If you want anything, you have to be able to afford it

EVEN with the varied weather over the past few weeks, the last thing you might expect to find in my car is an ice scraper!

It has been there for years and until a few month ago there were, believe it or not, two identical ones in penguin shaped gloves on the back seat!

There are also two boxes of books in the boot but they are more recent additions and are gradually being reduced.

I make these confessions in the wake of a survey on items drivers leave in their motors which also questioned how often they clean the interiors – something I am guilty of as the front mats are in need of attention.

Ford owners are not mentioned in the results but I would rank with those with Volvos who are the worst at six to 12 months before getting the vacuum out or going to a car wash and valeting.

The situation is so bad that one in five have refused to give someone a lift due to the state of the interiors and almost half are embarrassed about the mess which is not surprising given some of the findings. Warning: if you are having your breakfast the next paragraph is unsavoury.

One in seven Honda owners admit leaving vomit in their cars, Kia drivers are most likely to travel with smelly sports shoes inside and those with Mercs similarly with spilt drinks while with Hyundai owners it is dirty nappies!

All that doesn’t make me feel too bad about the dust and grit or having Penga as my constant passenger. Children’s cash

When I read that 14% of threeyear-olds receive pocket money it makes me wonder what they spend it on but also think about my own childhood.

I don’t remember getting any from my parents but we did have comics and treats on what they could afford which was not much but my brother and I were well looked after.

When my mother was offered a part time job which would mean we could have other things if she took it, we siblings opted to have her at home when we came home from school and accept things as they were.

The finding about three-year olds came in a survey by a building society which is naturally keen on encouraging saving but I had practical lessons in that 60 years ago.

When I said I wanted a record player for a birthday I was told I could have one if I saved some money towards it myself. Every penny I received went into that fund and my saving was so hard and focused that my maternal grandmother gave me so much for the fund and another amount for sweets etc.

Today young people are being encouraged to have separate piggy banks for saving, spending or whatever but I was taught that at primary school age as well as learning if you want anything you have to be able to afford it.

Of course times and society have changed beyond recognition but with a quarter getting between £5 and £10 a week and a privileged 2% £30 to £40 apparently these are still practices which hold true and not expect everything to be provided for them. Weighing words

One of my keenest readers who is disappointed if I miss a week wondered if I had seen or heard comments by Jacob Rees Mogg, the new leader of the House of Commons, advocating a return to using feet and inches as she knows what a traditionalist I am.

I hadn’t seen the report, apparently in the Daily Express, myself but am all for weights and measures those of a certain vintage understand.

It reminded my reader, whom I apologise to for forgetting her name , of the time her daughter was at St Martin’s and came home from a domestic science class with a baking homework recipe in metric measurements.

“You’ll have to get these translated,” she told the girl who came back with a message from the teacher: “Tell your Mum to get a new set of scales!”

From then on the daughter had to learn the translations which is a lesson worth learning on its own and will serve her well. Festive first In the week after the hottest ever temperature recording, Selfridges became the first department store in the world to open a Christmas shop with 600 lines rising to 3,500 next month when the full scale one is launched.

If global warming continues are they going to live up to their name and just sell fridges?