A Rothschild but not allowed to go barefoot says David de Rothschild

Adventurer and environmentalist David de Rothschild, who has recently completed an epic voyage across the Pacific Ocean on his boat named The Plastiki, was asked to leave Apple stores because of a crazy rule.

David posted on his Twitter site on 18 August the following tweet:

"Apparently Apple stores have a no shoes no entry policy? They just asked me to leave the store! Under the guise of health& safety! Creative?"

I supposed to whoever enforced that petty ruling it was more than their job's worth to let David stay in the shop but isn't it crazy that such a policy exists?

But this could have happened elsewhere it seems and Wikipedia informs us: "Many stores, restaurants, and other public venues have policies against bare feet. In the United States, this most likely arose during the 1960s as a way to keep undesirable hippies out."

But why didn't David de Rothschild have any shoes you are probably asking? Well, actually I have seen photos of him barefoot and I expect he got used to being like this while on board the Plastiki catamaran on its long journey across the ocean.

But going barefoot is actually a very healthy thing to do, providing of course that you don't step on broken glass or something equally harmful.

Going barefoot lets the skin breathe and strengthens the foot. It is after all the natural way. What animals do you see that wear shoes besides us humans?

Going barefoot puts you directly in touch with the Earth and this has got to be good. For many tribal people it is the norm to go around in their bare feet. All the photos and videos I have seen of the Mamos (shamans and leaders) of the Kogi tribe show these men going barefooted.

Barefoot running, barefoot skiing and barefoot hiking have all become popular and martial arts are practised with barefooted participants.

I can think of a book and a song that the word "barefoot" brings to mind:

Barefoot in the Head is a brilliant science-fiction novel by Brian Aldiss that tells the tale of a future war in which the weapons are bombs of potent long-term mind-altering drugs. Society tries to carry on despite the madness caused to the majority of people in it. It shows what happens to a world plunged into chaos with people affected by the hallucinogenic drugs they have been exposed to.

The hero of the book is a man called Colin Charteris (presumably making reference to Leslie Charteris the author of The Saint books), who finds himself leading a crusade like some sort of crazy guru in a world of altered reality.

In many ways it makes reference to the late Dr Timothy Leary's plan to "turn on the world" and the psychedelic sixties. The popular rock band Procol Harum are made reference to in the book too.

Barefootin´ was a smash hit for R&B and soul singer Robert Parker back in 1966. The first verse goes:

"Everybody get on your feet,

You make me nervous when you in your seat

Take off your shoes and pat your feet,

We're doin a dance that can't be beat

We're barefootin', We're barefootin',

We're barefootin', We're barefootin'."

And does anybody remember Sandie Shaw, the "barefoot pop princess of the 1960s," as she was called? It was certainly a gimmick that got her noticed and helped her get many a hit record at the time.