Best Foot Forward

Is it just me that views the advent of warm, sunny weather with some trepidation?

Why my unease, you may ask? The problem is with feet; other people's feet. You're sitting there on the tube, minding your own business reading the freebie paper, when your eye suddenly glances off the page, and you notice some podiatry horror lurking in someone's sandals. Now I'm no prude, and if a foot fetish is your thing, then you're probably in Hog Heaven during the summer. But for me, I find it can be quite an ordeal being met with such a variety of footsies, the nice or the nasty.

The whole gamut of feet seem to throw off their shackels when the sun comes out, and are crammed into sandals which vary from the sublime to the ridiculous. Small, doll-like feet to huge crusty tramp's feet with yellowing claws attached. You see them all on a London tube in the summer! And I'm not sure why, but I think showing off your feet in public seems to be very much more initimate and personal than wearing full shoes. Probably because you don't normally get to see feet in the same way we see hands all the time. Some feet are ok if you're prepared for them - say in the swimming bath or at the beach, but I suppose its the unexpected exposure that seems a bit incongruous. I can't imagine a more nightmare-ish occupation than Chiropodist!

Not that we've had much fine weather recently - anyone showing off their feet at the moment is likely to develop webs between their toes. A bit of rain never stopped a barking-mad friend Scottish of mine at University from wearing her favourite (sloppy and very lived-in) sandals. When asked "but don't they let the rain in?" she would invariably reply "yes, but they let it out again too!". She had a fair point, I suppose.

And talking of sandals, what is it with those Nike neoprene ones which have the split between the big toe and the rest? Must be pretty bloody uncomfortable, I reckon. And worse, they make you look like you have some sort of cloven hooves. Seeing as I'm not about to take lots of photos of folks' feet on the tube, here's a picture of someone with rather big hooves to show off, and maintain an oh-so-tenuous link with this blog's theme - Sarrie the Camel, Saracens' mascot! He's showing off Dave Seymour's Commonwealth Silver Medal, which he won during the Sevens tournament at the games.