I was recently fortunate to buy a bag I have dreamt of owning since I was a little girl.

Mum joined me in the moment and together we experienced the magic of buying this special piece of artistry and beauty for my lowly possessions to be held in.

The sales assistant was a gentleman and a poet and the carrier bag was nearly as exquisite as the actual bag.

Since purchasing said bag, it has come out on the weekends when I go shopping.

I have noticed a shift in how I get treated especially in shops and restaurants. In one department store the perfume man came running to me like a crazy man to try and entice me to buy the same designers range of limited edition perfumes. Didn’t happen.

In another store I touched a dress and the next moment my size was found and the dress was in the changing room for me without me uttering a word except “hello”.

When stocking up on shower gel and suntan cream in two different shops they gave me a separate bag full of free samples. I have never received such goodies before when buying from the same shops in the last few years!

The funniest moment though is today at the cinema ticket kiosk. I said I wanted to sit in the back. So she gave me the VIP ticket rather than the back row in the pleb section. Ok I paid up just because it’s Pirates 4 in 3d so most probably worth it. But the assumption was that I must only want VIP.

What does this all mean? It means people think I’m mega minted just because of the bag. Ok I’m no longer poor but I haven’t suddenly married a sheikh (still hoping). I get service in places where I would not have before and I get treated how all of us should be treated in shops in Dubai.

It’s nice to be treated as a princess but it seems you have to pay for the honour in this town.