Huh.

I read something at the weekend that made me stop and think. Not in a 'the word's going to end in a hundred years because you can't recycle chocolate wrappers' kind of way, more in a 'Ye gads, he's right' kind of way.

I was reading the latest (British) Vogue magazine, and there were a number of articles on jewellery. I'm not really a jewellery person - I have a couple of things (my wedding and engagement rings, a watch, a necklace, a pair of earrings and a string of pearls) but very little. The importance of jewellery as a thing to collect just isn't there for me.

Still, it was Sunday morning, and I needed something to read while I drank my morning coffee, so the jewellery articles it was.

It was a point made by the writer of one of said articles that left me mulling. He said, "However unimportant jewellery may be in many respects, it's the last thing left of most civilisations."

Kind of pulls you up a bit, doesn't it?

I suggested to Al that based on that, I really should go and buy some more. Preservation of culture, and my little salute to historical study for future generations and all that.

He just gave me that look of his.

Perhaps not then.