Blogaroo

Working on the premise that you need to spend money to panic solve problems, I haded over ten of my finest British pounds to various chemists yesterday in a bid to solve two niggling - and not so niggling - problems.

The first problem is Migraine. These are new for me, and while I have a prescription medication for these, it doesn’t appear to be helping. Seduced by the advertising, I went looking for 4head Quickstrips (£4.99 for 8, so 1p cheaper for the same quantity of the Boots own brand alternative). If these help, I will let you know - and attempt to have them nominated for a Knighthood. These headaches need all the help they can get.

The other problem, the nigglier one of the two, is a generally feeling of irritation in my ears. After my sister kindly gave me an ear infection almost 10 years ago, I’ve had constant ear problems, infections and itchiness/irritation. After seeing Audiclean, an ear cleansing wash, on the shelves in Superdrug, I bought it in the hope it will help. It is essentially just purified seawater (so I could just take a few dips in the North Sea and save myself a fiver), but if it helps things feel better, I will sing the praises of it high and low!

It’s hard for me to spend out on unproven items, but I figure that if they even start to help, they’re worth it.

Being something of a chocolate connoisseur - and when I say connoisseur I mean “mass consumer”, obviously - it would be foolish of me not to recommend some to you; and in this case I’m recommending the best chocolate I have every had the luck of tasting.

Montezuma’s chocolate don’t lie when they say their chocolate is smooth. It is smooth like an aging DJ, smooth like a rock worn away by a stream for a thousand years, smooth like ice. And if smooth just isn’t enough for you (are you insane?) then you can go for variety, with flavourings including fruits, mints, nuts and spices - the cinnamon and nutmeg chocolate is pure, simple, perfection.

If you live in the South of England then you’re sorted, because you can visit the Montezuma shops, which are palaces of chocolatey wonder. When I visited the Brighton shop you would’ve thought I’d never seen a chocolate button before - it was only sheer force that got me to leave, so amazed was I by my surroundings. For those of us not in the South - probably good for our bank balances and sanity - Montezuma’s is somewhat erratically stocked in various independent shops; there is no “official” stockists on the Montezuma web site, but personal experience tells that those stockists include Real Foods in Edinburgh.