Julia as Lifeguard – Britannia Pier, Great Yarmouth
It’s the prompt for today, and therefore a lazy choice of subject, but it’s a question that often arises in conversation. I was only saying to Julia last night that if i won the lottery I’d like to buy the bungalow next door and use it to house the domestic staff (cook/housekeeper, butler and maid) that I think we should have to make our lives easier.
Julia says that this is ridiculous and we can make do with a staff of two and answer our own door.She has a point, I suppose.
Long-Tailed Tits
The main point is that we have no desire to move house and no burning desire for a new expensive car. It would be nice to have the money in the bank to pay for a new electric car when the time comes that the VW becomes uneconomic to run. There’s little point buying aflash car because I’d have to worry about it being damaged or stolen. I don’t have to worry about the VW, it’s already dinged in several places and is, honestly, not worth the trouble of stealing. It would, in some ways, be nice to have a van to carry my mobility scooter around, so that I didn’t need to use one of those fragile looking folding ones, but if the win was big enough I’d just have a sedan chair built and hire two bodybuilders to (literally) do the heavy lifting.
Meanwhile, I was actually discussing a subsidiary of this question with a friend last week. If you won the lottery would you carry on collecting? The fun in amassing a collection is, to a great extent, in the hunting for the best specimens in your price range. If you could afford anything you wanted, would it still be fun? It’s difficult to say, because I’ve never been in that position.
But let’s say it was still fun and you put together a collection worth several million. Do you lock it in the bank for safety, or do you spend a small fortune on security at home? Whatever you do, the fun diminishes. It’s a never-ending question, and one which, let’s face it, has changed over the years.
I watched a programme once where a lottery winner paid off the mortgages of his friends. He said they all stopped seeing him because they felt awkward and embarrassed. Winning the lottery is clearly more difficult than it looks.
Anyway, this morning I had cereal and toast and marmalade whilst chatting to Julia and watching birds on the feeders. I may not have won a lot of cash, but I have won in the lottery of life. The best bit about happiness is that the government can’t tax it, burglars can’t steal it doesn’t need to be stored in a special room.
Julia, Sutton-on-Sea
Lottery win!~ I’d give a certain amount to my children – put some in an investment account for each of my grandchildren. As I’ve got about ten years to look ahead I’d use some of it visiting my friends and family and give the rest to the Salvos.
Sounds like a good plan. 🙂
From what I have observed over the years, money does not necessarily bring happiness, though it does have the potential to make life easier and less worrisome about the future. As you pointed out, you have won Life’s Lottery already, and that does bring happiness no one can beg, borrow or steal from you. Wishing you and Julia all the best in your new home, now and for years to come.
Thank you Lavinia. I believe that there is research to show that a lottery win only makes you happier for a few months. After that I assume your natural level of happiness asserts itself. I don’t want a new car, but I would like to know I can afford one when the time comes.
A great idea for lottery winnings
🙂
The final thoughts in this post chime well with me, but all the same, I have a few wants which a lottery win might satisfy. I would buy a plot and build a completely energy efficient house with all the gadgets that failing elderly people might need to keep them in their own home for as long as possible. Then I would buy an electric vehicle that could carry our bikes and give us a range of 300 miles on a cold day. I don’t ask for much.
I was with you until the “range of 300 miles on a cold day”. One day in the future wise men will smile ruefully that we were foolish enough to think this was possible. Or that we ever doubted it and showed such small ambition. Meanwhile, my I simply recommend that for your electric car needs you buy a car transporter and three spare cars.