WHAT a difference a couple of days can make. My Swap Shopper challenge is well and truly back on track.

As I glumly reported on Monday, my swap trail had gone cold. The early momentum had slowed right down and I was worried the whole mission might grind to a halt.

Since then things have picked up very nicely and I am once again confident of eventually hitting my £1,000 target for charity.

Some fantastic possible links for further on in my swap chain are starting to take shape. I'm going to keep these offers under wraps for now because I feel I need to keep trading up through bigger and better items before I get to them.

My swap mission needs to be a gradual journey so that when it's done I can show the progress I made after starting it off with my humble News Shopper keyring.

Each trade along the way to getting the grand for a good cause needs to bring in something slightly bigger and better than the previous item.

As worried as I was about not making another swap, I also think it would be no fun if the whole thing was over too quickly!

The keyring was traded for a year's membership with the lovely Bexley Archaeology Group, and I'm currently at the stage of swapping the membership on for something else.

One possible trade which I'm considering at this stage is a very generous offer of a free Pilates lesson or reflexology treatment.

There has even been mention from a colleague of some Tony Hadley (Spandau Ballet) concert tickets being available!

If you have anything even more impressive than these items which you would like to throw into the mix for the latest trade or as a possible swap further on, please contact me at sbull@london.newsquest.co.uk