h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Sneakers (Trainers) dangling overhead on telephone and electic wires is a
practice that derives from the American Forces practice of tie-ing a pair of
combat boots together and throwing them over the wires as a sort of KILROY
WAS HERE guesture, when they are moving to a new post, or exiting the
forces all together. It has since been adopted in the U.S. and other countries
where the American forces are based, to throwing one's old sneakers over the
wire when moving out of the neighborhood. Interesting fact to those who are un-aware
of this american custom, which has apparently caught on in the U.K.
With that titbit...it's back to the Phone Box for me...

Then there's the mysterious appearance of one shoe in the middle of the fast lane of the motorway. It's pretty universal. No matter where you are, there it is, smack bang in the most inaccessible place, (and there's normally a fifty-fifty chance of there being cassette tape trailing from it).

This business of US sevicemen and Kilroy was Here cannot possibly be true. It is more likely due to the Kill Joy is Here and How! theory which is universal. The Kill joy is Here theory in fact gave the first inkling of why sneakers/runners/tennis shoes/tackies are so damned smelly!!! This footwear was actually named sneakies by the manufacturers, due to the sneaky and insidious way their malodourous presence slowly seeps into the atmosphere anywhere near unsuspecting persons such as myself. At first, one tends to ignore it, but after a while you get mighty suspicious and kick the dog. It is after the dog has retreated to the back yard, licking his wounds, that you realise that the sneakies are at work and can that kill any joy there was in you! The owner of the offensive articles has lost all sense of smell so insists that you are imagining it and an almighty argument ensues. You end up sleeping in the living room because (a) your joy has been killed and (b) you can't stand the smell of the sneakies and guess what - the bloody dog is too scared to come back inside and keep you company!!
Yes, those sneakies have a lot to answer for - no wonder they keep changing their name!