That was the saying I grew up with in Canada. Over the years they added things like no rollerblades, but without shirt or shoes you could be asked to leave a store or restaurant. There are universal picto-signs posted on the shop doors to indicate this. On the other side of the coin, proper etiquette when entering someones home in Canada is to remove your shoes or boots.
Here in PE things are a bit different. Shoes are not removed when you enter someones home. Any of the homes that I have been to have been fully tiled or hardwood, there is only carpeting in the bedrooms and up stairs rooms. It seemed strange in the beginning, but started to make sense. I am outside as much as I am inside, or more. There is rarely rain and never snow to cause mud or water to be tracked through the house. The floors are easy to maintain with just a quick sweep and mop and to be honest most families have some sort of domestic worker to clean up if dirt is tracked in and to ensure that the floors stay clean. Being tile and hardwood, the floors also have a tendency to be cool or cold, great in the summer, but down right chilly in the winter. So removing shoes could lead to guests being uncomfortable.
We do not have a domestic worker so I still try to make sure we all take our shoes off as per Canadian norm and wear slippers (thanks grandma, the ones you made are awesome for this), but I find I am slipping more and more as leaving my shoes on is much more convenient during the day.
As much as shoes in the house surprised me, what surprised me even more was the number of children who go barefoot and where they do it. Now, it may just be because we need to wear shoes or boots 9-10 months out of the year that our feet are delicate in Canada, but here when the neighbours come to play, they skip across the pave stone road barefoot. They run over the grass and weeds and sticks and twigs barefoot. They ride their bikes barefoot. But it's not just in the neighbourhood. I've seen kids barefoot in grocery stores and restaurants, parking lots and arcades. I've even seen it in the mall. These are not the children who beg on the street and don't have shoes to wear. These are children with moms and dads shopping and evidently having money to spend that just aren't wearing shoes.
Back last February just before we came for our visit to PE I had my toenails done because we were coming to the beach. I don't do it often and silly me I wore boots in the middle of February in Canada. Those of you who have had a pedicure know that you can't just put your boots on after you're done or you wreck the polish. I had forgotten this. I couldn't very well hang out for 2 hours to let my nails dry completely so I asked for a pair of the disposable flip flops that the spa had. They are about 2mm thick and it just about killed me walking to the car in them. Not because it was -20C, but because the little stones and salt crystals pierced through the bottom of the flip flops.
Here in PE these kids are obviously not wearing shoes from the car to the mall and then taking them off, they must be walking across the pavement, pebbles and all. Ouchy. I for one will be keeping my shoes on and I'll be making sure my kids do too, but if you come to visit, you can go barefoot in the malls and keep your shoes on in the house, all the locals do.
Next Post - Plett Puzzle Park
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