Tuesday 1 February 2011

Feet-less and Fancy Free.

Whilst on the subject of strange contraptions (see yesterday), anyone under the age of about 50 might look at the above machine in both wonderment and horror. But when I was young, these things were found in every high street.

The idea was this; you visited a shoe shop, tried on a pair of shoes, then put your newly shod feet into the slot at the bottom of the wooden monstrosity, in order to see how well they fitted. All this thanks to vicious X Rays that were bombarded at your feet.

Of course, as children, we would wander in and out of shoe shops all day long just to see X Ray images of our feet. But it wasn't long before Health-n-Safety heard about them, and they were subsequently banned. However, my feet do still glow in the dark; it's a bloody miracle they haven't fallen off!

7 comments:

  1. Weird! We did not have those here! Mom used to pinch and feel our toes to make sure there was enough room in a new pair of shoes. Had to be almost two inches or she wouldn't buy them.

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  2. Amy, I think they originally came from the US. They were banned over there in the 50's, then a bit later on over in the UK.

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  3. I used to LOVE those machines - seeing your skeletal feet in real time was amazing.

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  4. Bizzaro! They must have been banned over here before my time. Who needs night lights when they've got your feet, Cro?

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  5. hey I remember those Cro. The treat of going shopping was to have a look at the bones in your feet in the shoe shop. Shame Elf & Safety stopped it all. My feet are still intact as far as I know! Thanks for your note on my site. No worries!

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  6. Crickey, I'd forgotten all about those contraptions. Perhaps they can be blamed for my terrible feet.

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