Small hills upon which you are willing to die

People’s clothing choices convey information. Generally we need more evidence to establish what that information is or whether it should impact how we judge their wrong-un-ness, but it’s still information. I can’t really think of an example where footwear, on it’s own, is going to convey all that much.. though what I was clumsily getting at above is that footwear that is noticeable tells me that someone wants their footwear to be noticed, which is very much different to my own preference that nobody ever notices anything I am wearing. So it’s a point of difference between us. It’s not a determining factor though… some of my best friends are just really into shoes.

I do know that if two people rock up to football, one is immaculately decked out in shiny designer gear, and the other is wearing a shabby green curry-stained sweatshirt and clearly cuts his hair with rusty garden shears.. only one of them is likely to be the kind of hip’n’cool dude I want to hang out with.

I wear sliders an no socks. I am very much a cunt and a twat.

They are. But only one of them knows it.

Scratchy chin emoji

Is one of them also still getting the Stone Island badge in still thinks it's 1998 (when he looked a silly trying too hard cunt even then) and still gets laughed at?

I think many of us probably know 'that guy'.

I'm not against convenient footwear. I have extolled the virtues of crocs on here many times. But if you wear them in public I am judging you, and not well.

www.theguardian.com/uk/2003/may/31/books.guardianhayfestival20031

I blame the parents. Son of a friend of mine over here does the same thing.. again parenting appears to be the issue.. he doesn’t wear them when he comes over to our house, as he knows he’ll get a ton of grief for it.

I feel the same way about sweatpants.

Absolute staple for indoor slobbing about on your sofa at home.

But wear them down the shops you're basically announcing to the world that you've given up on life. Especially if they're grey. Unless you're Rocky Balboa and have half tbe neighbourhood following you, obviously.

I don't know what sweat pants are. Pretty certain I don't own any.

I have a pair of plastic clogs that I wear for gardening, picking post up from the gate, taking the bins out - those kinds of things. Forgot myself once and wore them for the 200m to the local shop to get a paper. Mortified. Couldn't go back for months.

So Sliders are slip ons?

Crocks are wank and I don't really like flip flops either but none of them really cause me bother so have at it.

But loud music? Well there is loud music and then there are the neighbours who decide to play the Mexican brass torture music at all hours in the garden at ear splitting levels. I try to be a nice neighbour and tolerate it but this is just taking the piss. When it's midnight and your house is shaking and you have a hefty space between you and next door then there is a problem.

Music inside? Yeah, no problem generally but to willfully go outside and play it in a quiet neighbourhood just because you want to is not on.

Last night at 11pm our neighbour to the left got drunk and blasted same said Mexican brass torture music and Wifey politely asked him to turn it down. I have to be up before 5am every morning and I am exhausted at the best of times. Being a latino man, he didn't take to well to a woman telling him what to do. (she was actually polite), and threatened her. Knowing the culture as I do, I went outside to talk to him man to man. Something he didn't want a part of.

And when I said talk, Yes I talked. I chatted to him like a normal human being and explained that he couldn't be rude to my wife and we had been polite. He also was drunk so I said to him. Maybe I will bring over a beer and mezcal and we can chat in the future but you have to be respectful of everyone around you. I looked him in the eye when I said it and we shook hands and he went inside and was quiet because he didn't want any trouble. His argument about being rude to my wife was that her name was the name of his ex-wife and it made him mad. I told him that was not an excuse and we can put it behind us if he wishes it.

I hate inconsiderate people. The Mexicans around here erect tents in their gardens and go mental. To an extent it's part of their culture but they know there is a noise ordinance and say to the police fine us we don't care.. It's a weird attitude to have.

I suspect a lot of mezcal will be shared in the next few weeks as I will try and talk to them and help each other to get along.

I also think the other neighbours at the end of our garden might be dodgy as they have motion detectors everywhere that fires off stadium lighting and they are rude to the police and the police don't do anything. It's weird but I an new in the neighbourhood (as are they actually only moving in 2 weeks before us).

The whole area used to be Italians. Just before we moved in, two large Italian families moved out and Mexicans moved in. It has changed the whole dynamic and the concept of a very quiet area has been turned into a massive fiesta that lasts all night. I may go mental.

Chicago: Filed under annoyed too.

How incredibly predictable. Thought you would come up with something better than that fatty.

Chicago: Diplomat.