For me it was fabric. I know I claim I like sewing, but I only like sewing about an eighth as much as I like buying fabric to sew one day maybe. I too bought loads of remaindered stuff dirt cheap, just on the off-chance that it'd be good for something. Fortunately I managed to get the point through to my subconscious that You Can Stop Now when my fabric cupboard was filled to bursting.

Face it, mate, what borderline addictive personalities like us need is a means of healthy self-expression to get it all out of our systems. These "blog" things sound good.

I think Natalie has it right. My 'drug' is books. I have to be physically restrained by my wife when passing a book-shop. The result, of course, to my shame, is several (so far) un-read books.

Also, like you, I have suddenly become fascinated with gardening. Yours sounds like a fairly Herculean task. My patch is tiny. Even so, for the first time in my life I bought, and planted bedding plants, and every morning (and afternoon and evening) I go and talk to them. Well, not exactly talk, more like 'mutter angrily' because the instantaneous flowering that I expected has failed to occur!. Amputation of my cats' paws is high on the agenda because nicely turned soil is a novelty for them, and makes toilet-going so much easier. Now I know why gardeners are often quite bad-tempered.

I keep going to the Oxfam bookshop to find out about arrangements to get rid of the hundreds of unwanted books I have. And I always leave having spent about £50 on a dozen new books, having completely forgotten about getting rid of the old ones.

Mr. Squander, I suspect you're turning into your father. It happens to us all in the end...

Really? When did you turn into my father?

For me it's DVDs and videos.

I've made a lifelong vow never ever to so much as pick up a spade. This is a source of tension between me and my green-fingered girlfriend. I allow myself one or two small indoor cacti, but even they don't tend to last long. I thoroughly approve of Japanese Zen gardens consisting entirely of raked gravel. If I had to have a garden, I wouldn't mind having and tending one of them.