u/Apprehensive_Buy_710

This year I pushed forward my barefooting. We spent three weeks in Southern France and I tried to be barefoot as long as I could.

The first Tuesday morning we went to the village centre and I got out of home barefoot. My wife looked at me and asked: "Aren't you bringing anything?". I said no, but she insisted that I bring a pair of flip flops, "in case we enter in a shop. You know, it's decorum".

However, the shoes stayed in the bag for the whole day and it was the last time that I brought them . I went to beaches, mini golf courses, shops, markets, a doctor, a pharmacy, a restaurant, and other stuff, always barefoot. I even rented a bicycle and rode it barefoot the whole time.

I only put a pair of flip flops on when I went to the Mass or to some supermarkets requiring shoes. Ironically, those enforcing the rule were Carrefour, as everywhere in France, and Lidl (as a German chain, I thought they would be more tolerant).

I noticed that the Mediterranean coast was less barefoot-friendly that the Atlantic one and the pavements were rougher to walk on. I got questioned once in a Spar (once again, a German chain) when a clerk told me "You are barefoot? Please put your shoes on next time: if you step on a broken glass, our responsibility will be engaged".

When on the Atlantic coast, I went three times to a fish shop, and one of the vendors stared twice at my bare feet, but he said nothing. I was, however, too busy enjoying the cold floors in very hot summer days.

Now I'm back home and my barefoot days are over for a while, but I still try to walk barefoot in the woods as soon as I can.

On the other hand, the absence of tan lines on my feet is a proof of my greatest strike so far!

This evening I went for a barefoot hike on the hill near home, as I often do. I normally see no one, but today it was different.

First, I saw three people along the trail, I greeted them and we had a small talk. One of them, and old man, looked at my feet and asked me if I were going to the beach (there are no beaches where I live, we are FAR from the sea). I answered that I am always barefoot when hiking in the hill and he said "You must have big calluses!". A young lady next to him asked me if I were grounding, I told her that I don't believe in it, I just like being barefoot. We said some more words, then I left.

Going up, I met a friend of mine (not a good friend, but we are both members of an association), we chatted, but he said nothing about my feet. I think he knew, if I'm not wrong he had seen me before.

Finally, coming back home, I decided to pass by the viilage centre and there I met another member of the same association, who greeted me. He was surprised to see me barefoot, and more so when I told him that I always am when going uphill. He smiled, asked me if I were confortable, and we left a few seconds later.

They were just three "normal" encounters, but I liked them.

As written in the title, I think that pedestrian crossings are very inefficient in the game. I know that they should be replaces by overpasses or underpass es, but you can't plan a city centre without pedestrian crossings in its streets and boulevards.

I noticed that the mais issue are the pedestrian flows perpendicular to the road, blocking the main traffic, but also those parallel to the road, blocking vehicles which try to turn.

I think a major improvement would be to define a pedestrian-only phase in street lights: you would have such phase when all pedestrian directions are green, then the normal phases, but only for vehicles.

That should improve the overall traffic flow.