Las Vegas is one of those places you either love or loathe. The first time we came in 2005, we hated it, but it does grow on you. There are people from all walks of life and the poverty here is very evident unless you are a tourist or the so called “elite”. I can only imagine anything is possible here for the right price.

Most come here to gamble, a lot of Americans appear to come here since it has all of Europe you could need (fake Paris, fake Venice, fake castle, etc). The casinos make it tricky to find your way out, entice you to the table and provide free food and booze until you are all spent up. Having a womble round some tables are minimum $50 bets (really £35 for the role of a dice or turn of the roulette wheel) and you can only imagine a salary being blown in an hour or less.

Card flickers line the streets handing out cards with “girlfriend” for the evening (all legal immigrants of course). People dressed as Mickey Mouse, Spider-Man (although I ain’t never seen a pot bellied one before), transformers, etc, all to entice you back into the casinos to spend what you have left and guys offering parties at strip clubs. 24/7 beggars line the sidewalks offering bottled water for $1 and one guy was even offering you the opportunity to “kick him in the nuts for 10 bucks”.

This place has it all, opulence, glitz, glamour, sleaze, poverty and depravity. Love it or Loathe it, you have to see it to believe it and draw your own conclusions. We just love to come and watch everyone else.

And finally, it has been so easy to concoct different scenarios for Mrs Fogg’s injury, since our cousins are a little gullible, “how’d you hurt your foot honey”, responses included:

– This is what happens if you don’t pay your hotel bill
– Foot got caught in the hotel lift and snapped it
– trapeze artist who slipped

And all were swallowed, hook, line, sinker and copy of angling times.

Chorlton on the move