Mrs Down's Diary

YOU know when you get that prickly feeling at the back of your neck and you suddenly think "I'm being watched"? Well I was. By John. Just as I had clicked on 'Pay Now' for a highly desirable (to me) item on eBay.

"I thought you were hard up," he said. Well I am. Since I sold my cottage which went towards buying Geoff out of the farm, I've lost most of my private source of income and now have to be very nice to John if I need that little extra something which can't be covered by ready cash.

This, as in many households I am sure, can be quite a bone of contention. Why, when I never query anything that John buys or spends, am I always accused of extravagance when I lash out on something?

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It is not as if my latest purchases have been wildly frivolous anyway. A new blade for my food processor '“ total cost: one penny plus, of course, postage.

The food processor is so old no one else wanted to bid on the blade. And a tablecloth with a print of game birds on that I thought John would like and which I used for his shoot lunch. Again, no one else wanted it so it cost very little.

Whereas John is now prepared to spend a small fortune restoring a gun that has recently come into his possession through the family.

It had belonged to his grandfather, and he wants to make sure it is safe to use again, so it is off to a gunsmith to be reproofed, tightened up, etc, etc.