B

Unit 22- B

Well, I don’t normally worry about money. But I did have a nasty experience once, when I had to be a bit careful. It was when my wife and I were on holiday, in a resort on the Italian Riviera.

It happened to be her birthday, so I said I’d take her out to lunch, with a couple of friends of ours who we knew there. So, we walked along the beach and just stopped at a nice-looking place. The four of us ordered soup, and some starters, and fish, and steaks, and salad, and some wine, and sat in the sunshine enjoying all this.

I wasn’t at all worried about what it was going to cost, because I always pay by credit card if it’s quite an expensive meal. But we were just about to order some fruit and ice- cream, when I put my hand in my pocket and found I hadn’t got my card!

I suddenly realised I was wearing the wrong trousers - I’d changed my usual pair because I’d spilt coffee on them at breakfast - and my card was in my trouser pocket back at the hotel! Huh. Well, this gave me a really horrible shock, and I tried to have a quick look at the menu while nobody was looking, so I could add up the bill so far.

I had to pretend everything was OK -I didn’t want to ruin my wife’s birthday lunch by giving her something to worry about, and I felt embarrassed about mentioning it to our friends, who we didn’t know all that well.

I knew I’d got 180,000 lire in notes in my wallet - that was about £60 then - but we’d ordered some of the most expensive things on the menu, so I might not have enough. Ah, I just don’t remember the rest of the meal. I really didn’t enjoy it, because I was dreading the arrival of the bill. But when it came, I was so relieved!

I had enough to pay it and leave a tip! I was cleaned out, had absolutely nothing left, but it didn’t matter. What a relief, eh?