Cold Feet but the Leaves are a Blowing

Despite this coldness and the uncomfortable nature of walking to work these autumnal days there is one large bonus - the leaves on the ground. I do at least feel that I've made it to where I wanted (but didn't expect) with autumn fully set in an piles of leaves on the ground to be kicked carefree into the air as I walk. So if I did have to return to the shod world I will feel content that I made it thus far.

But it would be simply splendid to make Christmas...


barefoot, autumn leaves

Cold Feet

Today was hard. Not only have I been feeling down a little since the weekend (friendship issues) but today I discovered a major blunder and have some things tomorrow that are nagging at me (on top of the general fear that November is passing all too rapidly and I really need to get some research work completed).

So added to that was the cold uncomfortable walk to work, a walk to the pub for lunch and the walk home all on uncomfortably cold and wet ground. I was less than happy.

Will this be the last week I make barefoot?

cold feet

Singing in the Rain

Ha ha! Suck you shoe people!

It's been pouring down all day here in Southampton (making me slightly nervous about my walk tomorrow) and I've been loving it. There are all these people out there trying despirately to avoid all the puddle and streams byt perfomring some ritual rain dance in the hope of keeping their feet dry. But they should know it's pointless, whenever you walk about in rain, shoes allways get wet. This is the natural law. Umbrellas are designed not to shelter your feet.

So go barefoot. You can splash freely thought the deepest leaf covered puddles safe in the knowledge that you can't get any wetter than you are already and that feet dry in minutes compared to the days of airing that shoes take.

So I'm really looking forward to my walk home. Yes, it is a tad chilly, but they soon warm up when indoors and you also get this rush of blood to the feet - instant central heating.

Go on, loose the shoes. I dare you.


barefoot, bare+feet, rain, puddles, rainstorm

Piece of Glass: 0, My Bare Feet: 1

Ha! I laugh in the face of glass.

On Monday for the first time in my barefoot history (4 months and a week) I got a piece of glass in my foot. One of the questions I get asked most is "don't you find that you get cut on glass all the time?" to which I answer no. They also like to ask if I frequently step in dog poo, to which I also answer no - this question is a tad strange, as it seems to suggest the assumption that not having shoes on makes one more likely to step in poo! Quite why this should be is a mystery to me. When shod I perhaps accidentally step in poo once a year, and I'm not expecting that rate to increase now I'm barefoot.

Anyway, back to the glass:

I'm not sure when I picked it up, but when I went to Chaplaincy for lunch I noticed a small pain in my heal, very localized as if I'd just stepped on a stone. I checked my soles and found nothing stuck on the bottom so continued, occasionally feeling this small pain.

Back at my desk I had a proper look and noticed a small fisher right where the pain sensations were coming from (my nerve endings are still top notch which is nice to see). But I left it there deciding to investigate with my Leatherman later, as walking still wasn't a problem.

Later at home I got out my Leatherman blade and started a Time Team style excavation of my heal to find out what was there. I dug away at the toughened skin either side of the fisher to reveal it's lurking contents - something darkish which hurt when prodded. I called in my housemate Adele with her tweasers to extract the forigen body - a small, millimeter square shard of glass burried a mm into my heal. Out it came and the problem was solved, no more pain and no blood as it had not penegtrated my well worn heal - nice.

So that means that the soles of my feet are at least 2 mm thick and can easily ward of glass - brilliant :)

Feet rock!


barefoot, barefeet, glass, Leatherman

New Barefoot First

It looks like today I've got something embedded in my sole for the first time in over 4 months. I noticed a slight sharp pain in my heel but couldn't feel anything sticking out so ignored it. However I've just sat down in my office to have a proper inspection and I've found a small something embedded in the heel exactly where the pain said it was (I love nerves). So I'll have to have a look when I get home and set my Leatherman on the job :D

barefoot

Shod for a Day

For the first time in many many weeks I've placed my amazing little feet into a sheath of dead animal and refined oil called shoes. The thing is I'm at a conference type thing today (right now in fact) and giving a presentation barefoot would probably not be a great thing, mainly because it would distract the audience from what I'm actually presenting about.

Oh well, may the barefoot revolution continue, slowly, but continue nonetheless.

barefoot,
shoes

'Twas a Chilly Morn

Despite the glorious sunshine that I awoke to, the walk to work this morning was a tad on the chilly side. This was mostly due to wearing only a t-shirt, but slightly compounded by the shoesless nature of my walk.

How long am I going to last? I'm allready a month further than I expected, and tomorrow completes my fourth consecutive month barefoot. But will I reach December? Will I make it to my birthday on the 17th of December? Will I be able to walk barefoot to Church on Christmas Day? I doubt it, but the challenge is set and I push forward the boundaries of my barefoot existance and defeat the propaganda by Nike etc. that I need shoes.