SO let me get this right. I pay a whopping chunk on my wage, and I’ve been banging away as much as I can into a pension fund for my old age – because I was too skint until I was in my 50s to be able to put anything away in a pension pot.

And the greedy bleeders in power are now going to put their hands on that, as if they haven’t had enough. I’m not sure whether I should cut out my kidney now to save them the bother later.

I shall try my best not to die before this lot are out on the scrapheap. Inheritance tax is a scourge.

The threshold is way too low and hits many a ‘working man’ and his family right in the gonads.

Especially, I think, in this area where house prices were low and people were able to pay off their mortgages and leave their houses for their children.

The impact of this budget will be felt hard over the next years, by people with modest businesses, by farmers and yes by the ordinary working man.

But we have to get through winter first… and you watch what happens if we have a bitterly cold one. Stay warm, old ‘uns. Don’t skimp on your heating!

I remember when Chrissie Yates was asking me some advice about writing a book. Then about publishing a book… and now she has three of them to her name.

And a heads up that she will be doing a talk at the Ginnel Café by Appleyards in Mapplewell on Thursday December 5, 5.45 for 6pm. Tickets are £12.95 and include a glass of wine and a cheeseboard, as well as a talk from Chrissie about her writing journey and the opportunity to buy her books of course.

It is harder than ever these days to survive in the writing world and I know that I have been carried along by the wind of local support so do extend it to other home-grown authors, both established and trying to cut their place out in the market. I’m living proof of where you all got me! Contact the cafe on Facebook to reserve a ticket. They’re very easy to find.

If anyone really fancies a taste of the Orient Express, but doesn’t want to pay £10,000 for two (although you might as well spend your savings on yourself rather than pay them to you know who) then I might have a solution for you.

I had to (yes really) take a trip on the Northern Belle last week – one of the top ten luxury trains in the world – to scoff a seven-course lunch all in the name of research.

Now a Wakefield to Wakefield via Cleethorpes trip might not sound like a lap of luxury to you, but trust me on this – once you are on this train, you could be on the Paris to Venice run.

Food, service, everything beyond exquisite. If you have a special occasion to celebrate, if you want to propose to your partner, take your mum out for Mother’s Day and you’ve had a wee win on the premium bonds, then go and look up the Northern Belle on the internet.

They do trips all over the country, but this little jaunt is so convenient. I know my dad would have been looking at the brochure and thinking the Yorkshire battle cry: ‘how much?’

But it is one of the few experiences I have had in life that delivers even MORE than it promises. A real memory making day. Worth EVERY brass pound.