Shoe woes

So my blog sidebar now proudly sports 'Shelfari' and a small collection of what I've read so far and my feet proudly sport the cheapest and most comfortable shoes I have ever owned. I buy expensive shoes - i.e running shoes, trainers etc. All branded and all utterly comfortable. Ever since I can remember I have had trouble with two pieces of attire, shoes and jeans. My father solemnly vowed never to come shoe shopping with me but had to, very reluctantly, every birthday. My mother is vehemently opposed to shop for jeans for me and luckily for her my friends and my sister (half!) willingly oblige.
I have strange feet. Long and narrow. For some reason shoe-makers in Australia and New Zealand decided that long feet must be wide, same goes for jeans. Luckily Indians were smarter!
The comfort factor rates very high on my list when buying shoes. Hence, I only end up spending a bomb on sneakers/runners. The width of which can be fixed by tying the laces on nice and tight.
My feet are, more often than not, clad in socks and stuffed into a pair of Adidas/Nike/Basics runners.
Canberra summer decided that socks and runners are for the faint-hearted and when I was all but ready to pass out from the oven that were my shoes - I decided that I needed to buy a pair of slip-ons for summer (I am not allowed to wear open-toed stuff to work). A quick trip to the shoe shops revealed that nothing had changed - not the length of my feet nor the width of the shoes. I finally decided on a pair and bought 'em only to find myself limping in them the following day. 'It happens' they said. 'New shoes always bite, put a band-aid on it for a few days' and I did. I also gritted my teeth and endured the fact that the shoes although the right width didn't seem to be long enough for my foot and prayed hard that somehow they would grow into my feet!
Well 10 days later, here I am, proud owner of a pair of slip-ons that, magically, seem to have grown into my feet (not to mention the nights of stuffing them with balls of paper and cardboard!). Unfortunately a pair of jeans purchased a year ago refuse to concede.
Incidentally, on a completely unrelated note, does anyone know how to eat a kebab without making a mess. If you do I need some pointers. Why is it that kebab vendors do not understand the meaning of 'little sauce'. Generosity is not appreciated in these matters. I wish I had taken a picture of the godawful mess that was my kebab-lunch this afternoon. If any one of those kebab-vendors can eat one in front of me without making a mess - I'll eat my newly grown shoe!