Socks with Sandals

In this week's Camino a Ítaca a look at an unusual fashion statement, complete with fearsome canines in tow. A Spanish comedian once said that the Spanish would rather give up a kidney before admiting they are wrong and there just might be a bit of truth to this. Click over to read the original version in Spanish in el HOY or read the English translation before. (PDF en castellano abajo)

Up the hill, two distinct, dangerous breeds of dogs ranged across the length and breadth of the wide sidewalk. Their unfastened muzzles audibly dragged along the ground as the one on the right left a trail of saliva streaming behind it. Both animals flanked their twenty-something owner, their leashes attached to the drawstring that barely held up his grey sweatpants, leaving his heavily tattooed arms free to use his phone and smoke.

Complete and utter pandemonium was just a stray cat away. The slightest tug from either of the muscular brutes would have caused an immediate cartoon-like scandal, bringing his pants down to his ankles faster than a house of cards in a hurricane. Sweatpants that just happened to be tucked into a pair of high white striped sports socks that led down to the most surprising accessory yet, a pair of bathroom-style flip flops. Effectively proving that it isn’t only guiris (foreigners) who opt for the socks and sandals fashion statement.

As he reached the gated entrance that leads to both the nursery and public schools, he untied the pedigrees from his pants and then hitched them to a lamppost. Only then did he loosely fit their muzzles over their powerful jaws.

The small groups of parents outside the gates awaiting the school bell uneasily edged away from the reach of their leashes, past the line of cars parked in the yellow no-parking zone and into the street with moving traffic.

The scene was almost comical in its absurdity. The dogs, the leashes, the muzzles, the cigarettes, the cars parked where they shouldn’t be, the parents waiting in traffic… yet no one, myself included, raised their voice in concern, no one said a word. No one complained.

I’ve often admired Spain’s laissez-faire attitude to social matters and towards what is socially acceptable. Rarely do you find people putting their nose directly in other people’s business, even if they profoundly disagree. Sure, they will comment and criticize the matter with others, but unlike some other countries, it’s not common to find someone directly confronting and criticizing someone that they do not know and much less in an individual capacity.

This reluctance is also perhaps due to the reaction that they might receive if and when they do venture to comment. On the few occasions that parents have mentioned that something like parking directly in front of the doors is prohibited, rather than offering an excuse or an apology, the infringer often goes vengefully on the attack instead of apologizing and meekly admitting their wrongdoing. On more than one occasion I have seen someone standing directly under a sign prohibiting parking, vehemently defending their ‘right’ to park where they please when they have to pick up their little one.

Pandemonium that day was averted. No small dogs or children were eaten, no stray cat appeared and the dog owner’s pants thankfully remained in place. After picking up his toddler and once again fastening the dogs to his waist, he parted the seas of families and went on his way between the illegally parked cars. Nothing happened.

That is until the day the stray cat does appear and something does.