Excerpt: Michigan Dreams

But we managed to whizz through the first fifty thousand pounds in just over a year, what with one thing and another – mainly eating in the pub. Oh man, how fantastic to live in an area with a pub on every corner and they all do food, good food. And if it’s raining there’s an endless stream of flyers coming through the letterbox telling us about all the companies whose only pleasure is to deliver a hot meal on a cold night. Sadly most of them were burgers, pizzas and fucking dodgy curry houses. It took us nearly two years to find a curry house that didn’t serve frozen veg in a lake of bright red oil, but meanwhile in2night were just around the corner, cooking organic healthy delicious food – it was beyond our resistance. I mean, I was poorly and Daughter was all in a dither about life, the future and everything. We were generous as well, fond of inviting Daughter's Mad Friend, or Son and Partner to join us and just waving the blue plastic when the bill came. It is utterly astonishing how quickly the money melts away if you live like that and at the end of the day there’s nothing to show for it except a landfill overflowing with tin foil and some fat bellies.