Hi Everyone
A few years ago we visited that lovely market town of Pudsey in Yorkshire. I suppose you could say that it is one of the more upmarket towns in Yorkshire. I should mention at this point that the Senior Partner was born in Yorkshire but unfortunately not in an upmarket town. Anyway, when we were in Pudsey we never saw a brown bear, grizzly or even a yellow bear with a patch over one eye roaming the streets or even the surrounding countryside so I was interested to find out how the yellow bear got his name. It transpires that the lady who designed the yellow bear came from, yes you have guessed it, Pudsey in Yorkshire. That was now forty years ago and every year since 1985 he has been the face of the BBC's annual Children in Need appeal that fills our TV scenes every third Friday in November. In the first year, £1 Million was raised. That figure rose to £46,200,000 last year with a high point of over £63 Million in 2020. I have no idea whether other countries with a similar population have an equivalent annual fundraiser to help a myriad of children's charities and organisations which would struggle or maybe not exist without Pudsey's help. As someone who has been involved in fundraising for many years through my Rotary membership, it never fails to amaze me how generous so many people are. One television personality has raised over £9 Million riding an iconic 1960s children's Chopper Bike 300 miles from Wales through Northern England and into Scotland. Just this week a group of us have raised £2800 in three days at our local supermarket. In the scheme of things you could say a small amount, but as the Supermarket's slogan says, every little helps. Well done Pudsey, you have no idea what you started all those years ago.
Sometime next week somewhere in one of those high rise glass faced office buildings, there will be a little man or woman looking at my file marked motor insurance as my annual premium is due for renewal just before Christmas. The smile will appear on their faces as they see that they successfully inflated my car insurance by over 50% last year so lets see what we can squeeze out of him this year. Of course, I know that I am approaching middle age, and so do they, but the fact is I have now been driving for almost 70 years and have never once claimed on my insurance for damage to my car. They are quick to inform me that I am on maximum no claims bonus but put a maximum of 9 years on that. I reckon that if they applied 70 years of no claims bonus they would be paying me to insure the car with them but they are too clever for that. If you then add in the threat that road tax on petrol cars is likely to double soon and that I need to buy a pair of anti glare glasses for night driving, I am beginning to think that we should have kept that Chopper bike that we bought our son back in the 1970s. There is an old wartime song with a line that says " You'd be far better off in a home". I am beginning to understand the merit of that proposal as long as I can ride my Chopper bike along the corridors.
I was determined not to use the D word this week until I read that he is now convincing himself that he is starting his third term as President as he did not think he lost the last election to Joe and is now apparently plotting to change the system so that he can have another go in four years time. Let's hope he loses his mind before then unless he has already lost it of course.
Just a Thought:
If you ride a bike twice a day, is that recycling?
I just saved a load of money on my car insurance. by putting my car into reverse and driving away from the accident.
Abraham Lincoln could not tell a lie. Richard Nixon could not tell the truth.
Donald Trump cannot tell the difference.
Brian
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