to think people should keep their shoes on in public rooms?

In bed...?

The house where I have to take them off has a stone hallway. I spend the entire time trying to surreptitiously rub some feeling into my frozen feet!

I was replying - you said 'I'm surprised you take your shoes off when you go to bed' and I said 'I keep them on for comfort'. We were talking about shoes.

I expect you had better thinGS to do. So should we all.

I haven't spent all day working it out - Anya!!

And the bowl by the door wouldn't actually prevent visitors from 'arriving with bacteria' - you'd have to tackle their feet before they left their house and then carry them by germ-free rickshaw to your freshly-scrubbed doorstep!

Leticia you keep your feet on for comfort?

be still my inner pedant

You took your time there jingl

Jingle.

Leticia you're alright so long as your neighbour doesn't still suck her toes.

Perhaps we should all have a bowl of soap and water by the door- and towel- so that we can prevent visitors arriving with bacteria!

Anya! I've just got that joke! You mean old - oompah.

I have washed my feet again by then, Anya!
Also- if you want to be logical - I keep them on for comfort ( people have such cold floors) and they wouldn't be comfortable in bed (and they won't be cold either)

Following that logic Lettiicia I'm surprised you take your shoes off when you go to bed!

I wash my feet daily, Anya but that was 7.30am. Since then I have done a supermarket shop, an hour of Zumba and a several mile walk - so all in all I think that were I to pop next door for a cup of tea my sandals would be a better bet than my feet. However, I have read the reports about dishcloths, perhaps I ought to present my neighbour with a new cloth rather than risk her bacteria!

You could do with expanding the brief of such a survey to include 'paranoid wreck' and 'dyslexia' or would that be a seperate thread perhaps?

Definitely after. jings!

jingle - good to have you making me laugh again.

I don't expect others to remove their shoes when they visit but always check whether I should do so when I'm the visitor. When visiting Muslim homes, shoes are off at the door, no need to ask, just do it.

I'm fairly obsessive about either chucking j cloths or bleaching any cloths I use in the kitchen. I don't use those anti bacterial wipe things because they block up the sewers or need to be buried, don't break down easily. I do believe some folks have become totally obsessed with germs. Mind you, I used to have hens, went horse riding, brushed and groomed horses, mucked out stables and share my life with a dog or 3. No hope really is there

I think a survey should be undertaken. Perhaps by that same university department.

"Are older women, of the types that are attracted to Internet forums, more likely to be amongst the neurotic of the population? If yes, did their neuroticism start before or after joining such forums?"

I walk round barefoot as I haven't found a pair of shoes that don't hurt my arthritic feet.

Scary isn't it?

Anya: "In a recent study, researchers at the University of Arizona found nine different species of bacteria on people's shoes. These types of bacteria can cause infections in our stomachs, eyes and lungs.

The study also found bacteria live longer on our shoes than in other places. As we walk, we constantly pick up new debris that feeds the growth of more bacteria.

The researchers tested to see if bacteria on shoes would transfer to the tile floors in a house. More than 90 percent of the time it did. Carpeting harbors bacteria even more."

And the same Uni also found that:

"the filthiest culprit in our homes is the kitchen sponge or cloth...........a kitchen sponge is 200,000 times dirtier than a toilet seat, and a dishcloth is 20,000 times dirtier."

Professor John Oxford at London Uni found that:

"Some people have more faecal bacteria in their grocery bag than in their underwear.........but we all touch these perhaps startlingly dirty things every day, and on the whole we don't get constantly ill"

Apparently grass is cleaner than pavements.

I wash my feet daily... don't you Leticia?

Better keep children off the grass - or making mud pies or anywhere else that isn't sanitised. I am sure that is why there are more allergies whereas when I was young people didn't bother and I can't remember it being a problem.