Don't panic

Okay, enough about babies, a moment of weakness only.

I had some twinges of anxiety this afternoon. I went to get petrol - oh, I say, it took less than £60 to fill it up, when it had cost me £65 until recently. The fact that it was £40 when I bought this car 3 1/2 years ago is a passing happy memory. Anyway, I stood there, nozzle in hand, pondering how to pay. I had cash, but if I spent that, I'd only have to go to the cashpoint sooner. Credit card or debit card? I've been hammering the credit card this past month, spending money on the London flat and since I won't receive any rent until the agents have taken out their commission, the Sage will probably insist on paying the bill - well, he may have to, in fact, though in any case he hates to think of me being short of money in case I have an extravagant whim (I very rarely do, but he enjoys it when it happens). So it seemed less than polite to stick him with paying to fill my car too. I decided on the debit card. Only it wasn't there.

I keep a few cards in a pocket in my purse, as I am using quite a small bag at present which isn't large enough for a wallet as well as all the other necessities of a woman's life - 8 sets of keys, a corkscrew, screwdriver, Oyster card (I'm not planning a trip to London any time soon), diary and so on - so I don't have to switch things round too often. And whatever else gets taken out, the debit and credit card don't. And I wasn't exactly sure when I last had the missing card. Not for at least a week. I imagined my bank account being emptied. I considered phoning to get it stopped. I pondered whether I could have left it behind when I used it last. While doing all this, I paid for the petrol (credit card, sorry, darling xx) and decided that the odds were I'd dropped it at home.

And when I got back, some three hours later, so I had.

I bought a new waterproof coat in Norwich for cycling in during the winter. It was very boring. I also bought a new diary. That was positively depressing. I shall, in the next few days, spend some time filling it in with meetings already booked.