# shoes, wellies and flip flops-singular



## Lisa. (May 7, 2002)

on the side of the road ???

How could anyone lose a shoe and not notice?
Do they hobble home wondering why it hurts?
And its not like they've been riding a push bike and accidently dropped one off as you see singular shoes, wellies and flip flops on the motorways as well as country lanes :-/

Any ideas?
???


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## PaulS (Jun 15, 2002)

roflmao Â  ;D

This has been one of life's great puzzles for me Lisa ...... ever since I heard the same question asked by 'Sid' (was it Sid?) on the Steve Wright show, when he was on Radio 1 in the eighties Â  when I was buzzing around the UK in my Company Vauxhall Cavalier GL (  GL - that meant you were better than the other engineers, as you had a REV counter Â 8) : )

"Why is there only ever one boot by the roadside?"


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## head_ed (Dec 10, 2002)

> on the side of the road ???
> 
> How could anyone lose a shoe and not notice?
> Do they hobble home wondering why it hurts?
> ...


I think they are smash & grab shoplifters from shoe shops.....

The shops only ever leave one shoe outside, so maybe these guys do a few raids in the dim hope that they will eventually get themselves a matching pair! The ones by the side of the road are obviously the ones they never matched!! ;D


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## W7 PMC (May 6, 2002)

Can't say i've ever noticed.

If i owned a pair of flip flops, i'd be sure to leave them somewhere (do people still wear them?) & wellies come to think of it.


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## garyc (May 7, 2002)

> Can't say i've ever noticed.
> 
> If i owned a pair of flip flops, i'd be sure to leave them somewhere (do people still wear them?) & wellies come to think of it.


Hmmmm flip flops. Cool. ;D


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## Carlos (May 6, 2002)

I wonder if there is a business opportunity here?

If one asserts that the sole (no pun intended) piece of footwear was dropped by accident, maybe the owner wants it back.

I'm thinking high profile website (advertised by word of mouth of course, not expensive tv/media ads), network of operatives (shouldn't be hard to recruit bin men, roadsweepers etc).

Business model per item:

Â£1 to the finder
Â£1 carriage to warehouse

Based on 500k items per annum,
Â£1 warehousing and carriage to owner
Â£1 other operational costs (eg website)

A Â£5 price per shoe should return Â£500k profit per year based on these projections.

I reckon we need Â£150k working capital up front to approach the venture capitalists. Who's in?


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## garyc (May 7, 2002)

> on the side of the road ???
> 
> How could anyone lose a shoe and not notice?
> Do they hobble home wondering why it hurts?
> ...


From people who have died?


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## 55JWB (May 7, 2002)

Maybe we should all have our post code printed/engraved into the bottom of our shoes just in case this happens to us....

You cannot be too careful out there


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## Carlos (May 6, 2002)

> From people who have died? Â


Damn no credit cards in the after life. Accordingly I have adjusted my projections down to 250k items per year. The price will have to be raised to Â£7 to provide the same profit


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## garyc (May 7, 2002)

> Damn no credit cards in the after life. Â Accordingly I have adjusted my projections down to 250k items per year. Â The price will have to be raised to Â£7 to provide the same profit


You could alwasy recharge it to teh families/estates of the bereaved - it's not as if they are going to worry about an extra tenner.


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## r1 (Oct 31, 2002)

Alternatively, speak to the manufacturers, get them to up the price (including your Â£7) and then the retailers can sell the shoes with a loss indemnity included in the price. :


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## Carlos (May 6, 2002)

Good, good, keep em coming.

However what I really need are the account details of those willing to invest.


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## head_ed (Dec 10, 2002)

> Good, good, keep em coming.
> 
> However what I really need are the account details of those willing to invest. Â


Count me in!

Mr R Sole 89033156 21-33-44

The spare wellies by the side of the road are probably JampoTT's from his sheep harrassing days though!  ;D


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## Carlos (May 6, 2002)

He'll be needing them back for when he bodges his plumbing then!


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## Lisa. (May 7, 2002)

> Can't say i've ever noticed.


You will from now on! Â ;D


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## Dotti (Mar 9, 2003)

I was walking along the other day and saw a condom on the pavement . Do you think this might of been owned by a person that may loose a shoe, wellie or flip flop on the side of a road aswell, or their brain come to think of it. Or possibly it may have 'slipped off' as shoes, wellies and flip flops do .


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## jgoodman00 (May 6, 2002)

Surely this business case is assuming you can successfully work out the correct owner of the shoe.

I think several Â£M will need to be spent on DNA diagnostic software, along with some new government initiative to collect DNA from every person in the country...


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## misrule (May 6, 2002)

> I wonder if there is a business opportunity here?


You could call it Shoes Reunited 

Where they come from is obvious. School bullies throw them all out of bus windows.

Mark


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## Carlos (May 6, 2002)

> Surely this business case is assuming you can successfully work out the correct owner of the shoe.
> 
> I think several Â£M will need to be spent on DNA diagnostic software, along with some new government initiative to collect DNA from every person in the country...


Ah no you see they would be advertised on the website, a photo, full description and exact location found. You could search by location or type of shoe.

It would be up to the loser of the shoe to go looking for it.


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## DXN (May 18, 2002)

I've seen someone do this.

Driving along door slightly open (ajar). Person opens door and closes rapidly and releases shoe trapped in side of seat and door without realising it.. Instant single shoe!

Wouldn't have an explanation for the condom. :-/


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