Tuesday, April 05, 2011

Not a summer person

There are people who love summer. Possibly, even, most people love summer.

I admit it's kind of a luxury to have so much of it, and have it so long, that I can legitimately dislike what other people crave through their longer, colder winters. But normal people seem to resemble the following :

(You can zoom this by clicking it, if you like.)


All pretty self-explanatory. Each thing there, you like or you don't like. I don't.

The one item that inspires a rant, though, is flip-flops.

What is this Universal Worship of flip-flops?? Who decreed that we're all supposed to just adore them??

In my version of the feminist era, we took Women's Studies classes in which we studied ancient foot-binding and compared it to crippling pointy high heels, as being ways to hobble and thereby disempower women.

Yeah, 6-inch spiked heels are back but my concern is the so-called "comfy" shoe.

The %&*$ing shoe that has no back. Everything from bedroom slippers (Yeah, those are just REAL warm and cozy) to sneakers is abundantly piled on the shoe department shelf in backless styles.

Play tennis in this tennis shoe. Go on, dare ya.

Flip-flops are the same. An insecure shoe that's under, not on, your foot. Scuff along! Clench your foot with each step, to keep the shoe on. I mean, you're only a chick. You don't want to run or jump, or defend yourself, or chase that purse-snatcher at the mall, or pretty much do anything except be fashionable. In my opinion it's yet another conspiracy by The Patriarchy!

Really, the flip-flop cult has gotta end.

7 comments:

Catherine said...

Agreed -- the backless sport shoe makes me scratch my head and go "huh?" And they aren't comfortable for anyone with a high instep.

I do like my comfy Nike flip flops with the gel sole, I must admit. Bliss on a summer's day.

But I wouldn't wear those plastic/rubber flip flops from our childhood ever again! (Remember how the thong would finally make a big hole in the bottom?)

Dann said...

My missus loves comfy shoes with no backs. But then again, she has issues back there and having an open backed shoe puts her in heaven!

I've got to agree with you on the insects.

My mother in law loves to eat outside. Says it makes the food taste better somehow.

Having gone camping...professionally....I have long since had my fill of eating al fresco.

My grandparents had the best arrangement. They lived on a lake and had a two-car garage with doors facing the lake and the road. They put fabric screen over both doors in the summer to create their "summer room".

Proper shade....cool breeze....now THAT was good eating conditions!

Sherwood Harrington said...

[Re flip-flops]: "Clench your foot with each step, to keep the shoe on." ExACtly. Even when I was a kid, I never understood why people (my Mom in particular) went to the trouble.

Dann: "Having gone camping...professionally..." gave me a literal laugh-out-loud moment.

Nostalgic for the Pleistocene said...

Oh those 1960's rubber flip-flops! We used to walk to a neighborhood pool and cross a street, and they were a great way to avoid that hot asphalt. Even then i didn't like walking further in them than i had to! Especially when that thong did start to pull out of the sole. It pinched!

That garage idea is great. Shade and screening!

ronnie said...

Oh dear. I've just spent two weeks in nothing but flip-flops and found it sheer heaven... broke my heart when I had to put sneakers on to catch the flight home! (Of course I have good-quality flips, not the 1960s-style rubber ones, which I saw plenty of people wearing nonetheless!) Now I have to wait until it's warm enough to wear them again in Canada...

Ah well. Chac'un a son gout, as we say!

Jennifer Waybright said...

I can tell you that at first I thought the same thing. However, some of us need these. I have Chron's Disease and my joints are damaged severely. My heel cannot tolerate any shoes with backs on them and so these are just what I need. Makes winter a bit challenging but it beats not being able to walk.

Jennifer Waybright said...

I have Chron's Disease and as a result severe joint damage. The only shoes I can wear are backless. Makes winter challenging but it's better than not being able to walk at all.