Did my eyes deceive me? 19:56 - Jan 12 with 22543 views | SuffolkHoop | Or did I see a Rangers fans with no shoes on waking on Portman Road yesterday? WTF | ![](/images/avatars/2179.gif) | | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
Did my eyes deceive me? on 12:26 - Jan 17 with 1370 views | saxbend |
Did my eyes deceive me? on 12:16 - Jan 17 by JAPRANGERS | What would you do if some pumped up Hitler type refused you entrance to a football ground because of your shoe challenged situation?? Has it ever happened?? |
Hasn't happened yet. About 20% of the time I have to wait a few minutes while they umm and ahh and radio each other. It doesn't usually take long and I speed things up by citing the relevant ground regulations which are sometimes mounted on the wall right behind them. There's one exempting them from liability should I get injured and another stating zero tolerance on discrimination. Usually any delay is down to them wanting to be sure I know what I'm doing and once that's established I get nothing but good will from then on, and as long as I'm not about to miss kick off I don't mind waiting, and I can record the audio to make good addition to the video content. [Post edited 17 Jan 2014 12:28]
| ![](/images/avatars/13012.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
Did my eyes deceive me? on 12:51 - Jan 17 with 1345 views | saxbend |
Did my eyes deceive me? on 12:33 - Jan 17 by JAPRANGERS | I see. Well thanks for answering all the questions on this very interesting thread in such a decent, patient manner! |
Happy to. It benefits me and anyone else who might consider doing the same to make it as unsurprising and clearly explained as possible. | ![](/images/avatars/13012.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
Did my eyes deceive me? on 13:07 - Jan 17 with 1322 views | Juzzie |
Did my eyes deceive me? on 20:25 - Jan 15 by michael67 | Jesus wasn't a carpenter. Joseph was. |
Are they any relation to Richard & Karen? [Post edited 17 Jan 2014 13:10]
| ![](/images/avatars/1466.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
Did my eyes deceive me? on 13:15 - Jan 17 with 1302 views | runningman75 | Is funny as this thread is a lot more interesting compared to the usual whinges such as in regards to the hated player of the month (currently Bobby Zamora). Saxbend perhaps you need to look for sponsors for your feet. Speak to the club and find out how much Air Asia would pay you to tattoo their logo on your feet. | ![](/images/avatars/0.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
Did my eyes deceive me? on 13:20 - Jan 17 with 1292 views | saxbend |
Did my eyes deceive me? on 13:15 - Jan 17 by runningman75 | Is funny as this thread is a lot more interesting compared to the usual whinges such as in regards to the hated player of the month (currently Bobby Zamora). Saxbend perhaps you need to look for sponsors for your feet. Speak to the club and find out how much Air Asia would pay you to tattoo their logo on your feet. |
Ha. Well if anyone's interested in sponsoring, I'll be walking from Southend to West Ham next month for the Bobby Moore fund for cancer research. Conveniently the walk finishes on the morning before the Charlton game, so if anyone sees me hobbling around the valley, you'll know why. I'll post a link once I've set up the sponsorship page. | ![](/images/avatars/13012.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
Did my eyes deceive me? on 13:22 - Jan 17 with 1284 views | PinnerPaul | Quick trawl of the internet leads me to believe that are about 5 billion pairs of shoes sold each year so cna see why this thread HAS attracted so much attention, we can't all be wrong can we?! | ![](/images/avatars/0.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
Did my eyes deceive me? on 13:49 - Jan 17 with 1269 views | saxbend |
Did my eyes deceive me? on 13:22 - Jan 17 by PinnerPaul | Quick trawl of the internet leads me to believe that are about 5 billion pairs of shoes sold each year so cna see why this thread HAS attracted so much attention, we can't all be wrong can we?! |
I wonder how many cigarettes are sold each year, and how many copies of religious texts, the truth of which being mutually exclusive. Personally I'd say that if wearing shoes makes you happier than not, then that's a good enough reason to wear them. But I'd also say that if fitting in with everyone else is the main reason why wearing them makes you happy then you need to ask yourself whether that's really enough for you. It might be, and that's fine. But I'd want to be absolutely sure. | ![](/images/avatars/13012.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) | Login to get fewer ads
Did my eyes deceive me? on 14:34 - Jan 17 with 1240 views | PinnerPaul |
Did my eyes deceive me? on 13:49 - Jan 17 by saxbend | I wonder how many cigarettes are sold each year, and how many copies of religious texts, the truth of which being mutually exclusive. Personally I'd say that if wearing shoes makes you happier than not, then that's a good enough reason to wear them. But I'd also say that if fitting in with everyone else is the main reason why wearing them makes you happy then you need to ask yourself whether that's really enough for you. It might be, and that's fine. But I'd want to be absolutely sure. |
I think you'll find comfort and protection will be the main reason people wear them as opposed to just because everyone else does! | ![](/images/avatars/0.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
Did my eyes deceive me? on 14:51 - Jan 17 with 1226 views | saxbend |
Did my eyes deceive me? on 14:34 - Jan 17 by PinnerPaul | I think you'll find comfort and protection will be the main reason people wear them as opposed to just because everyone else does! |
And yet after pages of discussion about comfort and protection you moved on to numbers in your previous post. I took that to mean you accepted that comfort and protection can be found with or without them, but the sales of shoes remained high, and indeed they do. So there must be at least one other reason than comfort and protection. | ![](/images/avatars/13012.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
Did my eyes deceive me? on 15:21 - Jan 17 with 1209 views | PinnerPaul |
Did my eyes deceive me? on 14:51 - Jan 17 by saxbend | And yet after pages of discussion about comfort and protection you moved on to numbers in your previous post. I took that to mean you accepted that comfort and protection can be found with or without them, but the sales of shoes remained high, and indeed they do. So there must be at least one other reason than comfort and protection. |
That's a big and may I say ridiculous leap. How can you get the same level of protection from NOT wearing something as opposed TO wearing something? That's just plain wrong however you dress it up, if you pardon the pun. | ![](/images/avatars/0.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
Did my eyes deceive me? on 15:35 - Jan 17 with 1201 views | saxbend |
Did my eyes deceive me? on 15:21 - Jan 17 by PinnerPaul | That's a big and may I say ridiculous leap. How can you get the same level of protection from NOT wearing something as opposed TO wearing something? That's just plain wrong however you dress it up, if you pardon the pun. |
It doesn't have to be the same. It only need be enough. And with the bonus of additional freedoms and comfort as well as the protection against microbe infections I described a few pages ago it's more than enough in fact. | ![](/images/avatars/13012.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
Did my eyes deceive me? on 20:20 - Jan 17 with 1156 views | Grifter | Do you have a bucket of water on the doorstep when you get home? Otherwise you'll walk shite into the house on the way to the shower. Do you just avoid walking at night, when you won't be able to see the pavement? (particularly away from the city). What about when you've got to walk really fast/run to get somewhere? That's some serious impact on the feet, you're more likely to snag a toe/bump into something, and you don't want to be surveying a pavement when you're busting a gut to get a train. How do you kick a can along the pavement? Even if you don't mind having wet skin on your feet, having tatty dirty bottoms of your jeans stuck to your legs isn't going to be comfortable for anyone. Unless you sweat excessively, fresh socks keep the insides of shoes clean enough. The purpose of shoes is to remove the necessity for the extra consideration you put into walking around. Why use a camp fire when we've invented the oven? Makes life easier. | ![](/images/avatars/0.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
Did my eyes deceive me? on 21:40 - Jan 17 with 1125 views | saxbend |
Did my eyes deceive me? on 20:20 - Jan 17 by Grifter | Do you have a bucket of water on the doorstep when you get home? Otherwise you'll walk shite into the house on the way to the shower. Do you just avoid walking at night, when you won't be able to see the pavement? (particularly away from the city). What about when you've got to walk really fast/run to get somewhere? That's some serious impact on the feet, you're more likely to snag a toe/bump into something, and you don't want to be surveying a pavement when you're busting a gut to get a train. How do you kick a can along the pavement? Even if you don't mind having wet skin on your feet, having tatty dirty bottoms of your jeans stuck to your legs isn't going to be comfortable for anyone. Unless you sweat excessively, fresh socks keep the insides of shoes clean enough. The purpose of shoes is to remove the necessity for the extra consideration you put into walking around. Why use a camp fire when we've invented the oven? Makes life easier. |
My feet get dirty but I don't leave muddy footprints everywhere. I can wipe my feet as easily as you can wip a pair of shoes on a doormat. It's rare I'm in total dark in an area I don't know well. Generally the light level in a city is enough for me to see what I need to on the pavement even at night and my feet can handle a lot more than you might expect anyway. That includes running. There is actually a rapidly growing barefoot running movement. It carries a lot of benefits, particularly the use of the musculoskeletal structure that conserves energy very efficiently from one step to the next, and minimises stress on the knees. But because of my knee problems I do not run much. When I do run though I find it much easier barefoot, and my feet are in good enough shape for a missed shard of glass not to be much of a bother. Yes, the bottoms of my jeans annoy me a bit, but only because I don't like wearing shorts much. It's something I'm willing to put up with. I can kick a can pretty easily. Feet aren't as fragile when they've been developed fully outside of shoes. My feet do sweat and lot, and they heat up a lot, and if it were as simple as changing socks more frequently, don't you think I'd have stuck with that by now? I've already talked about the problems of warm moist stagnant environments, not to mention the limits on the biomechanics of walking. This extra consideration comes pretty naturally by the way. It seems a bit of an effort when you describe it all at once, but so is a lesson in how to speak Chinese. But you learn through experience, and then it happens instinctively. Just bear a couple of things in mind. Firstly considering how different this makes me, and how simple and comfortable wearing shoes everywhere is to you, since I don't I must dislike shoes enough and find going barefoot both preferable enough and practicable enough to start and continue doing it (for about 11 years now). Secondly, you don't have to take my word for it as one of the reasons for doing the youtube videos is to provide much stronger evidence for how much easier it is than so many people seem to think. | ![](/images/avatars/13012.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
Did my eyes deceive me? on 22:01 - Jan 17 with 1107 views | Mick_S | Hello Saxybaby, If you were signed up by the mighty Rangers, would you wear boots? | ![](/images/avatars/1815.gif) |
| Did I ever mention that I was in Minder? |
| ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
Did my eyes deceive me? on 22:21 - Jan 17 with 1083 views | saxbend |
Did my eyes deceive me? on 22:01 - Jan 17 by Mick_S | Hello Saxybaby, If you were signed up by the mighty Rangers, would you wear boots? |
I doubt very much that I'd have got to the point of being signed by Rangers without already having decided long before to wear boots, watch what I eat, and practise skills all day long instead of scales in order to be fully dedicated towards a football career. But yes, if it meant a magic wand waved making me suddenly a super fit talented footballer, playing for the Rs first team, I'd wear boots and throw all my other principles in as well. | ![](/images/avatars/13012.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
Did my eyes deceive me? on 23:35 - Jan 17 with 1037 views | loftboy |
Did my eyes deceive me? on 22:21 - Jan 17 by saxbend | I doubt very much that I'd have got to the point of being signed by Rangers without already having decided long before to wear boots, watch what I eat, and practise skills all day long instead of scales in order to be fully dedicated towards a football career. But yes, if it meant a magic wand waved making me suddenly a super fit talented footballer, playing for the Rs first team, I'd wear boots and throw all my other principles in as well. |
So all of a sudden the health of your feet doesn't matter as much as a 5 figure football contract? | ![](/images/avatars/1481.gif) |
| ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
Did my eyes deceive me? on 23:49 - Jan 17 with 1022 views | A40Bosh |
Did my eyes deceive me? on 23:35 - Jan 17 by loftboy | So all of a sudden the health of your feet doesn't matter as much as a 5 figure football contract? |
Dear God, I can't wait until 5pm on Sat after we have been destroyed by Huddersfield and suddenly the bloke with bare feet is a long-distant memory as everyone focuses on the spleen venting joy of a defeat and the pages of doom which will be follow. | ![](/images/avatars/1332.gif) |
| ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
Did my eyes deceive me? on 00:08 - Jan 18 with 1011 views | saxbend |
Did my eyes deceive me? on 23:35 - Jan 17 by loftboy | So all of a sudden the health of your feet doesn't matter as much as a 5 figure football contract? |
Yes. And if we had eyes on the sides of our faces Picasso would never have been famous. | ![](/images/avatars/13012.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
Did my eyes deceive me? on 00:14 - Jan 18 with 1008 views | johann28 | Still a bit concerned about the Gents'. Every time I go in there I'm not happy with what I'm treading on - and that's with shoes. | ![](/images/avatars/3914.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
Did my eyes deceive me? on 00:20 - Jan 18 with 1007 views | saxbend |
Did my eyes deceive me? on 00:14 - Jan 18 by johann28 | Still a bit concerned about the Gents'. Every time I go in there I'm not happy with what I'm treading on - and that's with shoes. |
The gents will stink whatever you wear. It's just a generally unpleasant place to go. Once you accept that your feet won't come to any special harm and that anything you do step in will be displaced by what you walk on for the rest of the day and washed off properly once you get home it's not too difficult to get past the yuck factor. Then again I could quite easily choose not to go in there if I were that bothered by it. Last season I couldn't get down from the back row of R block in time to queue up and be able to make it back for the second half, so I stopped drinking before games and went for a few afterwards instead. This season my seat's right by the exit so I can nip to the loo easily, but it's rare that I have to. As I say though, personally I don't mind it, but if I did, then I'd be able to find away around it. | ![](/images/avatars/13012.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
Did my eyes deceive me? on 00:28 - Jan 18 with 1004 views | johann28 |
Did my eyes deceive me? on 00:20 - Jan 18 by saxbend | The gents will stink whatever you wear. It's just a generally unpleasant place to go. Once you accept that your feet won't come to any special harm and that anything you do step in will be displaced by what you walk on for the rest of the day and washed off properly once you get home it's not too difficult to get past the yuck factor. Then again I could quite easily choose not to go in there if I were that bothered by it. Last season I couldn't get down from the back row of R block in time to queue up and be able to make it back for the second half, so I stopped drinking before games and went for a few afterwards instead. This season my seat's right by the exit so I can nip to the loo easily, but it's rare that I have to. As I say though, personally I don't mind it, but if I did, then I'd be able to find away around it. |
Once you accept that your feet won't come to any special harm and that anything you do step in will be displaced by what you walk on for the rest of the day and washed off properly once you get home Eek. My question is - do you seriously expect people to buy this argument? | ![](/images/avatars/3914.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
Did my eyes deceive me? on 01:09 - Jan 18 with 976 views | saxbend |
Did my eyes deceive me? on 00:28 - Jan 18 by johann28 | Once you accept that your feet won't come to any special harm and that anything you do step in will be displaced by what you walk on for the rest of the day and washed off properly once you get home Eek. My question is - do you seriously expect people to buy this argument? |
If I wanted to convince lots of people to do what I do (I don't by the way, I just want to convince them that if they see anyone else doing it, it's nothing to worry about), I certainly wouldn't talk about toilets that soon. I don't need anyone to buy the argument that it'd be ok for them per se, just that I'm not at any risk from it. Frankly, if someone kept a pair of shoes with them at all times with toilets and other places in mind, there's nothing wrong with that and I wouldn't accuse them of being wimps for it. I'm just saying there's no real danger. It's like talking to a Hindu about eating beef. Convincing him or her that there's no biological risk involved is possible but wholly misses the point. He or she will feel uncomfortable with the idea whether you succeed or not, but getting them to accept that you do it and it's not going to hurt you is realistic and all that's necessary. | ![](/images/avatars/13012.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
Did my eyes deceive me? on 08:20 - Jan 18 with 929 views | makaveli1882 |
Did my eyes deceive me? on 21:40 - Jan 17 by saxbend | My feet get dirty but I don't leave muddy footprints everywhere. I can wipe my feet as easily as you can wip a pair of shoes on a doormat. It's rare I'm in total dark in an area I don't know well. Generally the light level in a city is enough for me to see what I need to on the pavement even at night and my feet can handle a lot more than you might expect anyway. That includes running. There is actually a rapidly growing barefoot running movement. It carries a lot of benefits, particularly the use of the musculoskeletal structure that conserves energy very efficiently from one step to the next, and minimises stress on the knees. But because of my knee problems I do not run much. When I do run though I find it much easier barefoot, and my feet are in good enough shape for a missed shard of glass not to be much of a bother. Yes, the bottoms of my jeans annoy me a bit, but only because I don't like wearing shorts much. It's something I'm willing to put up with. I can kick a can pretty easily. Feet aren't as fragile when they've been developed fully outside of shoes. My feet do sweat and lot, and they heat up a lot, and if it were as simple as changing socks more frequently, don't you think I'd have stuck with that by now? I've already talked about the problems of warm moist stagnant environments, not to mention the limits on the biomechanics of walking. This extra consideration comes pretty naturally by the way. It seems a bit of an effort when you describe it all at once, but so is a lesson in how to speak Chinese. But you learn through experience, and then it happens instinctively. Just bear a couple of things in mind. Firstly considering how different this makes me, and how simple and comfortable wearing shoes everywhere is to you, since I don't I must dislike shoes enough and find going barefoot both preferable enough and practicable enough to start and continue doing it (for about 11 years now). Secondly, you don't have to take my word for it as one of the reasons for doing the youtube videos is to provide much stronger evidence for how much easier it is than so many people seem to think. |
I can wipe my feet as easily as you can wip a pair of shoes on a doormat. that has to tickle a little bit | ![](/images/avatars/0.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
Did my eyes deceive me? on 13:56 - Jan 18 with 863 views | saxbend | By the way in additional to my typical video today I'm going to film part of a promo for my next charity walk outside Loftus Road. So if you spot me, you're more than welcome to come and say a few words on camera, whether it's about Cancer, or medical research or even just a declaration of how mental you think I am. It's for a great cause. Details of the walk itself are here: www.justgiving.com/saxbend2014 - I'm walking from Southend to West Ham as part of a group organised by a young boy who lost his nanny to bowel cancer, same as Bobby Moore, and being a West Ham fan he's been doing annual charity walks for the Bobby Moore fund and I've been joining in since 2012. | ![](/images/avatars/13012.gif) | | ![](/images/icons/ignore-user.png) |
| |