| Good evening, There was a moment this past weekend when one of the outcomes of the pandemic came close to home. Paying for a takeaway curry, I reached into my purse to extract the debit card which has been a best pal for two years....only to be told that they no longer took card payments. This was a shock to the system and some scrabbling around in the bottom of a bag was required to come up with the full amount asked for in cash. And it appears I am not alone. Since 2019, the number of cash transactions in this country has fallen dramatically. Apparently three quarters of the population have not returned to using cash in the way they once did. And this is according to Link, the nice people who run most of our ATM cash machines. So you know what is coming next. ATMs are likely to head the same way as most of our high street banks and become as difficult to find as that final £1 was for me in the takeaway. For most of us this will not be a major issue. But there are people who rely on cash and who want to use cash because it helps them to manage their finances. And let's face it, there is no risk of cyber fraud from a £10 note. Perhaps we need to hang onto cash for a bit longer. Until next time, take care, Gillian | 
