I’m reading through the first draft of my latest creation, the third book in the Little Whippendon saga (note: not actually a saga!) – a random excerpt for you;

“Twelve times the normal Friday night takings by my reckoning. And Inspector Drain left early. That will certainly have dented the coffers a bit. Of course, I’ll have to run it through the double entry to be precise about the values.” said Max. Steve stopped stretching and smiled at him.

“Do you think you could perhaps use a different term for your accounting mechanisms lad?”

“Why Mr Post? What is wrong with double entry?”

“Nothing my boy,” replied the barman wistfully as he remembered a particularly humid night in Saigon and the outlines of two faces who had been forgotten to him for years. “Nothing at all. Just conjures up the wrong kind of images if you get my drift?”

“Well, not really Mr Post. It’s one of the most widely accepted book keeping measures in the world. I’m not sure why you want me to stop using it.”

“No lad, you don’t have to stop using it. Just perhaps call it something else? Something less, well, a bit more, well, just different? You know, like, ‘put it in twiceys’?”

“Really? Well, if you want, I guess we could. I really don’t see why thought?”

“No lad, I doubt you do.”