A tipple or two were not in my mind when I set of to road test a pair of Loake Evolution, style Hastings shoes on a business trip to Saudi Arabia. The chances of reaching a state of inebriation that coincided with the need to fall over in Saudi Arabia are extremely thin: alcohol is forbidden under Islamic law that Saudi Arabia enforces very, very strictly.

So strictly in fact, that I was nauseated on my first morning by a crowd, that had caused a traffic jam in which I was stuck, departing the scene of a public execution. Fortunately I missed the beheadings, but witnessed the aftermath, workers from the local municipality hosing down the dais to wash away the blood.

Trends identified for men's footwear for Spring-Summer 2010 correspond to three kinds of males. Conventionally identified as separate entities, they actually co-exist in every individual, emerging due to how and when they are used during daily life. To make things easier, these have been called Urban Shape, green Sustainability, Function & Design.

Aesop's fable of the town and country mouse told of the snobby town mouse unimpressed by the fare offered by his country cousin. When invited to feast at the tables of the town mouse, the country mouse stricken with fear by the dogs. He says, "Better beans and bacon in peace than cakes and ale in fear"