Little Big Feet

Clack, clack, clack. Poundskid, poundskid, poundskid. That's the soundtrack of the hallway in my tenement. A door closes (a sound loud enough for someone working on a thesis), and then, inevitably, Clack, clack, clack; poundskid, poundskid, poundskid.

The Scottish, I feel, love the sound of their own feet. I'll own up here; I am not the quietest person in the world when I wear my nice knee-high, high-heeled boots. I, too, make a loud clack, clack, clack as I make my way from the top of one stairway to the bottom of the next, or when traveling in the reverse direction. But I also make an effort to minimize the sound pollution. I walk soft. The Scottish have to such reservations when it comes to the pitter-patter of little feet. All day long, I can chart who comes in and out, if it's a man or a woman (because, believe it or not, their little feet make different pitter-patters), and into which flat they enter. Sometimes, it provides an invited distraction against the onslaught of Mess O' Potamian disasters. Other times, it makes me wonder how in the world people can be so loud. I've seen a guy in sneakers make as much noise as a Rocky Mountain avalanche (no small feet, I can assure you; and I didn't even recognize the pun until I went back to edit this) plod his way up two flights of stairs. It looked like quite an effort, to make quiet, soft-soled shoes make so much ruckus, and he looked very self-satisfied at the result. And I see this everywhere; our tenement, school buildings, shopping malls (in the latter, only amongst the very minute group of people who actually force themselves to use something as primitive as a staircase). All I can think of is, what the heck would possess someone to put so much effort into making such obscene amounts of noise?

I can always tell when my neighbor has had a party because, beginning at about 8 the next morning, I can trace the trickle of high-heeled women as they do the walk-of-shame-ish procession out the door. It's amazing how well you canb keep track of your neighbors without even meeting them.