If you live in London (or any major city) you can use the word eye-watering on a daily basis to describe the things that you see and buy. My local pub serves a beer called Punk IPA, at £5.40 (around 8 US dollars) per pint. This is an eye-watering amount for any beer.

A member of my family has booked a trip for ten of us to go to Edinburgh between Christmas and New Year. It was all done in a rush in October, communicated via WhatsApp, with nobody having any conversations about what was involved. Messages and screenshots went back and forth and it was all booked at the time. I now find that I am paying an EYE-WATERING £1010 for 3 nights’ accommodation in a 2-bedroom apartment, with no food included, no swimming pool, no facilities of any use to me, other than the beds (which an online review tells us are “narrow”). That’s 336 English Pounds per night, a hundred pounds more per night than I have ever paid for holiday accommodation.

I have been discussing it with friends, and will pose the question with anyone reading. What is the most that you have ever paid per night for holiday accommodation? Nobody I know has spent more than about £250 per night. And the look of shock when we reveal what we have stumped up for our now unwanted trip away has told me plenty. Oh, and it’s non-refundable. A member of my family has managed to book not only the most expensive holiday accommodation of my lifetime but also the only one that will not offer a refund if one of my children is ill and we are unable to travel. My eyes water at the thought of it.