Would you go shopping etc. without shoes on??? I know they do in OZ and NZ but elsewhere.....?

[RTKangaMummy]

Would you go shopping etc. without shoes on???

Where would you go and where wouldn't you go?

If not why wouldn't you?

I know they do in OZ and NZ but elsewhere.....?

[MrsBubsDeVere]

I would go ANYWHERE barefoot if I could as I have a painful foot condition which means if I wear boots or shoes for any length of time i am in agony within an hour, but bare foot I'm fine.

I wouldn't go barefoot in this country, becuase there is dog mess, broken glass and needles etc everywhere.

[starlover]

i used to go barefoot EVERYWHERE! but i kept getting told off in shops and told i couldn't go in without shoes on!!!

[assumedname]

There's a woman in my town who's been barefoot, winter and summer, for years!

Apparently had a painful foot condition as a kid and never got used to wearing shoes.

[Tommy]

when I was a hippy teenager I used to go out quite often without shoes on (in the summer obviously!) I think I went shopping etc shoeless

[Mamatoto]

I do and my kids hate it - they say 'Mummy people stare' I say let them its hot and i prefer to be barefoot! Might change my name!!! Quite like that!

[BarefootMama]

See what you made me do!

[RTKangaMummy]

MrsBubsDeVere

I would if it wasn't for dog mess etc.

[RTKangaMummy]

Barefootmama

Welcome to mumsnet

[jessicaandbumpsmummy]

pavements are too stoney round here.... but i refuse to wear socks or shoes in the house or garden.

[fishfinger]

not in coddys horned hoof club















verboten

[RTKangaMummy]

[Nemo1977]

i hate wearing shoes n socks in the house or garden and so does ds but i wouldnt go barefoot to the shops too many hazards. I have been into shops etc barefoot in spain when visiting my grandparents as the floor is soo cool instore that it is lovely and refreshing

[aholmes]

Hello,
I just have to say that we dont go shopping barefoot in Oz (cant speak for Kiwis, but I'm sure they are the same as us) unless we are at the beach or some other holiday place. If anyone turned up barefoot on one of the main streets of Sydney or Melbourne they would get very odd stares indeed! Actually, we are generally a fairly civilised lot down under ... though I can see you wouldnt think that, judging by some of the Ozzies you see in London...

[RTKangaMummy]

Oh dear sorry

{I am half Aussie btw My birth Dad is from Melbourne and still lives there}

One of the mums that I was a nanny to was from OZ and she always wore bare feet to drive {we lived in canada btw}

It is just that when I was in OZ in 1994 it was the first time I had seen people walking around with bare feet. In shops etc, this was in Cairns so I guess more beach culture there

When we were touring in NZ in 2002 there were loads of people without shoes especially in this one town in South island in the shops etc. sorry can't remember the name.

Sorry what I meant by the title was that in countries other than OZ or NZ would you go barefoot.

[dejags]

PMSL @ cod

[slug]

I can confirm that Kiwis go barefoot. In Maori culture it is polite to remove your shoes when you enter a marae. In practise this means it's common to remove shoes whenever you enter a house. It's not uncommon, especially in smaller towns to see people, especially children, wandering around without shoes. Healthier for the feet IMHO, but then there are large public education drives about picking up litter and not dropping glass.

I noticed this particular cutlural difference when I first moved to the UK. I wandered down to the local shop, 3 houses down the road on Saturday morning to get some milk, only to be accosted by a large group of children shouting 'Hey lady, you aint got no shoes on!'

[Flamesparrow]

I always used to be shoeless... now I seem to have become a grown up ... only in Tescos.

Tis lovely and cool in summer in there.

[bobbybob]

Lots of people go shoeless here in Christchurch, but it is considered rude to walk around the supermarket with bare feet. popping to the dairy (corner shop) is just about okay.

My midwife always removed her shoes when she came in our house - part of her Maori sensitivity training.

[alliejane]

Hello, no offence taken . I didnt realise that Kiwis went barefoot so often and that it was part of Maori culture. Come to think of it, if the milkbar is only a few doors down and its a hot day, we might go barefoot, but usually we'd wear thongs at least. There is probably less risk of stepping on something dangerous in Australia (unless its one of our famously lethal snakes or spiders) than in London.

[expatinscotland]

Here? No.

[expatinscotland]

I once knew a white man who had grown up among the Massai in Africa. This fella could climb a sheer cliff, ones where you had to be roped to a partner - barefoot. In boiling temps. His feet were like leather. He didn't wear shoes till he was 14 and hated them.

[LipstickMum]

I used to live in NZ in a rural town on the coast and often went barefoot into shops, but only really if we were coming back from the beach or something. Lots of people did though, it was quite common where we lived, but not in, say, Auckland.

[NomDePlume]

I wouldn't, mainly because of the dirt/fag ends/dog mess/broken glass factor. I do go barefoot at home and in the back garden, though.

[tarantula]

Yes I do wandered up to the local shop the other day with dd, me with no shoes on and dd in her pushalong car and only a big t-shirt on. dont care what anyone thinks TBH. Used to walk everywhere barefooted when I was a student but dont do it too often now as am wary of broken glass.