Obviously this one is more of a Scottish phrase although I didn’t even realise that it was Scottish until I moved to the south of England for a few years in the late 70s.

I was met with puzzled faces when I said to people ‘I’m going for my messages’. They just couldn’t think what I meant by it and I thought that everybody used the word messages to mean food shopping, so I was really surprised when I had to explain it to them.

It is probably more common to hear people saying ‘I’m away for my messages’ – and they just mean that they are going to the supermarket.

In the days of my childhood when children were allowed to roam the streets on their own at a young age it was common to see them being sent for a message and that could mean something like picking up the dry cleaning or paying a bill for their mother. We were given quite a lot of responsibility in those days as youngster.

When you think about it, it sounds a strange thing to say. So I can see why Sassenachs were completely in the dark as to what I was talking about. Poor sowls.