The picture in the picture is a picture of a place – Mount Everest. I am sitting in the Everest Tandoori – a (Nepalese) Indian restaurant in our local town. This week’s treat is a night out in a restaurant where we can wear grown up clothes and look at each other over the table as we eat. It’s a real treat because I can’t remember the last time the two of us went out alone together for a meal. In our recent lives, it’s something that we’ve only done when in the company of friends or rellies, and to be completely, brutally frank, they’ve usually taken pity on us and paid the bill. We are lucky to have such kind, supportive people in our world.

We are still broke but we are a little less so than at any time over the last five years so we have pledged to treat ourselves to small excursions at least a couple of times a month. This is the nicer of the two local curry houses and it’s the first time we’ve been here since a night out with Janet and John many months ago.So, a vegetable dhansak shared between the two of us and a couple of side dishes has been a very welcome end to a busy week.

I must say though, despite my trepidation and doubts from last weekend, I have had the best week I’ve had in a very long time. I am so fearful that I will find myself in the same situation as DM faced last year that I’m afraid to allow myself to enjoy it because I’m so scared it’ll all go horribly wrong for me in the way it did for him. If I picture my sauce dish as a lamp and give it a rub will a genie come and look after my fate?