I went to buy a new pair of trainers today for Vegas. I went to the nearest big town which has a good selection of sports stores. One in particular has a really good choice and great prices but - oh my god - the service is terrible. I went in there first as it's the nearest the car park, and it was chaos. It's a huge store, selling all kinds of sports stuff, especially clothes and shoes.

I wandered round the shoes for ages, and although there were a few pairs that were ok, there didn't seem to be too many women's shoes. I tried a couple of pairs, but they were youths and not really what I wanted. I was sure they must have more choice, but I couldn't see or find them.

So I left there and went to another place that was really, really pricey, and then to a third that had very little choice, so I had to go back to the first place.

After another 15 minutes wandering round the shoe section seeing only one sales assistant (and he was running round like a blue-arsed fly trying to help everyone) I mentioned to another customer, who was also looking for someone to help, that they didn't seem to have much choice for women.

"The women's shoes are upstairs" she told me. THERE WERE NO SIGNS ANYWHERE TO TELL ME THIS, NOT IN THE MEN'S SHOE SECTION, NOT BY THE STAIRS. I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW THERE WAS AN UPSTAIRS BECAUSE THE STAIRS ARE HIDDEN AT THE BACK OF THE STORE. I'M NOT A BLOODY PSYCHIC FOR CHRIST'S SAKE!!

So I went upstairs, and, sure enough, there were loads of women's sports shoes, from the blinging to the minging. I picked out three shoes I liked, and looked round for an assistant. Nobody. This is Saturday morning, in a busy town, and there is not one single assistant around.

Eventually, after wandering round the upstairs with 3 left shoes in my hand, I found a girl who was just standing, looking at pink tracksuits. Not touching them or flicking through them, just staring at them. She'd seen me walk by her before, and I'd noticed her, but she looked so gormless and was just staring at things that I wasn't sure at first if she worked there or was a customer. I asked her if there was anyone working in the shoe section. She said she thought so and they'd be along in a minute.

So I went back to the shoe bit, and waited another five minutes. Then I found the same girl again and asked if she would find someone to help me. She wandered off, and after another five minutes the one and only shoe assistant, the same poor lad who'd been haring round downstairs, came to help me. By this time there were probably 5 or 6 other customers in the women's shoe section, and no-one to help this kid, even though there were probably a dozen other assistants hanging round the otherwise deserted store.

Eventually I got the pair I wanted, great shoes, good price, I'm all ready to pound the pavements of Vegas now.

When I was paying I asked the girl on the till to tell the manager that they needed more people working in the shoe section, anyone could see that one assistant couldn't possibly cover two floors and all the shoe customers and no matter how good their selection and prices are, people were walking out because they couldn't get served. She gave me this "how dare you?" look. Sheesh.

So when is the Vegas thing? I assumed it'd be this weekend.

Vegas is in two weeks.

Girl, why you buying clothes over there? The exchange is so good you should be shopping here.

/jealous

If I hadn't been intending to wear the trainers a lot in LV, then I probably would've bought them there, but I'm only taking (a) the trainers (b) my Crocs and a pair of sandals, so I needed to know the trainers were super-comfortable. I'm not sure walking a few miles up and down the Strip would be the best thing to do in shoes I hadn't put some mileage on already.

I'd love to have an impromptu poll to find out how many Americans here know what 'from the blinging to the minging' means... a most excellent expression.

Blinging is, well, full of bling and with sneakers this means (for me anyway) pink, glitter, shiny, shiny logos. Ugh.

Minging has two meanings - it can either mean really ugly (as in 'that bloke is such a minger) or it can mean stinky (as in 'the train was so packed tonight I feel as if I'm really minging).

In this case, minging means ugly - clashing colours, huge thick soles, just really horrid design.

The ones I picked out were very plain (like me, heh).