It's the biggest name in trance, DJ Tiësto!


You can't see his feet there, but he and I are wearing the same shoes. No, really.

Lisa needed an afternoon nap yesterday, so I wheeled Amelie down to the marina for a couple of hours, in search of a smart shirt for next Sunday. Lisa and I have been asked to fulfill the role of godparents in the lives of her nephews, all of whom are being christened on the 18th (I think there's some kind of three-for-one offer going on). Personally I've never been to a christening in my life (not even my own), but I get the feeling they might not want me providing spiritual guidance to three small boys if I turn up in jeans and a vest. And as previously mentioned, I'm right out of shirts at the moment.

So I went for a bit of quality, and bought one from Asda. I didn't ask Amelie for her opinion, but she cried the whole time we were in the queue, so I'm sensing she doesn't like the colour. Or maybe she just prefers Next like her mother.

From there we headed to the Reebok outlet store, to look for some new trainers for work. Mine are suffering from the number of bottles of morphine I've dropped on them over the past nine months, and I need some grippier soles if I'm going to walk around with fifty grand of Herceptin in my hands. So I was attracted by an offer on a pair of 'Run the DJ Tiësto' sneakers. Speaking as someone with their finger on the pulse of electronic dance music, I'd naturally never heard of DJ Tiësto, but that didn't stop me buying his shoes.

What stopped me was Amelie. It's not easy trying on trainers when everyone's staring at your wailing baby as though you're personally kicking her to make her cry. So I left empty-handed before someone called social services.

But I'm not easily put off. Having read Tiësto's entry on Wikipedia and realised that I'm clearly the only person in the northern hemisphere who wouldn't know him from Adam, I decided that my life wouldn't be complete without a pair of his shoes, and went straight back down there after work today to buy a pair. They were reduced from £74.99 to £22.50. Which shows just how popular he is.

To be honest I'm surprised they're not selling, because they come with a lovely picture of him stroking his hair, and the following words of wisdom: "Music is my passion and inspiration in reaching my goals". Which is what you want when you're buying footwear.

So I joined the world's smallest queue, whipped out my debit card, and got talking to the only other person in the shop. He claimed to be a former professional boxer who was buying running shoes in preparation for a cage-fighting contest at Hove Town Hall. Which sounded about as likely as me being a European trance fan. The difference is I had the shoes to prove it.