In a separate poll, experts calculated that women burned around five calories for every minute spent browsing the shelves - almost 48,000 per year. That is the equivalent of 25 days' worth of a woman's recommended daily intake of 1,940 calories.

The study revealed women make around 11 shopping trips - spending around 13 hours - on the High Street, supermarket or local shop each month.

The 6-foot-tall bronze depicts a wiry man in mid-stride, his right foot jutting forward, his head erect and and his arms hanging at his side. Giacometti, a modern master known for his haunting sculptures of blank-faced Everymen, cast the work 60 years ago as part of a commission to plant several of his bronze figures on Chase Manhattan Bank's Pine Street plaza in New York City. The artist famously struggled with the project, eventually quitting it but casting stand-alone versions of several of the planned figures, including "Walking Man I."

The price breaks the existing $104.2 million auction record, set six years ago at Sotheby's, for Pablo Picasso's 1906 portrait "Boy With a Pipe," whose buyer remains unknown.

It has been 30 years since the May morning when Julie Patz, a Manhattan mother, finally allowed her 6-year-old son, Etan, to walk by himself to the school-bus stop, two blocks away. She watched till he crossed the street -- and never saw him again. Since that haunting case, a generation of parents and administrators have created dense rituals of supervision around what used to be a mere afterthought of childhood: taking yourself to and from school. Certain realities also shape these procedures, such as the schedules of working parents, unsafe neighborhoods and school transportation cuts.

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Parents' worst nightmares were inflamed recently by the re-emergence of Jaycee Dugard, the 11-year-old girl who was kidnapped on her way to the school bus 18 years ago in northern California. The fear of abduction by strangers "has become a norm within middle-class parental circles," said Paula S. Fass, a history professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and author of Kidnapped: Child Abduction in America. "We try to control our fears to the nth degree, so we drop our children off right at school. It's a confirmation that I'm a good parent.'"

In 1969, 41 percent of children either walked or biked to school; by 2001, only 13 percent still did, according to data from the National Household Travel Survey. In many low-income neighborhoods, children have no choice but to walk. During the same period, children either being driven or driving themselves to school rose to 55 percent from 20 percent. Experts say the transition has not only contributed to the rise in pollution, traffic congestion and childhood obesity, but has also hampered children's ability to navigate the world.

The idea is the latest plan from police in Torbay, Devon, a resort which is popular for stag and hen nights. They have already launched schemes which has seen officers hand out condoms and sexual health advice and order drunken men who urinate in the street to mop up their own mess.

Now Inspector Adrian Leisk plans to hand out flip-flops with the 'Know Your Code' alcohol message printed on them. Insp Leisk said: "Sometimes people get drunk and you see them carrying footwear which is inappropriate. "The emphasis is on providing replacement footwear for people to get home in, should they find their high heels uncomfortable, inappropriate or soiled.'

He added: "We have consulted with people who work week-in, week-out on our night time patrol areas, including street pastors, the Safe Bus, and community wardens. "This is just one of a number of measures designed to keep people safe'. The footwear will be paid for by £30,000 worth of funding secured from the Home Office by Safer Communities Torbay.

Measuring approximately half the size of a credit card and only three millimeters in thickness, ShrinQ features cutting-edge technology that, unlike common hip-worn pedometers, will function accurately in multiple positions.

This innovative approach, combined with sleek design, allows the ShrinQ to go virtually unnoticed, yet still track and measure an individual's steps, distance and calories-burned discreetly throughout the day.

"Our goal is to deliver products that best integrate with the active lifestyles of health and fitness-minded consumers," said Dan Kinsbourne, vice president of marketing for Sportline. "With ShrinQ we have designed a discreet yet effective fitness monitoring tool that will help individuals gauge their level of activity throughout the day."

As the world's smallest pedometer, ShrinQ features Sportline's unique Digital Motion Sensor technology, which allows the pedometer to accurately measure body movement, including steps taken, calories burned, and distance traveled, from multiple orientations.