Posh & Her Dosh

Good old Posh - just as you think you’re starting to warm to her slightly, she does something else that has you wanting to bash her over the head with her own Hermes handbag.

She has just announced that she is a shopaholic and that it’s like a drug to her. A drug that she happily told us got her high enough to spend a cool one million dollars in just one day.

Shopaholic needing our sympathy
or just plain smug?

Being a recovering shopaholic myself, part of me can see where she's coming from, but instead of her using the media to get a serious message across, it feels as though she's just rubbing salt into our poor, raw, recession inflicted wounds.

You can see why I was struggling to be sympathetic towards the plight of poor Mrs Beckham and her million dollar trolley dash, when I was given the opportunity to talk about all things shopping and debt related on the Stephen Nolan Show on Radio 5 Live last night.

Meanwhile, back in the real world, the rest of us Brits are stuck in the grip of another week of Arctic weather - and part of me is secretly pleased.

The reason being that it takes about ten minutes to get on enough layers just to walk the dog, so the mere thought of trailing into town and removing even one of those layers in a chilly changing room is enough to put me off the January sales forever.

So far, the only item I’ve forked out on is a pair of blissfully warm Marmot gloves to see me through the snowy season.

The big freeze is saving me a fortune!

Make Do & Mend

I used to think the expression ‘make do and mend’ only applied to material goods in times of recession, but it seems it can work just as well for the human heart.

Kevin’s skillful surgeon was able to repair his damaged valve - rather than replacing it - by pleating his own tissue to mimic the missing section.

It’s still going to be a long recovery for him, but we know we’ll get through it because we love each other - whole heartedly...

Devastating Jobs Blow!

That was the headline I dreaded the most when I was a broadcast journalist.

Partly because I was thinking of the people who were affected by it, but mainly because I was terrified that I was going to get it horribly wrong and say ‘Blow Jobs’ live on air. Thankfully I never did, but there were a few other choice comments that slipped out over the years.

The reason I mention this is that I’ve suffered a bit of a ‘jobs blow’ myself recently. Just when I was smugly congratulating myself on being in a job that seemed recession proof, I find that I’m not immune to a little salary slicing after all.

I am, however, in the extraordinarily lucky position that as well as being allowed to appeal the decision, I’ve been warned almost three years in advance before my wages wane.

Although I’m quite upset about it - as the leaner, meaner proposed pay packet wouldn’t enable me to cover my mortgage and bills - a little part of me is wondering if this could be the shove I need to look for something new and exciting.

Perhaps I’ve just been going with the flow for too long and somewhere out there my dream job is just waiting for me (and Hobbs, who would be allowed to accompany me to the dream office and snooze under my dream desk).

I wonder if Boris Johnson might be prepared to share his Telegraph column?

Rain Rain Go Away

Well, I certainly needed my wellingtons and waterproofs for this year’s holiday!

After being lured into a ‘Staycation’ by the Met Office’s predictions of more sunshine than your average Brit can soak up in a lifetime, we ended up having to come home after nine days because we’d exhausted all of our wet weather activities and just couldn’t face any more rain.

All was not lost though...

Kevin transformed himself into an expert weather watcher and for the last six days of our break was able to find little pockets of sunshine across Scotland that we basked in until the clouds came over and it was time to head for the next hot (okay then, luke warm) spot.

Battering rain on brollies replaced sausages sizzling on the bar-b-q for nearly everyone who holidayed at home this year and I can’t help feeling a little suspicious about the Met Office, their glowing forecast and subsequent apology for getting it so wrong.

At a time when we are hit by recession and swine flu, wasn’t it rather convenient to persuade us to give up our flights to sunnier climates in favour of the ‘Staycation’ that the media were so keen to promote?

Maybe I’m just being an old pessimist. Maybe it was a genuine mistake on the part of the Met Office. Or maybe it was a rather clever way of confining our cash and contamination to the one country...

Hair Raising Recession

An article in the The Times magazine this week made me flick my fringe from my eyes and focus.

It seems that despite the recession, the last thing we want to neglect are our luscious locks. Hair salons say they’re bucking the trend for our desire to downsize and clients continue to pour through their doors, and I can totally see why.

During my year of not shopping, my hair became one of my biggest obsessions. I changed my hairdresser three times before settling for the skillful scissors of Liam at JDH. And why did I do that?

Well, because I had cut everything else in my life to the bare minimum and the only way I felt I could change the way I looked, or feel groomed without spending on new products and clothes, was to keep my hair in check.

The credit crunch might mean we can’t step out in this season’s sky high stilettos, but most of us can – and do - look like we’ve just stepped out of a salon.