You can keep the "Rat Race" - give me the valleys any day!

I think everyone's bosses must have been on the phone to them all weekend warning them to ge their butts into work. A 20 min car journey to the studio took over an hour and a half and I must admit I was like the hulk by the end of it.

Everything had gone wrong. I knew my phone, containing all the details of my appointment, was in my bag when I left the house but it miraculously wasn't there when I got in the car. I couldn't (and still can't find) the charger for the "cat-nab" as my Grandmother calls it, Husbands phone is the most unuseable piece of technology I've come across and it was nearly out of battery.

Very fortunately, I've never met such a lot of warm friendly people in all my life and I felt instantly at ease and welcome. I didn't swear, I didn't stutter, I didn't clam up. And I've had some amazing comments since then, very flattering (any more, please direct them to my agent :-> ) so all's well that ended well. And they even want me to go back, which, truth be told, I'm jolly pleased about.

After all that excitement before 10 am, if I'm honest, I wimped out. I totally did. Husband needed to go to the car part shop for boys stuff I don't pretend to understand and to our local town bank.

I didn't want a cup of coffee in the non-franchised cafe, which is most unusual, and I wasn't especially keen on wandering about a store or high street where I couldn't buy anything even if I wanted to, so, I stayed in the car. Twice.

All the excitement had drained me of mental energy, I think, so the ability to use one's willpower was impaired. I must admit that it made me a little more aware of the force driving us to purchase things. Paul McKenna calls it "emotional spending" and I think I know what he means. Resisting marketing propaganda is one thing when you're all you can be, but look how vulnerable to it we can become by something as simple as a horrendous journey and an unusual meeting.

Had I not been on a shopping ban, I'm acutely aware that a trip to the bank would have resulted in "ooo I just want to look in this shop a second" and "I'll just pop into such and such for some something or other" and come out with 5 things you didn't go in for, and, truth be told, probably don't need.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b00pqkbj