the week before, as it changed from the warm, summerly weather, to cooler,
April-ish shower weather, with temperatures in the 60s, occasionally only
scratching the 70s mark... - and being barefoot in town now got me plenty
of 'the look' - as people seem to think that bare feet are only to be shown
on blistering hot days.. - Little do they know...
One occasion of getting looks galore was a flea market held at the
horse racing track in Muelheim, which I strolled over - barefoot, of
course - browsing through what people had to offer... actually, most of
the stuff was junk, so I did not buy anything, apart from the odd snack
here and there from the food sellers...
To make the count of other barefooters apart from me a short one:
zero!
So, to conclude this condensed two-weekends report on barefooting:
on warm days, people seem not ot care about others' footwear... but
beware of weird loks, or people shaking heads, or giving incredulous
comments, as soon as temperatures drop below 80F... :P :)
Well, that shall be it for now... I promise to be faster on my
little reports of my barefooting activities next time. :) - just
with other net things (MU** administration, HTMLing around like
crazy, and being covered in mails galore) keeping my busy, I just
couldn't post it any earlier. :)
wishing you fine barefoot days and nights,
Andreas 'BarefootAndy' Spring
--
Hello, fellow barefooters, :) The subject line for this barefoot report mail is a little ambiguous, as you will see shortly... :) An open-air music festival - especially one going a few days - is always a nice occasion to hang around, meet and befriend many dif- ferent people. This is especially true of the Moers Jazz Festival, an annual open-air event held in Moers, about 20 kilometres from where I live. The main program and line-up is quite nice, and some celebrities in the Jazz world can be met there as well... although I must admit, that I did not know at all who was supposed to play there, since the program may offer some nice events, but also calls for DM 150.00 (about $100.00) for a three-day ticket... I thought that being a little expensive, and so I decided to join a few friends who also wanted to be there, but not wished to pay those prices... In case you would like to know about the official festival program and ticket prices and such, refer to: http://www.mw-online.com/moers-festival/index.html (mostly in German, though...) Anyway, the more interesting part of it is free: camping out on the festival grounds, a large park, a bit outside of town, where people can pitch their tents and where various sales booths lined up at the park pathways create a large market atmosphere. The festival itself thus attracts a pool of alternative and free culture, surrounding the official program, adding a special facet to it. All over the place you have drum circles, session tents with both electric and acoustic instruments, didgeridoo players, and techno party tents. And all the different people gathering there... - techno/goa party freaks met with mainstream people, old and neo-hippies, punks, goths, skinheads (of the non-fascist faction), and whatever other sort of people - you name 'em - were there. I was sure, that this would also be a compa- ringly large gathering of free soles. I was glad to see that I was true in expecting that... :) A note on the weather data first: cloudy, mostly sunny days, in the 20s (C - high 70s F), and mild nights, with a few showers on the first and third night... to sum it up with one word: pleasant. :) having a look at the weather was not only important for my barefooting, but especially considering the special and rather different mode of transportation I and others chose to get there... I joined a group of people going there by tractor, pulling one of the tin-and-wood wagons from the 'Wagenburg' wagon site in Muelheim - and since I knew roughly how to get to Moers, I was one of three riding on an old blue Fordson Dexta tractor - of course, barefoot... :) Another first-time experience for me: riding barefoot on a tractor... Of course, a vehicle that special caused people doing double-takes, gaping, and mostly smiling as well, since we only could travel at a speed of 6 kph - the maximum speed to go for a vehicle driven without a license, plate, or insurance. For the first time, I was not getting 'the look' for being barefoot - which was not quite visible to people, anyway - but for being part of the motley crew riding that vehicle. On the three-hour-tour (yes, that was how long it took us to get there), each stop at a red light, or for other reasons was an event of its own, reinforced by the hammering and loud techno music pouring forth from a large loudspeaker box mounted to the tractor's rear side. Since it was a sunny day, the ride was extreme fun. On arrival at the festival site, we were told that we could not enter the camping grounds with our vehicle, and that permits for parking a mobile home on the main parking lot would be given away on the next day. We parked on a grass strip next to the camping grounds, along a road, separated from the festival site by a row of trees. Some of our group then spotted a clear way between the trees, leading onto the grounds, and our driver decided forthwith to be so bold and try making our way through there to enter the site with tractor and wagon after all. That however turned out to be not the best of ideas, since we were immediately stopped by security and event management personnel who came racing toward us, only a minute after we had successfully entered... Our wagon and tractor was ordered to leave the site at once, and they were threatening us with trespassing charges, and a ban from the whole festival. Luckily, this did not happen, and we obtained the permit for the parking lot on the next day without problems... and so the whitsun festival weekend could begin. We made contact with some people to hang around with very swiftly, and two nice guys who had a jewelry, clothing and other stuff sales stand there, offered us to use their mobile home, and their propane gas supplies for cooking some food (for us, them and also to give away to people who might need it), since we unfortunately had packed an empty gas bottle, but forgot to get a new one on the way... :P :). From that 'base' so to speak, we went for walks around the festival grounds. Since there was mains power supplied for the sales booths as well, our 'techno fraction'was able to put up their turntables and PA system, and start a music and partying event of its own right there on the spot. :) I took the opportunity from there to go 'foot spotting' several times, and also to let the atmosphere there do its work on me... to say it beforehand: I soon refrained from taking a barefoot count (as opposed to a head count :)), since there were rather many pairs of bare feet, as well as barefooters around the place - I spotted a few dozen of those throughout the whole festival. The first verbal contact with a fellow barefooter was when I was standing at a sales stand, browsing through the silver jewelry there, and saw a woman in a short black-and-white tie-dye dress, with blonde- and-purple dreadlocks standing next to me, doing likewise. I noticed her bare feet, and saw that she had no shoes with her, and so I smiled inwardly at first, happy to have met my first fellow barefooter on that festival. When she looked at me once, I grinned at her, remarking something like "Hey, cool shoes you got there...!" - at which she gave me a look as if to reply by the book, or rather the DSS FAQ, and give an appropriate reply... then she looked down, seeing my bare feet, com- plete with toe rings and leather and bead anklets, and she smiles at me, responding "Yeah, thanks - just as cool as yours". Both my and her feet were nicely dusted by walking the dirt and gravel pathways, and she commented very positively on my anklets and toe rings... she then observed, that my feet were rather large just as hers, and so I put my foot next to hers, only to discover that her and my feet were of the same size... we both laughed at that, and wished each other a fine festival. :) I saw her on a few other occasions on the festival site again, but only once she was barefoot again, but otherwise she wore boots... so, she was only a part-time barefooter - but still, that first barefoot encounter had broken the ice, and made me feel at home there. I spotted lots of barefeet on the camping grounds, too, but those were mainly shoddies, who preferred to walk and linger on the lawn in their bare feet, but otherwise slipped into their sh*+s again, when walking the park pathways... (cf. my last barefoot weekend posting on my distinction between 'bare feet' and 'barefooters'). Most of the real barefooters I saw were hippie type people, some looking as happy and easy and authentic in their bare feet as if they had been trans- planted there directly from the sixties - including wreaths of flowers bound into their hair. :) I felt even more at home there, spotting and greeting those people with smiles. Strangely, even though being con- fronted with many other barefooters, I still got 'the look' from people passing by... and this time I was sure that the toe rings were the cause of that... all through the festival I spotted only one other person, a woman, wearing toe rings - and she wore sandals, rather than being barefoot. As far as the chances to live up to being a 'Dirty Sole' were concerned, I must say that those were slim... the dirt-and- gravel pathways left a brown-grey color on my soles, and the occasional walks over grass rubbed that off again very quickly... and there was only little concrete, which would normally take care of blackening my soles quickly, especially in warm weather... so, that grey-brown was the dirtiest my soles would get. The nice effect of walking those paths was that my feet got nicely dusty, thus making them appear as trail-dusted as a barefooter could wish for. :) The occasional nightly rain showers left the paths partly muddy on the morning after, and at some places, rather large puddles formed. It was fun to see the shoddies taking evasive maneouvres, eager not to get wet shoes, while I and the other barefooters gleefully walked through the puddles, enjoying the wet and cool sensory sensation. Even though encountering initial difficulties (see above :)), the fes- tival turned out to be great as a whole, and also great from a barefoot point of view... As far as possible hazards for barefeet were concerned I can say that even though to some broken glass lying here and there on the pathways, and also littered on the camping site, I could easily evade those, and felt a few under my soles, which did not pierce or penetrate the skin, though. The only injury I got on that festival was not even near my feet, as I sustained a small burn on my index finger from touching a hot pan in which we were baking chapatis the wrong way. But even that did not prompt me to wear gloves, really . Among the barefoot encounters I had, three were of special value, and also en- couraging as well as inspiring. The first of these three was at a sales stand for leather goods, where also Roman-style sandals were sold - this type of sandals just consist of a leather patch, laced together over the instep. Since the leather is not too thick, this is as close to being barefoot, as a shoe can get. When getting wet, one will leave barefoot prints on dry ground when wearing those. :) I talked at length to the stand owner (who was shod, unfortunately) about the benefits of walking barefoot in general as well as in my case, and pointed out that the sandals he sold were great fro colder temperatures, as they provide enough protection from coldth. He confirmed that, telling me that he went out on wintery days, wearing only those, and since last winter was rather mild, he could leave the socks at home... so, I might have talked to a closet barefooter here, who knows about the benefits and pleasures but still needs that shove into the right direction to lose his shoes... The second encounter was another sales stand, where toe rings, and henna hand and foot paintings were advertized as being 'the ultimate in adornment for this coming summer' - all designs for the henna foot pain- tings were depicted on bare feet - so if it becomes trendy to adorn feet in that way, people will be eager to show it, and that is of course best done by being barefoot. The woman at the stand smiled at me seeing my toe rings, but since she was rather busy tending to customers, I did not get the chance to talk to her. I wonder whether I might have gotten a free foot painting for advertizing her stand a little... :) - but this gave me a little creative input. More about that a little later. The third encounter which I found nice was a young hippie woman, bare- foot, wearing a long dress under which her bare feet peeked out as she walked, and wearing such a henna painting on her right instep. It was inspiring, since it prompted me - after the festival, on the day that I wrote down the notes for this mail - to doodle a little... and I ended up doodling on my right foot, using red, black and blue pens to draw abstract, tribal-sort shapes onto my foot. I knee that this would boost 'the look' by far, when walking through town... and on testing that, I was right in my guess. :) - a new, non-permanent way of body art... One never knows... I might even turn it into a business, painting the feet of people and promoting barefooting, since that would be not only the best choice to show that piece of body art, but also the better and healthier (and also beautiful) way to walk. :) All in all, I must ay, that this long whitsun weekend was barefoot paradise... all hassle-free and easy, and among like-minded barefoot people. Coming back to a fully shod city was sort of a harsh contrast to that, making me again feel like a sole (as in solitary) barefoot warrior for the peaceful cause of healthy and pleasant walking... Creatively and happily barefoot, Andreas 'BarefootAndy' Spring
Well, to make a long summer short: it was perhaps not the hottest summer, as far as the weather is concerned, but I am proud to report, that nothing ever forced me to wear shoes at this time (and so far hasn't, either). I even had the chance, as the weather got hot and nice, in August, to venture back to a spot I discovered in May this year as my ideal new and favourite place for naturism, and thus spent a nice time, getting an equally nice overall tan (including the feet, of course...!) Since I never got hassled for being barefoot, anywhere (!), I can only report this summer as having been perfect, so far.
Well, the weekend started quite early for me, since I had to catch a train departing from Duisburg at 5.07am... and since there was no tram running on Saturday mornings, at least no from where I live, I had to walk at least to the Duisburg Zoo (about 3 kms), to catch one going at 4.37am. That meant, lea- ving home at about 4 am. So, You might guess, that I did not get much sleep. So, even before the meeting had started, I had my first part of a little hike over concrete sidewalks (one part very spooky, since I had to walk on a bit lying between two cities, where the street lamps are turned off at late night. And that bit was dark.. and I mean DARK! No way of seeing what was lying on the sidewalk ahead of me... a true challenge for the tactile sense. Arriving at the tram stop, the tram ride was an eventless thing (OK, on a Sa- turday morning at such a time, there are most likely very few others taking a tram into town... so I was pretty much alone). At Duisburg main sstation it was time to first get some hot coffee (I had to make up for the loss of sleep by a high caffeine intake!), and so I went to a bakery takeaway stand, and got me a nice, large cup. I received 'the look' galore from passers-by, but no comments, and so I went to the appropriate platform to board the first of two trains, that was going to take me on the way to Berlin, a regional to Dortmund (about 50 minutes to go there). The ride itself was rather eventless as well. Only thing to note was, that the weather on that early morning had been cloudy/overcast, and relatively mild (in the 60s F, about 15C), so I wasn't uncomfortable at all being barefoot... whereas people were looking at me as if I were walking the streets in swim shorts in mid-winter... plus: the rgional train's heating was turned up to almost sauna temperatures. It was nice to warm up my feet thus, though. Arriving at Dortmund, I had about half an hour to change from the regional to the InterRegio train taking me all the way to Berlin. I decided to continue the caffeine intake mission, and went down into the station hall, looking for a coffee sales stand. Finding one, I got me a cup, and noticed again, as usual 'the look', but also in an interested and curious variant, from two goth-styled young women. But since they were too far away from me I could neither hear their comments, nor did I want to disturb them, or try to make them comment on me... the unplanned, and spontaneous reactions by people are the best in that respect, anyway. The ride on the train to Berlin was very relaxing, and I was looking forward to greeting fellow barefooters, at first Oli Hofmann and Tobias Köhler, at the train station Zoologischer Garten in Berlin. The others, particularly Peter and Roland, our Berlin 'natives' (and non-DSS members) and John Porter, DSS visitor from Britain, were waiting in the station hall, at a coffee stand (the option of getting more, yes, even more caffeine into my system was tempting, but we were then told, that we would have to kill some time, until meeting the other hike participants, and so we decided to leave for some cafe to wait for the others to get ready.) So, we proceeded to one of the many stops to get something to snack and drink, in this case the cafe at the regional/inner-city train (S-Bahn) station Friedenau, where I had the chance to get a decent capuccino. The people visiting the street cafe on a cloudy, but mostly sunny late morning gave us initial curious looks, as a whole group of barefoot people sat there to chat and have a coffee, or whatever other drink we had in mind. But apart from that, no comments, no questions, no chuckling/laughter, or the like. I guess, a whole group of barefooters was a bit too 'intimidating' to prompt people to give any feedback. From the cafe, we then took off to meet and pick up two other hikers, both non-DSS members (Heide and Thomas), meeting thus at the place of yet another barefoot hiker, Guido, who was unfortunately not in the mood to join us. Nevertheless we took off from there, with three cars, to drive from Berlin into the Potsdam area, and south of Potsdam we arrived at a village called Stücken, to proceed into the Stückener Heide, the chosen hiking area for today. Peter, being our guide, had made sure, that all hikers would have fun walking the trails, and that we wouldn't have to face any too-rough surfaces. All in all I would categorize the trails as being right for advanced beginners. Not quite for beginners, since a lot of fir tree cones and small branches were lying on the track, which generally were sand and dirt trails, soft from moisture (it had rained during the last days, so that the ground was all moist, and in some places even puddles were left). The weather was ideal, as it was mostly sunny, with nice big white clouds, moderately warm temperatures, and not much humidity. The surrounding forest spent a lot of cool and fresh air, too. Plus, we all got a nice chance to take peeks at nature, since there was a quite natural fauna there, too, and lots of little critters crossed our path (that is, literally!) - I counted at least five grass frogs leaping about, and several grasshoppers were encountered, in various sizes and colors - one even taking Heide's leg, or rather, her jeans there, as a spot to relax a moment, before hopping away to wherever he was bound to. Another remarkable thing aside from the fauna was that towards the end of the hike, when Peter had led us to 'the famous spot', where he always faces the decision to either go on the final bit of the way back to the car, or yet another few kilometres, we decided to go the short way, since there were quite grey clouds making their way closer and closer to us, and the evening hours were nigh, too. Soon it would be dark, and in a forest place, without lighting, and in rainy weather, I felt like not lingering too long. A sentiment, actually, shared by the others as well... and so we decided to make it back to the car pool. To take a short cut, Peter suggested to walk directly through the asparagus field we were facing, instead of taking the path around. Looking at the field, I admit, it looked like a barefooter's paradise. There were little heaps of soil, into which the asparagus had been placed, and where it was growing (green asparagus, and as we were told by Peter and Roland, quitethe product that region is famous for...), and about a yard-and-a-half wide clear and flat paths in between. That field turned out to be the funniest and most pleasant part of the hike, as the soil, which was moist, and feeling cool to bare soles, was of a clay-like quality, and as we proceeded, the groound became mushier and muddier. By the end of that field, we all were wearing shoes, so to speak, as the mud had squished all up between the toes, covering them, and our soles were almost up to the ankles covered with it as well. I found that nice, although the soil clinging to the feet was rather heavy, and after hiking several miles, that weight was definitely felt. At least, it did so to me...! The last part of that hike led again over forest paths, with a lot of deep grass and moss on the way, so that we had plenty of opportunity to get rid of our 'mud shoes' while walking. And, with a sure sense of timing, the rain, that had been imminent, started about five minutes before we reached the cars, and were about to drive back into Berlin, where we were then having dinner at the 'Moghul', a small, but nice Indian restaurant. I can only say that the chicken curry there is a treat! . Since we were all rather tired from the day's hike, the scheduled visit at the alternative culture center Augenblick, to have a look at the 'Zeitlos' (meaning: 'timeless') disco, which is, as we were told, one of the barefoot-friendly dancing and party places, was skipped, and we headed off to our respective lodgings, that being me and Tobias taking the city train to Wilhelmsruh, to get to the apartment of two friends there. On terms of feeling my feet, that first hiking day has been pleasant, but reminded me that I am merely an everyday barefooter, and not too much of a hiker. Not that I had troubles keeping up with the others, but after that hike through the Stückener Heide, walking over somewhat coarse concrete on sidewalks in the evening hours, getting to the sleeping place, I definitely felt that being "loud" to my soles, as the soft and wet grounds of the forest trails had made my soles comparingly soft again, thus making me feel any man-made surfaces in a not painful, but very obvious manner. On the funny side of things, Tobias and I stayed up until almost 2 am, spending the time having another late dinner (our hosts had been cooking for us... had I but known, I would have sticked with something smaller at the 'Moghul' ), and a lot of talking. After all, I hadn't seen those guys (and a third one, also a mutual friend now living in Berlin, and visiting the two) for about a year. It was a fun evening, altogether. The Sunday started with breakfast at about 9 am, after a short night, but I felt quite refreshed, and eager to start on our second hike. It was planned to take us from near 'The Lion' - a large leonine statue in Berlin-Wannsee - all around the forest trails there, and then back to that point, from which Tobias and I later planned to depart to the train station at Wannsee, so that we could then ride to our respective homes from there. The day started out grey, overcast, and so , the weather did not look too promising at first, when we met at that train station, to then drive over to our starting point. We were almost the same group as on the day before, with the exception of Thomas, who didn't have time to join us, and Roland, who did drive a few of us up to the starting point, but then had to leave for a Sunday appointment. So, he wasn't with us on this hike, either. Again, Peter took the lead, and again, we met soft-ground forest paths, with a lot of fir tree cones lying around... I almost believe, that those trees had been following us, wherever we chose to hike
. After about an hour into the hike, we were relieved to see the sun peeking out from above the high clouds, and by the time we arrived at an outdoor café/restaurant at the Wannsee itself, a really typical tourist area, the sunshine was strong enough to switch from sweater to T-shirt again. We had a mid-day drink/coffee/ snack, there, and then decided, choosing from our options, to either go, and visit the 'Pfaueninsel' nearby (a small island on the Wannsee, inhabited by peacocks, as the name suggests, and also made into a tourist attraction. The paths there would have been very much park-like, thus laid out in gravel, and not too barefoot-friendly, really.), or to proceed to do a very tourist thing, namely, visiting the city center of Berlin, or to hike alongside the river Havel back to the Lion, and there again visit an outdoor café/pub, before then calling it a day... we decided to take that third option, and thus walked back along the water - and with some opportunities to stop at the sandy bank of that river, and splash our toes in the water - our bare soles again meeting quite pleasantly smooth trails. Only the last bit was to be walked on typical, park-like paths, which had, however, consi- derably less gravel or concrete to them, than one might expect. All in all, the only places with harder surfaces around had been at the stop we took to have our drinks, where the par- king lot there was laid out in concrete, and the café grounds were one big gravel bed. The latter was quite nice, since the pebbles there were small enough to stimulate the soles, but not large enough to be annoying. The whole hike back was very relaxing, and since we didn't walk the same distance as the day before, it wasn't too tirinng, either. Although, I must admit, that I felt my soles having had to do some work, and, even more so, my calves were distinctly giving off signs of strain (not pain, nor cramps... but they felt thoroughly used, nevertheless!). On arriving at our destination, Tobias and I had a little time left to sit with the others, before we then had to wander off to a nearby bus stop, to catch a bus taking us to the train station. So, we said goodbye to the keen barefooters we had met there, being both DSS and non-DSS members, and parted. The train ride back (on my part) was not as lucky as the one I had when going to Berlin, since the InterRegio train I boarded at Wannsee was crammed full with people (both the com- partments, as well as the aisles!), so I spent a few hours, sitting on my bag in the aisle, before at Hannover enough people left, so I could catch a seat, to spend the remaining al- most three and a half hours in a decent sitting position :). I received a few looks (or, rather, a few occurances of 'The Look'!), but no comments on my barefeet. On the platform at Wannsee there was even an English language professor from Duisburg university (Gaia knows how he ended up there), waiting to board that self-same train. But since he knows me for walking barefoot, we only exchanged glances, a nod as a wordless greeting, and I walked on. (Well, that man and I are not on the best terms, so, I guess, that nod was much, on both parts... but that is another story, altogether .) To sum that weekend up, I enjoyed myself greatly, as it was a wonderful occasion to get to know a few fellow DSSers, and like-minded other non-DSS free soles, and as it was also perfect to meet one DSSer again, whom I have known for a while now (namely Tobias), and also to meet a few other friends (at whose place I and Tobias were accommodated) again. I don't know if they'll ever my barefoot diary, but if they do: Thanks and *fuzzles* to Jumpy and Tabalon (and to Cheetah, too
- I bet you're glad, that I didn't bug you, as I warned you I might. [inside joke!]). Thanks very much, Oli, for inviting me, and making this a special weekend to me. Thanks also to Peter, for his flawless lead through the Stückener Heide and through Wannsee.