I left home at about 2:30 pm, to walk into a beautiful spring afternoon: 10°C, sunny and breezy… I headed west on Eglinton towards Don Mills Rd. On my way, I decided to stop at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Days Saints. The reason for my pit-stop is that I had always been curious to see what kind of reaction I would get from entering a conservative temple in bare feet. Being dressed very casual (cargo pants, hooded sweatshirt and a baseball hat — my rubber fliplfops sticking from the side of my cargo pocket), there was no chance for me to pretend I was on any “formal” business there. My excuse to drop by: I had seen a commercial on TV advertising some free videos about the life of Christ that they were giving away.
I was surprised to find that the main door was locked, despite be huge sign at the door reading “Visitors Welcome”… I had to buzz an intercom to talk to someone to let me in. The guy who answered the call, didn’t have a clue about the “TV offer” so he suggested I came in and directed my request at the main office situated on the 3rd floor. Bracing myself for some distateful episode at the office, I entered the building reciting in my head all sorts of possible answers I could give to anyone who’d ask about my bare feet… The building seemed totally deserted, even when I got to the main office I could hear some voices coming from the back, but no one in sight… so I had to make my presence know by speaking a friendly: “Hello”
An older lady (maybe in her late 60s) came from the back area and greeted me politely, I explained the reason for my visit and she seemed a bit confused about the video I was requesting about until a second voice from the back clarified the situation: “He must be talking about ‘The Lamb of God’, I think there are some copies in the storage area…” My host asked me to wait for a minute while she went to fetch the video, not before asking me if they could deliver it instead (of course they wanted my address…) I explained I’d rather take it with me if the video was available…
After she came back, we exchanged a couple of more comments, she invited me to join in for worship any sunday at 10 am and, I’m not sure why, she asked me if I was married, to what I responded: “pretty much as good as married, I have a male life partner”. I could see a frozen smile on her face for a split second before she greeted me goodbye… My bare feet were never mentioned, despite I know for sure she noticed them when she left the room to fetch the DVD for me. Other than the uncomfortable split second around the clarification of my homosexuality, I thought the whole thing was rather neat…
Then, I walked a couple of more blocks West to the Scotiabank at the Corner of Don Mills and Rochefort (South of Eglinton) to conduct some transactions at the ATM there. On my way, I bumped into a woman walking her dog. She had her eyes locked on me since she noticed me about half a block away… When I was close to her I smiled and nodded; she then proceeded to tell me: “you must be cold” nodding her head towards my feet. In reality, my feet were quite warm, not only because of the exercise but also because the sunbathed pavement was deliciously warm underfoot… It really annoys me when “shoddies” just assume barefooters feet get cold without having even tried going barefoot once in their life; so, I couldn’t resist and I answered to her in a semi-sarcastic, yet polite tone: “I’m actually quite alright, I see your dog doesn’t mind the temperature under his bare feet either”… She gave me this utterly puzzled look as I smiled past her…
Once I reached the bank machine, I bumped into 3 women smoking just outside the building, they didn’t say a single word, but they looked at me as if they had seen a ghost. I totally love that look on people’s faces. I wish I could take some photos and post them here!! I then did my banking and proceeded north towards Eglinton to go to the “Real Canadian Superstore” to get some last-minute items…
This store, is actually the reason I was carrying sandals today. It is basically a glorified grocery store geared to the hoity-toity wanna-be’s of this area. I have had problems there in the past because of my bare feet, due to their over-sanitized façade (I say “façade”, because I’ve seen some nasty stuff going on there: employees dragging bags of freshly baked bread on the floor, blood dripping all over from the meat packages, just to mention a couple) so I don’t waste my time any more and just don a pair of sandals on the rare occasion that I give them my business… The visit there was, of course, uneventful since I was being a “valuable customer” with my footwear on.
The flip-flops came off as soon as I stepped outside the store and they made their way into one of my grocery bags and I started making my way back home. As soon as I started walking, rain started to fall and thunder rumbled across the sky. It was a dramatic touch that made my walk all the more interesting. I didn’t have neither an umbrella nor a raincoat, so I decided to take the rain as it fell and just walked back home at a regular pace… Home was about a kilometer away…
The rain was steady but not too hard, so it wasn’t an uncomfortable walk back home. The only small set back I had was climbing down the metal-grid stairs leading from the Eglinton overpass down to Wynford Dr. My feet are still a bit tender from the winter, so each step down on those stairs was a bit painful… The ordeal was over in less than a minute though!
Back in the condo grounds, I decided to avoid some of the rain by walking through the visitor’s garage. It was dry and cool and the cement floor felt deliciously rough and dusty under my bare soles. I knew I was going to have a nice pair of black soles by the end of my walk through the parking area. Sure enough, I did! Unfortunately, because of all the carpeting on the building hallways and in my apartment most of the dirt rubs off (gosh, I wish I had hardwood floors!). However, I managed to take a photo showing the soft dirt residual that taints my soles after most of the black dirt has been rubbed off from the carpeting. I must admit, I love that photo…
So, that was my walk today… Typical? Maybe… but it felt special to me because it was the first truly long walk of this season. I hope to be able to get out tomorrow again.
Keep those feet bare and happy,
Barefoot Moe