E BAY BLING AND MY AUNT'S CAT

I opened an eBay account last October because "everybody" had one. I decided to look for a pill box for an old dear who had expressed an interest in owning another one. She is an honorary auntie in her 80s and not one to like pill bottles blighting her lovely Highland cottage.

I found a very pretty Royal Worcester one -- see above -- in pink with fruit painted on the top. I quite fancied it, myself. There were four hours to go and the bid was at £18. I began to twitch with anticipation. Meanwhile I looked at other pill boxes and OMG! There was a beautiful one with a painting of a ginger cat on top. This cat was the spitting image of my aunt's cat, Zorro! I had to secure it for her. There were several days to go and the bid stood at £22.

I bought the flowered one for £28 and expected to pay the same for the gem with the cat.

Meanwhile, I trolled around the site and bought the bracelet and necklace for 99 P each. Yes, but ho-ho the postage from Thailand was £15 each. I didn't want them for that but I was too new to the site to know how to wriggle out. And then there was a pretty pin for £2, postage £5.

The bid on the cat pill box remained at £22. I felt that I was in luck. At the final hour, the bid went up £1 at a time. Somebody else wanted tit! Each time I upped the bid, somebody else came right back with £1 more. I knew nothing of pill boxes. Perhaps this one was a collector's item.

The hammer fell, as it were, at £55 and this other person got it. I was sick. Bidding beyond what I thought it was worth was nerve wracking enough and then I lost it anyway. It was the ideal gift for auntie, not a person for whom it was easy to find gifts.

I lost interest in eBay after that. Then my auntie telephoned one evening and in her tinkly voice announced she had found a wonderful pill box with "a painting of Zorro on the top, on eBay of all places, can you believe it?" Thud.

While trying to photograph the cheap bling, I looked out at the view, and took a quick photo. It is, perhaps, rather prettier than the above and is a glimpse of the old convento which will soon be obscured from view by tree leaves. OLD CONVENT