Don’t lose the shoes

SIR – I wholeheartedly agree with Sophia Money-Coutts ( Sunday, May 8) and J M Moss (Letters, May 15) that expecting people to remove their shoes when they enter one’s home is bad manners.

Several times I have visited people who have insisted I remove my shoes at the front door, then immediately offered to take me on a tour of their garden. I have hastily retrieved my shoes, while my hosts have remained barefoot. Then they have returned to the house without wiping their feet. I have taken my shoes off again.

In future I am going to rebel and refuse to do so, unless I have just walked through a muddy field. The doormat has a purpose that should not be ignored, but people no longer seem to know what it is for.

Rosemary Wells

Weymouth, Dorset

SIR – If J M Moss had been raised on a farm, as I was, she would know that removing one’s outdoor footwear is a matter of courtesy as well as hygiene. John Newbury

Warminster, Wiltshire

SIR – For our family, removing shoes is a matter of respect. Also, when my children were younger, I was able to work out who was in the house on my return from work.

Jane Baddon

Louth, Lincolnshire

SIR – My wife and I usually take our slippers with us when visiting friends and family.

Robert Boad

Shenfield, Essex

SIR – J M Moss’s letter reminded me of an occasion when we were living in Borneo and expecting guests. We had a new puppy, and thought it best to leave him in the garden.

As is the custom in that country, the guests all left their shoes at the door. Later we spent ages in the dark trying to find 30 pairs of shoes scattered all over the garden.

Jennie Bedford

Cheltenham, Gloucestershire