It seems the cheque book may soon become a thing of the past. Only this week I went into a major high street store and there, next to the til, was a sign saying ‘we do not accept cheques’.
Now I am sure the store had done their homework and it got me thinking when was the last time I had used a cheque.
To be honest, it was not that long ago, to pay for some work on my car, so if the big stores stop using cheques how long before the banks stop issuing them?
And another thing about finances.
One of my banks (yes, I have many) sent me a letter a few weeks ago saying they would no longer be sending me statements each month, as it cost money to post them and print etc, which in these days of online banking I thought was fair enough.
In the next two weeks I had four letters from the bank offering me home insurance, loans, the keys to the vaults of the Bank of England and all manner of stuff, so how did that save anything?
Sorry, bit of a rant there.
I had to nip into hospital this week for some minor repairs to the legs, well, I thought they were minor but Mr Hockey decided to bandage me from hip to ankle on both legs. It seems he practises on my legs. Honest, Mr Hickey, only joking – in case I have to go back.
Anyway, I got chatting to an elderly lady sat next to me, as you do in hospitals, and it’s funny what people will tell you, as we were total strangers.
She was a lovely lady and had a slight accent. She told me she came from Belgium in 1946, all about her two husbands, holidays and the like and with one or two more joining in we had a good old natter for an hour or so.
Then we all went our separate ways and will probably never see each other again. The crossroads of life, I think it’s called.
Talking of meeting folks, at a recent event for the Worcester Accountants Society, I got there in a bit of a rush and there was a face I recognised in the line up.
“Haven’t we met before?” asked the man, whose wife also looked familiar. “Not sure,” was his reply, and as we went into dinner I nattered in my usual inane fashion about life and the universe. I sat down for dinner and read the menu, guest speakers were Neil and Christine Hamilton... oops.
But it was an excellent evening. I should have asked the accountants about disappearing cheque books I guess.
l Dave Bradley is the BBC Hereford & Worcester sports correspondent