We've heard many a complaint regarding Ugg-style boots over the years. From the aesthetics, to the foot health issues to the expense. Surprisingly, they have been banned from the classrooms of a Pennsylvania middle school for none of the above. Instead it's the smuggling potential of the furry boots which has led to them being forbidden from the school in Pottstown.
Photo: Empics
Apparently students are taking advantage of the space between calf and boot to hide "items [...] that are prohibited in school". The "items" in question are primarily mobile phones which students are allowed to bring to school but must turn them off and leave them in their lockers between 7.55am and 2.30pm.
Pupils are now permitted to wear their fleece-lined boots to and from school but must change into closer-fitting footwear to go to class.
Three things:
1. Children are an enterprising bunch when it comes to circumventing school clothing rules so we're assuming they will more or less immediately find an alternative hiding place for their prohibited items.
2. There's lot of money to be made selling small-enough-to-hide-it-in-your-wallet phones in the Pottstown district.
3. What else might you be able to fit into an Ugg-style boot AND can we call it an Olympic sport AND if it is an Olympic sport can it be called smUGGling?
In the spirit of investigative journalism, we have investigated the latter point for you (journalistically) and can, perhaps exclusively, reveal that list includes the following:
A wallet
An iPhone
A teaspoon (but not a dessert spoon)
A cup-a-soup sachet
A bottle of nail varnish
Some superglue
Emergency tampons
A tube of hand cream
An A6 notebook
An Oyster card (although using public transport would require much high kicking)
A small sample bottle of Midori
A toy octopus
A clementine
A piece of root ginger
But not all at the same time.