Must be funny in a rich man's world

For those interested in financial matters, we are spending an average of 400 Euros each week in Italy, about half of this on campsites and supermarket food.

We have grown used to the expense of some of our staple items: Soya milk at 2 Euro 80, something we could buy in Morrisons in Eccles for 63p. Peanut butter has become a luxury item, as has basmati rice for our curry nights.

On the plus side, the fruit and vegetables are excellent and reasonably priced and wine is not expensive. We can also buy hundreds of different shapes of pasta. These are all numbered and our favourite penne is number 71.