Interesting observation! It bugs me if my shoes clack or squeak at work but not enough to not wear them usually. I'm with Helena regarding the pendulum - swings up and swings down. Are we at the bottom yet though? Hard to say. I had to chuckle at "maybe Athleisure is too dressy". Maybe since that's what the moms wear it is out for the kids.

Super interesting, Rachy. And you raise some good questions.

I'm with Helena -- I dont mind a clack. I think it was -- yes, Cee! -- my mother's love of 1930s musicals. All those tapping shoes...I love the sound. Anyway, I know I've clacked my way down a few granite floors and corridors and while sometimes I think, well, I'm certainly announcing my presence here, I've never really minded it much. I mean, except if people were trying to write exams or something in the rooms to the side...

Sometimes I think about what roads sounded like in the 19th century. The horses hooves...a different sound than all the engines.

I had a principal who loved to wear very high heels. We could always tell when she was coming by the loud clacking of her heels down the hallways.

Is that like a cat with a bell, a principal with heels?

19th century London must have been deafening!

Exactly!!