Let’s not get all weird about shoes off indoors

Tomorrow, a mere 20 months after I moved to Crystal Palace, the builders start my renovations, so for the past few weeks I’ve ushered in Lee the builder, Sonny his right-hand man, electricians, plumbers and so on to discuss the plans. Every single one has insisted on taking off their perfectly clean boots on arrival, despite my house being very scruffy, dusty and worn, with gaping wooden floorboards that are about to be pulled up. Insisting that guests take off their shoes, as if they’d just been wading through the local sewers before arriving, used to be a slightly precious, Hyacinth Bucket diktat. Is this a post-pandemic thing, given that we’re so much more aware of germs? Keep your shoes on, I say; I’d much rather look at them than your feet.