Broadcasts & Barbours

It seems my stint on Radio 4 didn't have too many listeners screaming and running for the hills, so I was invited the following week to talk all things debt and shopping for BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio York and Radio 5 Live.

While we all know that I love the airwaves - I must do, I had to get up at 6am to do one of the interviews - I really do hope that anyone in debt or with a shopping addiction gets something from these interviews; something that might just help them come to terms with what seems like an impossible situation.

If I'm perfectly honest, doing the interviews even helped me. For a couple of weeks I've been strolling past the window of a particularly lovely shop during my lunch hour - and there, waving to me from behind the safety of the glass, is a delicious grape, quilted Barbour.

Blissful Barbour

Just before I did the interviews, I had convinced myself that I could afford it and definitely needed it, but after lecturing to all who would listen about shopping only with cash, buying nothing but necessities, leaving your credit card at home (preferably sulking in a drawer because it hasn't been used in ages), I realised that I had to practise what I preached.

So, the delicious Barbour remains in the window, my credit card remains sulking in the drawer and I can sleep with a clear conscience.

Jenni, Gill & Me

I've always thought the programmers at BBC Radio 4 had incredibly good taste - which was why I was rather surprised to receive a call from them, asking me to take part in Woman's Hour on Friday.

The subject was women facing bankruptcy and I was on with Gill Hankie MBE (Director of the Bankruptcy Advisory Service) to discuss the implications of insolvency and how it's sometimes being portrayed as a 'Get Out Of Jail Free' card by certain publications.

A very serious subject, but I had a super time and feel more than a little honoured to have shared the airwaves with Jenni Murray and Gill.

My only horror moment was on arrival at the studio; realising that I really was the only one there and had to operate the whole set up myself. Having worked in radio, it wasn't too daunting a prospect, until I read the instruction sheet I'd been left.

Number one instruction was: Switch on the 'cooker switch' before entering the studio.

We all know how I am with cooking! I crossed my fingers, flicked the switch, went into the studio and waited for the inevitable smell of burning - which usually accompanies that action - to start...

** You can hear the podcast by clicking the BBC Radio 4 link in the first paragraph

Hot & Heavenly Hertfordshire

When it’s raining in Scotland and you haven’t booked anywhere to jet off to on your holidays, your dog is depressed from being permanently damp and you’ve forgotten what your knees look like because it’s been so long since you’ve worn shorts, there is only one thing to do...

Gather up the damp dog, the unworn shorts and anything else that vaguely reminds you of summer, dump the whole lot in the car and head down the M1.

Well, that’s what we did the other week and on arrival in Hertfordshire (after nine hours and one visit from the AA man) we were rewarded with blissful sunshine and temperatures that seemed almost tropical to us.

There’s no doubt that a holiday and clear, blue skies are good for the soul and it’s spurred us on to think about the future. So much, in fact, that we’ve even been writing out our five year plans.

Here’s mine -

Win the lottery and move to Harpenden.

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...