Hi Everyone
This week, like every week, only comes around once a year but what makes this week different is that we have two things to celebrate, the Main Contractors **th birthday and our **th wedding anniversary. Now I don't suppose it matters if you all know how old the Main Contractor is or how many years we have been married but I go to great lengths to convince you that we are only just approaching middle age. If I give you a bit more information however I think that it will illustrate that we were married in a different era.
We had a new house to move into which we decorated ourselves to keep the cost down and we were still painting at 6-00pm on the night before our wedding. We could not afford or want a hen or stag night. We were married on a Sunday which was unusual, but there was no way that the Senior Partner was going to close the shop even if her only son was getting married. The wedding reception was held in a village hall and the three course hot meal cost £2-50. The Senior Partner made Dot's wedding dress and then spent the next thirty years reminding us of the fact. I had a hand made suit that nearly fitted but thankfully not made by the Senior Partner. We went to London for five days for our honeymoon on a steam train and came back with an amazing £92 in our bank account but with the Solicitor to pay for the house purchase. We were staggered when the Solicitor's invoice came to £84 so we started our new life with £8 to spend. Our mortgage was £13-19-2pence per month in old money with my wages £11 per week before tax etc and Dot's £4 per week. If you look at those figures today it all looks crazy but in fact nothing has changed except expectations. Our new house had no carpets, curtains, heating, fitted Kitchen, washing machine, shower, tiling, lawn, or paved drive. All of those things had to be added over a period of months or even years. Now it seems that everyone wants and expects a complete home to move into. That is fine except that comes with a price which is why young people have more difficulty than we did all those years ago in purchasing their new home.
Sorry but I don't get this. When our Queen was crowned back in 1953 she apparently invited 8000 guests. Now King Charles is only inviting 3000 guests (yes only 3000) so it is said that there will be many disappointed people who will not be getting an invitation. Now I think that I might be right in thinking that all the people who went to the coronation in 1953 are no longer with us, so Charles will have a completely different guest list so who will feel disappointed if they do not get an invitation? As I definitely won't be getting an invitation, unless King Charles is a keen Rubbish reader I certainly will not be disappointed. Anyway, for those poor souls who feel that they should have had an invite, the consolation is that they can sit at home with a magnum of champagne sitting on their real leather huge settee with the footstools in front of their 56" HD colour TV with surround sound while gossiping about those who are there, in contrast to 1953 when we had a glass of water, a hard uncomfortable chair and sat in front of a 12" black and white TV. Yes, times really have changed.
Like most of us, the first thing I do when I get in our car is to fasten the seat belt even before I turn the engine on. It has become an automatic reaction to keep safe and comply with the law. This week our Prime Minister has been fined £100 as he was filmed in his moving car without a seatbelt on. Considering his known wealth, If I gave less than one pence to charity it would probably impact my finances more than his. Ok, I know that everyone makes mistakes and it is not a sacking offense but it does illustrate how important it is to set a clear example to others rather than be a target for the joke makers. Then a couple of days later the Chairman of the party apparently made a tax error that the tax authorities described as "careless and not deliberate". That all seems pretty innocuous until you then read that he had "carelessly" not paid over £4M!!!!!.
Just a Thought:
Before I tell Dot something important, I take both her hands in mine. That way she can't hit me with them.
My friend and his wife took out life insurance on each other - so now it is just a waiting game.
My friend's wife decided to split the house after their divorce. He got the outside.
Brian
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