Sometimes I daydream on the train what I would do if I won the lottery. Actually I don’t play the lottery, so I probably have to give it back – but if ERNIE came up say. Obviously some would go off to needy causes and family, and equally obviously mortgage would be paid off – but after that?
I don’t think I’d give up work, although I suppose I might give up paid work. No, I don’t know actually, maybe I’d drop to part-time. Anyway, I was turning my thoughts to what I might spend cash on if money was no object, and to be honest I can’t really think of a lot. I guess we might be a bit lazy and get workmen in to do the last few bits and pieces on the house – perhaps even build a new garage as ours is in danger of falling down. And if we hadn’t recently done up our kitchen and bathroom, they’d be strong contenders.
But housey things aside, I probably would buy a much faster computer with a nice big monitor. At the moment it’s horribly painful editing together footage of the young master – two or three orders of magnitude slower than real-time. We might get a faster internet connection too. I guess my other expensive hobby is photography, and I would be sorely tempted to trade in my lens for some nice L glass, and possibly even buy a one of the top-range cameras. To be honest, for all of this we’re maybe talking 10-15 grand all in. I know that’s a lot of money in any sort of objective sense – but it seems a little unlikely that if a few million pounds dropped into my lap, I’d only really want to splash out 1% of it. Actually I like the idea of having a laptop, and one of those clever PVR-DVD burner things would be dead useful (especially as our VCR is on it’s last legs).
But the truth is, I’m happy with my lot. More than happy actually. I don’t particuarly want a flash car, or a plasma TV. I’m quite happy having low-key holidays staying with family. Eating simple fare, that sort of thing. I don’t really want eight thousand DVDs and CDs. Or hundreds of books. I’m not so self-deluded as to think that there wouldn’t suddenly be a large number of items that we find we can’t live without (such as a coffee roaster!), but neither do I lie awake at night wishing for that Ferrari, or yacht, or whatever. (although I would splash out on going to the Monaco Grand Prix, come to think of it).
PS The title is an Abba lyric, not a complaint! 🙂