User: johnthomas725

Well, I can happily confirm that everyone whom I bought slippers for this Christmas was very pleased with them, and has since been wearing them gladly, just as I expected they would.

And just as well too, as it's been bitterly cold lately. It feels so good to have nice warm slippers to change into, waiting by the door.

And yes, mark is right - it is a very good habit to change into slippers as soon as you get in. One person I bought slippers for remarked as much, saying how the new slippers I bought his family will help to keep the floors clean! They were previously a family of mixed habits, sometimes in socks or bare feet, sometimes even shoes in the house (!) but have all settled down to wearing slippers now, and have (rightly) banned shoes beyond the porch. His kids were a bit reluctant at first, but have now got used to taking their trainers and and socks off, and putting slippers on when they come in. And good practice it is too!

As for me, I got a lovely new pair for Christmas too, which I'm currently wearing. Just in time as my old ones were starting to fall to pieces!

Well, it's that time of the year again! Which for me, means the time of the year to buy gifts for friends and family, and just like last year, and pretty much every year, I shall be buying new slippers for certain people, and I expect that I will (gladly) receive at least one pair in return as an ideal Christmas gift.

I know that new slippers are always gratefully received by (male) family and friends. This time of year, when it's getting colder, there is nothing better than coming home and taking shoes off and putting lovely warm slippers on!

I try and make my own 'everyday' pair last a year, knowing that I'll get some more soon. My family knows what style I favour, and they know I look forward to unwrapping a new pair each year. And it's always a pleasure to give new slippers as a gift to new friends too - especially those whom maybe aren't usual slippers wearers. I've never yet known anyone to be disappointed - quite the opposite, everyone I've given slippers to for Christmas has been delighted, and end up wearing them all the time in the house, just as it should be - shoes off (socks off too in many cases!) and slippers on, as soon as you come in! Not only do your feet stay lovely and warm and relaxed, but it keeps the floors clean too! What a great gift!

In my Juniors and Seniors (England, back in the 80s), the rules were black shorts only, bare chest and bare feet for all indoor PE, and some summer outdoor PE, and a rugby kit with boots/trainers for outdoor sports. If you forgot your kit, you had to do it in underpants only. I loved being in bare feet for PE, I never had any nice trainers anyway.

Hi Mark, that sounds just like me. When I got in from school, I had to immediately change out of my school uniform too, and change into "staying in the house" clothes. Like you, shoes and socks came off at the door always, and straight away. Shoes weren't allowed to be worn in the house. Then I'd typically go upstairs and change into my house clothes, which usually meant some older, loose fitting top and bottoms, not unlike pyjamas, and my slippers. Then I'd stay in my house clothes and slippers unless I was going out to play, or going out somewhere else. It was my parents rules, and it made sense. My school uniform was kept pristine this way.

Ouch, Mark, sounds like I did get off very lightly by comparison. I guess there is about a decade between us, as I grew up in the 1970s-80s, but although I think discipline was a little laxer, and punishment a little more lenient, pretty much everything else was the same as for you. We all wore slippers indoors, and being caught with shoes on in the house was swiftly and quite painfully corrected. Almost all my school friends wore slippers, as did their families. Some liked it, some didn't, but that was just the way families were back then, as you know.

I never got 'hosed down' in the garden like you (that couldn't have been pleasant - doubtless the water was freezing cold) but certainly if me and my friends had got muddy clothes, we knew only too well that these had to be removed before coming in. Same with anything wet, even if we'd just been caught in a downpour. The view was that my mum, or indeed, my friend's mum (for they all seemed of a like mind, as you say) didn't want us 'dripping all over the furniture'.

Indeed, the consensus was, that even if we weren't covered in mud, or dripping wet, it was 'assumed' that young boys must be smelly and rather sweaty, and so it was a case of 'better safe than sorry' hence the cast iron rules about removing shoes before entering, and whatever else the mum happened to think may be dirty. And as you say, your friends were treated no differently from yourself - the same house rules applied, as did the same punishments for digression!

And yes, I too remember how adults - not even just parents, but any senior figure in the household, such as aunts, uncles, grandparents ... sometimes even non-relative adult visitors ... would 'encourage' us to remove socks, if we had been so foolish as to try and wear them indoors. A few times, I was told "Just slip your socks off, you'll feel a lot comfier" which I knew meant "Take those smelly socks off now!" What was quite alarming, was how those socks invariably had to be 'surrendered' to the parent or adult, who often took them away somewhere (presumably thrown outside in disgust) leaving me wondering if I'd get them back, as I knew that if I returned home sock-less, I'd be further punished.

On a few occasions, to unplanned visits to friend's houses, I'd turn up slipper-less, and their mum, clearly dismayed at the situation would confiscate both my shoes and socks, and again, leaving me in a bit of a panic as to whether I'd get them back. It was a terrifying proposition to ask a parent, when I was due to leave, if I could have my shoes and socks back. But to return home without them didn't bear thinking about.

Oh, the memories are coming flooding back now Mark. Some good, some rather nightmarish. If you fancy chatting more about this outside of Mister Poll, feel free to email me on johnthomas725@yahoo.co.uk