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 enoucnter 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.
Tobias' pictures of the hike are here.
More reports on my personal barefoot experiences will be added either as soon as I post them to the DSS (and if they are not too personal in nature, or replying to personal postings!), or as soon as I get to write up little reports not to be sent to the DSS (for redundancy reasons, for instance!).
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