[AlaninCarlisle]

Anyone else got this disease? I think it must stem from granddads, dad and uncles all serving during WW1 or WW2. I simply cannot stand the sight of shoes without a high degree of gloss on them. It was the same when my kids were growing up and every Sunday morning I'd have theirs, my wife's and my shoes lined up on the garden bench for a good weekly going-over.

Now it's just mine and the wife's shoes but anything less than a high gloss drives me mad. Even the thought of suede shoes gets me mental

[Goosegirl]

The phrase "Spit and polish" comes to mind because that's how it was done in that era. It's not so much a polishing "fetish" that I have but I love to do my shoes, handbags, and various other leather ornaments like horse bridles with their original leather straps that still have the horse brasses attached. I use a good leather balm to care for them and it's lovely when you can feel that suppleness either coming back or just keeping what leather goods you have in tip-top condition.

[8doubles]

Shiny shoes are not a priority in my life , i even have an aversion to patent leather as it is too shiny by far !

[RubyRed]

  When I was a pupil at the Burton Girls High School in the late sixties, we weren't allowed to wear patent shoes as they reflected our underwear. As it was mini skirts all round when teachers weren't looking I'm sure anybody saw more than enough knickers.

[mrs bouquet]

My Mum always used to say, before you accept an invitation out with any boy, look at his shoes first.  If they are scruffy, that's means he is scruffy as well     Mrs Bouquet

[Growster...]

I agree, Alan, a well-polished pair of shoes is an absolute must.

It reminds me of my CCF days, when we were given a brand new pair of boots, with 'bobbles' all over them. The wheeze was to smother them with polish, take an electric iron, and literally rub down every 'bobble' to flatten them.

The next stage was the spit and polish sessions, which could take weeks!

When they were in tip-top condition, with toecaps blindingly brilliant, the first thing that happened, was that we went away to CCF camp, and had to scramble over drystone walls, scrape them across stony ground, get them totally soaked in a stream, then start all over again...

[Goosegirl]

A chap I used to work with said the same thing about looking at someone's shoes to get a gist of their character. Being on my feet most of the day I wore either sandals or comfy slip-ons. I wouldn't say they were particularly smart but the rest of me was!

[AlaninCarlisle]

Two early shoe memories:
I went to an old-fashioned grammar school and the headmaster used to examine our shoes as we walked past his office into assembly each morning. Any lad with dirty shoes would be called in, his details noted and he'd be told to show the headmaster his freshly polished shoes the next morning. A bit unfair as some of the lads's parents probably couldn't afford the polish etc.

Another memory is of not cleaning the backs of shoes and my Grandma saying something like "A good soldier never looks behind him, but you're not a good soldier!"

[Growster...]

Slightly off-topic, but has anyone here ever worn wooden clogs? Not the Doctor Scholl type, (great for the ladies' legs), but the Dutch design or similar!

I understand that they're very comfortable... And a coat of varnish every now and then would fit the bill too!

Clack-clack..;0)

[snowdrops]

Slightly off-topic, but has anyone here ever worn wooden clogs? Not the Doctor Scholl type, (great for the ladies' legs), but the Dutch design or similar!

I understand that they're very comfortable... And a coat of varnish every now and then would fit the bill too!

Clack-clack..;0)

No but I had a pair that I bought when I went to a clog makers in Holland on a school trip, they weren’t comfortable, but they wear them with a cloth insert! The trip was partly funded by us joining the common market....a long time ago😊

[AlaninCarlisle]

When I was a child in Lancashire 70 years ago, we didn't need an alarm clock, the clog-clad workers hurrying down the street served the purpose perfectly. The clog-iron chorus started at 5am for the 6 - 2 shift and then again at 7am for the day-workers

[8doubles]

Slightly off-topic, but has anyone here ever worn wooden clogs? Not the Doctor Scholl type, (great for the ladies' legs), but the Dutch design or similar!

I understand that they're very comfortable... And a coat of varnish every now and then would fit the bill too!

Clack-clack..;0)

My mother wore clogs for work in the 1950s , she needed to as she worked in a brewery bottling plant and there was always broken  glass on the floor  !
She said they were quite comfortable to work in.

[Goosegirl]

Slightly off-topic, but has anyone here ever worn wooden clogs? Not the Doctor Scholl type, (great for the ladies' legs), but the Dutch design or similar!

I understand that they're very comfortable... And a coat of varnish every now and then would fit the bill too!

Clack-clack..;0)

When I started work in the sixties it was the done thing to wear those wooden Scholl clogs that had a strap on the top and patients could hear us coming for miles! Their major drawback was that the continual use made the upper wood rather shiny, so if you weren't careful when walking quickly to the next ward your foot would slip out sideways and the arch of your foot would meet the hard edge of the clog. Not only was it extremely painful but also meant that on a few occasions I dropped my tray of blood samples and had to do them all over again, much to Sister's chagrin! 

[Growster...]

Aaaaah...

Lowry!

"And he painted matchstalk men and matchstalk cats and dogs
He painted kids on the corner of the street that were sparking clogs".

I think I'll start wearing sandals with socks, and become a certain sort of politician!

[mrs bouquet]

When my daughter was 3/4/5/6 years old, she always wore proper dutch clogs.   She has now got beautiful feet and I think th clogs helped.    Everybody always knew where Charlotte was in our little town.    Mrs Bouquet