2015 — 22 June: Monday

Even unsunnier1 as we now start the gentle slide back down towards Xmas :-)

What new adventures await me today, I wonder? The Case of the Undrunk Cuppa is already solved. But I suppose the first wave of paperwork from what was my parents' bank may yet start to wash up on the shores here in Technology Towers. Perhaps their processes will all have been simplified and streamlined by now? As I noted a few years ago:

I'm old enough to remember when Barclays were quite prepared to use a red ribbon in their impact printer.

Date: 30th December 2006


Of course, they only needed to use that red ribbon (on my statement) with the hand-typed letter that was gently ticking me off for "my oversight in allowing my account to become overdrawn" because they had taken from my student account (instead of my father's) fees for his subscription to the Institute of Directors and the Automobile Association. I recall no letter of grovelling apology... 'Twas ever thus. To "punish" them I switched over to the Midland to get my first-ever bank loan (a frightening-at-the-time £300) for a new back-boiler in the little 3-bed semi Christa and I had just bought — by taking out an even-more-frightening £12,844-25 loan from the Abbey National. Whatever happened to building societies?

We were quite dismayed...

... to receive our first-ever annual statement showing our "progress" in paying off this 25-year debt...

Mortgage

Hence my various forays into freelance programming and hi-fi reviewing. Now "fast forward" (or do I mean "back"?) to mid-2010... My Koran-driven neighbours' house was then on the market for £320,000 and I noted this yellowing clipping as I was moving books back from storage:

House prices

We married in September 1974, saved hard, bought our little semi, worked hard, saved hard, bought this 4-bed detached house in July 1981 (for £41,500), worked hard, saved rather little, but managed to pay off our final loan exactly 25 years after starting our first one. Meanwhile, Christa's two brothers seemed to get effortlessly "richer" as the pound slumped ever further against the German mark, inflation in the UK soared, and Karl and Georg stayed comfortably in their low-rent apartments rather than stepping on to our crazy UK "system" of housing snakes and ladders.

"Property owning democracy"? Yeah, right. Ta ever so, Mrs T.

Two months?

Much better (I always felt) to be paid a salary as a writer than to rely on the publishing industry. Source and snippet:

There are some advantages for authors. For one thing, short books are quicker to write. My book about cheating on the SAT took me only about two months to research, write, and edit. So, if I sold it for 99 cents to lure the impulse buyers, I could still break even on my time.
But not everyone is pleased. One latter-day Medici posted a review of my book on Amazon complaining that even 99 cents was too expensive for what was just a "blog post." I've often wondered if he was writing that comment in a Starbucks, sipping a $6 cup of coffee that took two minutes to prepare.

Peter Wayner in Atlantic


The weather...

... (steady rain and grey gloom) is perfectly aligned with my current 'job' as lunchtime lurches a little nearer — one final "sweep" through the paperwork covering all aspects of dear Mama's life and death. I'm only keeping stuff in case I have to chat with Mr Taxman. (Death and taxes, remember?) I'm being much less sentimental than with Christa's similar files. Cheques from 1975? Away! I have a hot date with my paper shredder coming up.

Downloading yesterday's little batch of BBC 6Music favourites for later while I listen to Arvo Pärt. What could be nicer? [Pause] Well, not the one o'clock news, that's for sure.

Sifting the paperwork...

... solved a final mystery. When I told Uncle ERNIE I had dear Mama's Power of Attorney news of her winnings started coming directly to me. But the only clue that these letters applied to her bonds (and not to my almost identical set) was a subtle difference in our ID numbers. So some letters spoke of "re-invested" prizes while others spoke of prizes "paid directly to your bank". Only the former applied to her.

Mr Amazon Logistics...

... dropped off the third (and final) set of tales from Aaron Sorkin's "Newsroom":

Newsroom season #3

Since I've just embarked on "Orange is the New Black" I fear this fictional news will have to wait a bit.

  

Footnote

1  Judging by the rain.