Thursday 2nd June

It's a disaster, a total and utter disaster.

Apparently, the cheque I paid into the Post Office last Saturday will not clear until next Monday at the earliest. When the PO Cashier told me it would take 3- 4 days to clear, he meant to go from the Post Office to Santander.

I literally have just 6p to my name. I cannot travel anywhere as the car is on rock bottom empty. There is no food in the house, as my aunt cleared the cupboards when she left, for obvious reasons. Most of my own supplies have gone, no protein whatsoever.

My mother rings me, I lay it on with a trowel, 'Just pasta and onions tonight', I tell her. It's the truth.

As it is the beginning of the month, I shall have to cancel all my Direct Debits as each one is a potential £25 fine, and if the creditor re-submits the Direct Debit and it fails again, then that's another £25.

Doing this and ringing all the companies attached to the DD's takes an absolute age.

I apply for a job as a Bereavement Services Manager.

Miracle of miracles! I discover a £3 Tesco's voucher in my car. Hooray! Without further ado , I head off to Tesco's to plunder their store.

The Tesco Express is about 10 minutes away on foot. After about 10 minutes of walking round the store, I realise that nothing is under £1. Eventually, I settle on 12 chicken skewers, a can of Tuscan Bean soup and a Mars Bar. It's the only combo. I can find that brings everything to the exact total of £3.06!

The imponderables are just too imponderable. Is my life always going to be bumping along the bottom like this? Well, there is the parish looming in the future and the Bishop had put me down as a favourite for that. At least, from nothing, I have a roof over my head, a place to sit and a place to cook. It's going to get better, it really is.