Buy Now – Don't Pay Later

Okay, I've learnt my lesson. I should have bought it when I first saw it. 'It' was an old, battered, chipped, charming, wooden, character-laden desk tidy in the local antiques shop. It was only a tenner. I just thought, 'Perhaps I'll buy it next time.'

Today was next time and, of course, it had gone. Sold to someone more decisive than me. I'm not a materialistic person – I've never been beamed aboard the Starship Enterprise, for example – but I think that this particular item could have improved the quality of my desk life by a good 14%.

No more, I tell thee. From now on, I will have a '£10 impulse-buy-rule'. Anything a tenner or under, which takes my fancy will be instantly purchased; unless it's cheese. I'm trying to lose weight. Cheese really doesn't help.

My desk - a reconstruction