A few years ago I was browsing on eBay and came across a Dirty Three album that I'd never heard of before. A quick Google proved that it was legit, just very rare. And the starting bid was £3.50. Without hesitation, I put in a maximum bid of £10.

As I pottered around the house, I began to have misgivings: what if someone else got it for £11? I'd never forgive myself. I went back to the laptop and upped my maximum bid to £30. That seemed a sensible limit. But then I thought, what if I never get another chance to buy this album? So, I fell to thinking, how much should I pay, how much *could* I pay? Was there a balance between what was sensible and the regret I'd feel if I didn't get it? OK, £50.

When the auction was due to finish, I sat in front of the laptop to see what happened. I'd told myself that if I was outbid, I wouldn't bid any further. But if I believed that, why didn't I just go and do something else until it finished? The bid sat at my £3.50. I pictured all the other Dirty Three fans, poised for the last few seconds before sticking in their bids and I fervently hoped that my maximum would automatically outbid them. I kept hitting the refresh key: no action, everyone was playing it cool.

And then the auction finished and I got the album for... £3.50!

I'm reminded of this misjudgement because today - this evening, specifically - I took the Minx to see Peter Gabriel's 'Back to Front' film at the cinema. It's showing across the country for four days, so I was delighted to manage to get us tickets to see it at the Vue in The Lowry. On the way there, I was wondering what the crowd would be like and I guessed it would range between old Genesis fans, people like me who came to him through '3', and then a few 'So' lovers.

Well, as you can see, the cinema was not exactly heaving. In fact, in the end, there were, perhaps, fourteen of us in there, although, to my credit, we just about covered my predicted demographic.

As for the film itself, well it was pretty good, 7/10 maybe. The sound was very good but not as mindblowing as I'd been led to expect and I was surprised they didn't show the whole of the 'So' set (as this was the central conceit of the concerts). Perhaps what irritated me most was the way in which the interview footage as run over the start of the songs. But that said, I did enjoy it and the Minx stayed awake all the way through which is a good sign :-)