A Northampton resident decked out for a trip to the shops. Perhaps. Photo: Robin Lynne Gibson
It was once best known for its shoemaking industry, but now Northampton has a new title - it is Britain's bling capital, according to Halifax Insurance. In a survey of the nation's jewellery boxes, the insurer apparently found that the average Northampton resident wears £469 worth of baubles every day.
Not far behind in the bling stakes is Glasgow where, we're told, the locals are typically decked with £468 worth of jewels.
Maybe it's not as much as it sounds given that two years ago the average cost of an engagement ring was nearing £1,300, according to You & Your Wedding magazine.
Throw a few of those into the equation and you would end up with a surprisingly big sum. But it doesn't explain why the people of Northampton are sporting so much more bling than those in Bristol and London, for example. Perhaps people in Northampton just have a more optimistic idea of how much their jewellery is worth.
And that is an important point. How many of us actually know how much the jewellery we are wearing is worth? The more valuable items are often those given as gifts, which means you either have to ask how much it cost or make a guess. You might take the time to have a big-ticket item like a ring professionally valued for insurance purposes, but those other items tend to go straight in the drawer without a thought.
It seems to be the same with a lot of the other stuff we carry round every day. While you might make sure you laptop is added to your home insurance, pens, memory sticks and leather bound diaries are all chucked in the handbag or briefcase without a second thought.
Have you ever calculated the value of the things you carry round and wear on a day-to-day basis? And if you did would Northampton's bling bill still look big, or would it pale into insignificance?
