Let me entertain you.

I have a friend who collects basketball shoes. To many people this seems a strange pastime, and for the most part I agree. I do not know how many women can claim that they love shoes and could shop for them all day long, however there are some quality basketball shoes out there with strange gadgets and knick-knacks that I think warrant a collection.

Anyway, back to the story. He collects so many that they are piled up around his house (and his workplace) and are generally worth at least $300 a pair. I take great pleasure in telling him that there is no use buying shoes if you are not going to wear them, but it doesn't bother him.

So last Friday he received a call from his 'shoe agent'. It appears that one Robbie Williams of Take That fame (I think he might have been doing some solo work lately though), wants a pair of shoes that the shoe agent did not have. Shoe Agent recalled though, that my friend had a pair in the correct size. From there it was just a few calls to sort out a shoe exchange from collector to ego.

Some quite funny things of note happened during these events though:

1. My friends wife is a HUGE fan of Robbie. So the shoe box was sent including a love letter but no explanation that it wasn't from my friend. I guess he is just happy Robbie didn't call later asking for a rendezvous.

2. My friend took the sole out of the shoe before sending them off and wrote his name all over the bottom of it. So Robbie if you are reading this, your "soul" belongs to my friend.

3. He was offered in exchange for the shoes a) backstage passes for the concert or b) a replacement pair of the shoes plus credit for his next three pairs. He doesn't care for Robbie and so took 3 pairs of shoes.

4. I told a friend of mine, lets call her Kitty Kat, that he had taken the backstage passes and had a spare one for her (I couldn't resist). She ran into the cafe where he was and screamed at him for the passes. I laughed all afternoon.

And for those of you who are interested, the shoes were the Jordan series 4. Apparently he wore them on stage that night.