Less than 2 weeks to go, and there’s still a daunting amount of work to do for the midwinter celebration. Given the winter darkness, I need to source an outdoor floodlamp – my neighbours definitely used to have one, hopefully they’ve still got it.
Although I’ve completed the script for the nativity play, I now need to focus on the rest of the event – music or song for the initial and final processions, and somebody to lead them – poems for the introduction and finale – drumming for the pyro bit (I think I’ve got some Samba players on board) … and I need to work up some ideas with Lady Gaga, aka my friend Cassandra who is a big fan.
Work on the Wheel of the Year is going well, fitting in a few hours here and there between computer work and family duties, cutting back drastically on relaxation time, hence getting progressively more stressed. Second coat of paint finished, still needs a few tweaks, but the bulk of the remaining work involves appropriate fire-proofing and addition of pyrotechnics. Some of the fuses have already arrived, I’m expecting the rest, and the fire-proofing, tomorrow. Other pyro chemicals are sitting quietly in the shed …
Chris has been continuing to help with the Wheel of the Year – she’s generated some great ideas as well as taking the pressure off by joining in the making.
The ceremony focusses on considering the future, and by far my biggest future concern at the moment is my pension.
As successive work-and-pensions ministers erode pension levels and raise entitlement ages, it’s looking less and less likely that I’ll receive anything sensible from the state by the time I can’t work any more.
I’ve been putting by a small amount from the computer business, a large chunk of which I found myself bound to hand over to my childrens’ mother. Is it worth investing the rest, or will the existence of a small pension scheme simply reduce my ultimate state pension entitlement? Should I just spend it on a round-the-world holiday with the children? A friend summed up the situation succinctly: “You’ll be OK if you’re very rich, and if you’re very poor you can still get by on benefits (just). But if you own a modest amount: you’re screwed.”
I’ve been looking at ISAs and stake-holder pensions and even tax-efficient off-shore investment schemes. But few beat inflation, and those that do are taxable, which brings the return below inflation again.
Add to this that economists across the world are agreed on one, and only one, thing: governments of industrial nations can’t pay back their debts, and will have to rely on rampant inflation to “make the debt smaller”. Rampant inflation is simply a tax on cash, so effectively this means governments across the world are going to be plundering the savings of their more thrifty citizens to pay off the huge debts.
The message seems clear: spend now.
Then I sat down and calculated the margins for buying a house to let. Any qualms about being an evil money-grabbing landlord or a capitalist bastard vanished into a haze of pound-signs. The only problem is, how to buy a house that’s big enough to rent out, secured against my paltry savings and my meagre income.
Enter onto the scene a new mortgage product brought out by Barclays a month ago, making it possible for the first time in decades for someone in my straitened circumstances to borrow unfeasible amounts of cash.
Needless to say, they were inundated with applications, and clearly shaken by the Greek and Italian economies going pear-shaped at the same moment. So a week later, they stopped accepting further applications.
But not before I got my application in … now approved, a loan for a sum of money I can’t ever hope to pay back. No wonder this kind of thing brought the global economy to its knees in 2008. I guess the continuing appetite for people such as myself for borrowed money will help to keep the global economy on its knees for years to come.
This little letting business will generate nearly the same income as my IT business, for a fraction of the working time. It’s immoral. It’s exploitative. It’s damaging for the domestic and global economies.
Do I care? Not now I’ve got my pension sorted out. Whoopee! Let’s get on with life!
