Regular readers of my blog -- and fellow full-time Fools -- are no doubt aware that I'm a Corrie fan. I could list many things I enjoy about this soap, which I watch because it provides light relief from the daily grind:

* I love Blanche, the crabbiest character ever created;
* I'm fascinated by Liz McDonald's courageous fashion efforts;
* I guffaw at the utter ridiculousness of nine out of ten story lines...

However, over the past couple of weeks, I've noticed references to the global financial crisis slowly but surely creeping in. It seems even fictional streets aren't immune to the real-life effects of the credit crunch.

Tony Gordon's business is in dire straits.
The swanky luxury flats he owns aren't selling, and now Tony(who we hate, because he had Liam murdered) is having serious cash-flow problems.

Showing a prospective buyer around his properties during an episode last week, Tony insisted most of the apartments had already been snapped up -- and that the ones he had left were a real bargain. "This time last year they would have been," came the reply. You'll never sell them for this much with house prices seriously on the slide, was the implication.

Tony got narky and refused to negotiate, against the advice of his rather more sensible accountant. But now...

Tony can't pay the factory girls.
Tony's at the bottom of his overdraft, so Sally Webster et al have been left to suffer without any dosh.

(When the girls discovered their wages hadn't made it to their bank accounts, one decried the drawbacks of the newfangled BACS system: "This never would've happened under Baldwin: with a weekly pay packet in your hand, you knew where you stood.")

Initially, Tony blamed his bank for the cock-up. There was a problem processing the payments, he claimed.

This didn't wash with the factory girls, so Tony changed tack: "Other businesses are not paying their bills," he whined, "which means I have a problem even though I'm paying mine... And now it's affecting you." Thus, he invoked the impending British recession as an excuse for his own shoddy money management.

In turn, the factory girls bleated: "But it's not good enough, Mr Gordon!"; "We all have bills to pay!"; "Times are hard!"

They walked out of Underworld (yes, the real name of the factory) in protest -- but, of course, found a few quid between them to sup a pint in the Rovers Return while waiting for the boss to sort himself out.

Now left with little choice (well, he's obviously not going to admit he's got a problem), Tony has started stealing cash from his joint account -- in a perfect demonstration of the risk we run when we link our finances to a parner.

Also thrown into the mix last week was a doom-laden pronouncement on the future of the Post Office from Blanche, which she delivered to her five year old great-grandson -- who inspired it while innocently watching an episode of Postman Pat.

Luckily for me, there are still enough implausible, insane events happening on the Street to keep me giggling. Let's face it, if I wanted doom and gloom, I'd be watching EastEnders wouldn't I?