Up and by water to White Hall, and there to a Committee of Tangier, and had occasion to see how my Lord Ashworth —[Lord Ashworth is probably a miswriting for Lord Ashley (afterwards Earl of Shaftesbury).]— deports himself, which is very fine indeed, and it joys my heart to see that there is any body looks so near into the King’s business as I perceive he do in this business of my Lord Peterborough’s accounts.

Thence into the Parke, and met and walked with Captain Sylas Taylor, my old acquaintance while I was of the Exchequer, and Dr. Whore, talking of musique, and particularly of Mr. Berckenshaw’s way, which Taylor magnifies mightily, and perhaps but what it deserves, but not so easily to be understood as he and others make of it. Thence home by water, and after dinner abroad to buy several things, as a map, and powder, and other small things, and so home to my office, and in the evening with Captain Taylor by water to our Tangier ship, and so home, well pleased, having received 26l*. profit to-day of my bargain for this ship, which comforts me mightily, though I confess my heart, what with my being out of order as to my health, and the fear I have of the money my Lord oweth me and I stand indebted to him in, is much cast down of late.
*The pound sign stands for Libra, a pound weight, in Latin.

Poor old Pepys, his heart is out of order due to debt and worry about getting paid. Money is definitely not going to be the main driver for today’s diary, not by a long chalk. Here are a few comments which  I have found helpful in dealing with filthy lucre. You can of course get a lot of advice elsewhere from excellent sites  so this is very much a summary.

obviously a staged photograph but it makes the point.

There’s an old song that is called “write  the thought down brother, write the thought down”. There’s nothing worse than having money worries, or any type of worry come to that, whizzing around in your head 24 / 7.

The more we put our heads in the sand, the more complicated the final solution will be. The worry will grow inside the head like a virus the longer we allow the situation to pertain.  The first stage is to make a list of any debt and compare it with your monthly income and savings. Consider getting rid of credit cards altogether???  Don’t wait for the brown envelope. If you have difficulty doing it on your own, at least talk about it with a friend or better still a professional adviser. The Citizens Advice Bureau, historically, are good people to go to but there are many others. Just type into Google ” debt counselling services”. Do not pay fees for any service of this nature.  Genuine services are free.

Actually, the last thing I want to do today is to write about money. For now let us say that you should control your money flow, not the other way around and that’s all I have to say for now.

Today there is so much on in terms of Open Gardens for the public plus a special event this evening that much juggling will be required. Things always work out as they are meant to, so watch for part two of this diary which will appear very much later this evening.