HOMEMADE CURRY, SATURDAY 24TH MARCH

Proposed Budget: £2.50

Actual Expenditure:

Balti pan £15.00

Electric grinder £14.99

Blender £18.99

Wooden spoon 35p

Apron £9.99

Two chicken breasts £1.98

300g mushrooms 79p

Onion 29p

Coriander seeds £1.29

Fennel seeds £1.29

Allspice £1.29

Cumin seeds £1.29

Cloves £1.39

Ground ginger £1.95

Bay leaves £1.40

Chili powder

OH GOD, FORGET IT.

PGNI FIRST BANK VISA

7 Camel Square

Liverpool L1 5NP

Ms. Rebecca Bloomwood

Flat 2

4 Burney Rd.

London SW6 8FD

6 March 2000

Dear Ms. Bloomwood:

PGNI First Bank VISA Card No. 1475839204847586

Thank you for your letter of 2 March.

I can assure you that our computers are regularly checked, and that the possibility of a “glitch,” as you put it, is remote. Nor have we been affected by the millennium bug. All accounts are entirely accurate.

You may write to Anne Robinson at Watchdog if you wish, but I am sure she will agree that you have no grounds for complaint.

Our records inform us that payment on your VISA account is now overdue. As you will see from your most recent VISA card statement, the minimum payment required is £105.40. I look forward to receiving your payment, as soon as possible.

Yours sincerely,

Peter Johnson

Customer Accounts Executive

Eight

OK, SO PERHAPS THE Cutting Back didn’t go that well. But it doesn’t matter, because that’s all in the past. That was negative thinking—now I’m seriously into positive thinking. Onward and upward. Growth and prosperity. M.M.M. It’s the obvious solution, when you think about it. And you know what? Suze is absolutely right. Making More Money suits my personality far better than Cutting Back did. I’m already feeling much happier. Just the fact that I don’t have to make any more grotty cheese sandwiches, or go to any more museums, has lifted a huge weight off my soul. And I’m allowed to buy all the cappuccinos I like, and start looking in shop windows again. Oh, the relief! I’ve even chucked Controlling Your Cash in the bin. I never did think it was any good.

The only small thing—tiny niggle—is I’m not quite sure how I’m going to do it. Make More Money, I mean. But now I’ve decided to go ahead with it, something will turn up. I’m sure of it.

When I get into work on Monday, Clare Edwards is already at her desk—surprise—and on the phone.

“Yes,” she’s saying softly. “Well, it’s certainly been a wonderful first year.”

When she sees me, to my surprise, she blushes a faint pink and turns away slightly. “Yes, I understand,” she whispers, scribbling in her notepad. “But what about the future?”