Posh Mosh

There’s nothing quite as magical as live music on a summer evening.

Glastonbury would have been grand - especially on the one year it didn’t rain - but that would have meant pre-planning and a level of organisation that neither Kevin nor I are capable of, so...

We hit the Scottish Proms instead.

Free tickets (always a bonus for the recovering shopaholic on a budget) and two fabulous friends to go with were all we needed for the perfect evening.

Okay, so it’s not quite as rock n’ roll as Glasto but we had balloons, flags and even a fainting female as we danced around in the standing area, or ‘mosh pit’ as Kevin kept calling it.

We must be getting old if we think that’s a mosh pit. Maybe next time we could persuade the conductor to crowd surf.

Cars, Cuts & Colleagues

My new job - which I'm loving - has been keeping me fairly busy over the last couple of weeks, hence the lack of blogging.

The main focus of my busy-ness has been an overwhelming obsession with my commute and how to precisely time my entry onto the motorway roadworks (scattered with signs proudly announcing their completion in 2011), so I can soar through with a maximum of speed and a minimum of swearing.

So far, there has been very little in the way of speed and a marked increase in words that I would never say in front of my mother.

But when I took the job, I knew the commute was going to be bad.

What I hadn't banked on was today's budget announcement, which startled me so much I almost swallowed my own tongue! I am one of those unfortunate souls who not only works in the public sector, but also happens to buy things and with VAT hitting 20%, that hurts!

By a fabulous stroke of luck though, one of my colleagues lives nearby and as of today we've decided to thumb our noses at the budget, and cut our costs by entering the realm of the car sharing commuter.

Let's just hope there isn't a tax on that too...

Tomato Temptress

People always seem to think that making food from scratch, as opposed to buying in pre-prepared meals, will save you money.

This is a lie. Don’t listen to them.

Having heard this little pearl of wisdom more times than I care to mention - and clearly having delusions of actually being able to make something edible - I bought two Nigel Slater cook books.

I realised as I was putting them in the book shelf (having glanced at them once and doubting I will ever glance at them again) that we have a whole shelf of cook books!

How weird is that for a couple who can burn a boiled egg? We even have one tome signed by Nick Nairn. Although I have to admit Kevin has used that one. He made a prawn cocktail from it. Once.

Anyway, having witnessed the Delicious Miss Dahl turning out the perfect tomato soup with nothing more than a roasting tin, a hand blender and a cleavage revealing cardigan, I decided that I should have a go.

The resulting four bowls - delicious as they were - cost just over £12 for all the ingredients, took over an hour to make and splattered so much when I waded in with the hand blender that the kitchen looked like a scene from a horror film.

A tin of Heinz is less than a pound. It requires no greater skills than the ability to operate a can opener.

I rest my case...