The Cost of Living

Are you feeling the pinch?

Inflation, rising fuel and food prices are biting us in the bum. Charles Moore wrote recently that some families are having to choose between heating and Eton. British Gas sends a bill monthly. Food has become expensive. Not food from shops or even food in clubs – restaurant food.

I enjoy paying the sunny side of £50 for a bottle of wine, but for a main course, which I’d not finish? £16 for a bowl of soup? Of course there’s a reason. Restaurants like this want to fool the nouveau riche they are somewhere special. Here’s part of another more prestigious restaurant’s menu, also in St James’s.

The mixed grill looks delicious and good value; there might be something to take home for Bertie. Or if you are on a budget, slip the waiter three eggs from your henhouse and order an omelette aux fines herbes. I have only once been to a restaurant in London when my hostess brought the starter but that’s another story. Actually there’s no reason customers shouldn’t bring scoff and drink to restaurants and pay foodage and corkage. I did this once in 1998.

Of course my sybaritic life style has to be funded. When the tide’s coming in I lap up the capital growth from funds like Scottish Mortgage and Monks. Now, as it ebbs, I’m glad to have significant exposure to Personal Assets and McInroy & Wood Balanced Fund. Although Robert and I voted differently in the local elections last week, we had a consensus and both bought Monks.  Incidentally Labour held Hammersmith and Fulham; surprisingly the Conservatives held the same number of seats.