Can't get to sleep? Don't let that worry you;

I have a 75-year-old friend who often has trouble sleeping.

Her husband is the one who worries about it, not her - with good reason. If she can't get to sleep, she stops trying. She reckons that if her brain is awake, she may as well use it.

Sometimes she goes downstairs, by the fire if it's winter time, and listens to the radio. If she's feeling really active, she powers up her PC and digs a little deeper into her family's genealogy.

But what worries her husband is the nights when she decides to go on to e-bay. She's a fabric fanatic.

They live in a little cottage near me in France (which, luckily, has a big barn next to it) and they still own a house in Yorkshire. This year, she and her sister decided to extend that house so that her sister could live in it. Once the plans were completed and approved, it turned out that the cheapest way to do the job was to demolish the house and start again. That meant emptying the house and putting the contents in storage. In the attic, they discovered rolls of fabric and patterned wallpaper that she didn't even remember owning.

There is enough fabric stored in their little French cottage to make several sets of curtains and several sets of chair and settee covers, but she can't resist buying no-longer-manufactured Laura Ashley fabrics and other beautiful things. She is an expert at using them, too - but she can't keep up with the rate at which she buys them.

Her e-bay purchases are delivered to a friend in the UK, and my wife brings them back each time she visits by car. They form a significant part of her homebound load.

Can't get to sleep? Go shopping on e-bay.