Where did that travel budget go?

Apparently, there is a lot of unused money swishing about the country in the bank accounts of people who would normally have spent it travelling. I have searched our bank account, but can’t seem to find any trace of it. I don’t think we’ve been the victim of a scam – having resolutely resisted all charming emails from widows who are simply seeking a good home for their husbands’ money – so I am starting to wonder where all that unspent travel money has gone.

Admittedly, the jigsaw budget has been quite high. The cupboard in the living room is full to overflowing with jigsaw puzzles and some are out on loan as well. But still, a few measly jigsaws can hardly add up to a trip to Mexico, can they?

Like everyone else in Britain, we go out for our permitted daily walk to enjoy a bit of fresh air and exercise, and in theory this costs nothing. However, if you try hard you can spend quite a bit on it. An array of walking trainers, shoes and boots is needed for every season and, sadly, we have now had some form of lockdown throughout all the seasons. Then of course there are the coats, hats, scarves and gloves needed for every possible change in the weather. To be honest, I have little interest in all this functional wear, but have discovered the joy of phone apps to make walking much more fun.

First of all, we have the Walkmeter app, which logs every walk, giving you the distance, a map of where you’ve walked and all sorts of interesting details, including the calories you’ve burned. Now I know why I’m hungry all the time. I also have a wonderful app called PictureThis – you just take a photo of any plant, shrub or tree and it immediately identifies it for you. I’ve also downloaded an app to identify birds by their sounds, but it’s looking a bit complicated, so they might go unidentified for a while. I wonder if Shazam will work?

All this is petty cash, really. I know where the money has gone and it’s on food. Now that every meal is eaten at home, the supermarket shop has pretty much doubled in size. Buying twice as many carrots is probably not going to make much of a dent in the food budget, but twice as much Balsamic vinegar and tahini definitely will. If you can’t travel to Italy or Egypt, eating their wonderful food is a great comfort and a delicious reminder that the world is still out there and waiting for us. If only we hadn’t spent all the travel budget…