House sale
Just at the peak of the housing market (around Nov 2007) I sold my house - I could see that house prices at that level could not be sustained with wages rising at nowhere close to the level that house prices were, and the fact that my neighbour had just got a 50 year (yes, 50 f***ing years!) mortgage at the age of 37 (how the hell did someone in a bank think that was a good idea?).

So I thought perhaps it was time to get out.

As it happens, even despite having to split the *profit* with my ex and mother of my children, I was still several tens of thousands up.

Now, I had all the good intentions for the money:

Buy a place in France; nope, done that already.
Bury the money in a high interest account in Iceland or somewhere. Nope.
Invest the money is some quite low risk investments? Nope.
Get advice from a financial advisor? Nope - can't stand them.

So, instead, I moved in with my girlfriend in a large flat next to the sea and bought a telescope. With that telescope I could see sailing boats out on the horizon and it looked like excellent fun.

So I bought one.

Of course, I had no way of towing the thing around with me either.

So I bought a nearly new BMW and had a towhook added.

Took the bloody thing out in the sea, nearly drowned, had a massive row with my GF which resulted in her throwing the rudder and life jackets out into the ocean - luckily the tide was on our side and we gently (the language was anything but gently) floated back to the shore.

Prior to this I had purchased a few upright arcade cabinets with the dosh: Area51, Street Fighter 2 and an original Pacman.

Sadly, there was no way on earth that anyone could get those up the stairs to the aforementioned flat, so we had to move.

We moved to a ridiculously large house, again on the sea front - I like the sea.

...and then I was overcome with paranoia - what if I'm burgled? What if someone breaks in and tries to steal my money (I no longer have a bank account)?

The house looks like some posh-knob ought to live there, and I suppose armed burglars would know no better.

So, I then set about buying security systems.

I bought network cameras, switches, computers with tiny motherboards etc...

I now have it set up like that book "Demon Seed" - I can even phone the house up and ask to be let in should I forget my keys now, and turn lights on and off over the internet (without X10), set the TV to record programs from my phone etc....

I was still thinking of investing the remainder in something a little safe for the future when:

Just the other day, my GF went to my bank account (shoebox - well, ok a safe - another impulse buy) to get some pub vouchers, and ........the cupboard was bare.

Yep, slashed the whole lot up the wall on crap that never gets used.



EDIT: oh, and a Sitar.
(dchurch bah, Thu 21 May 2009, 13:17, 2 replies)

You Sir
are my hero.
(Chairman Lmao Something something your mum, Tue 26 May 2009, 11:36, closed)

ok
you win
(it's not hash mixed drops, Wed 27 May 2009, 6:19, closed)