Negotiating the first rung on the property ladder - blankets and all

Following a herculean effort on the savings front, my daughter has pulled off the near impossible for today's young folks and bought her first flat.

- Susan Morrison

Her brother is going halfies.It's a good start on the property ladder. I suspect our family is part salmon and feels the need to return to my ancestral lands, because it's in Glasgow.

Naturally we are all chuffed. Furnishings must be planned and acquired.

Back in the days when a flat in Leith cost less than a Premier League footballer, families would scour cupboards to dig out bits and pieces to fledgling home owners. Someone always had those huge, heavy wool blankets. No-one ever seemed to actually buy these. They just seemed to circulate around families.

They turned out to be just the thing in a tenement flat with windows that apparently had been made for an entirely different property.

Sadly, those big ol' blankets went out of style. I can't remember what I did with them, which is a shame, because people do buy them now, and at a price that makes fashionistas wince.