Saturday 22 August 2009

Rebate(d)

I could get used to this.

Two weeks ago, we were at the point of wondering if we could afford toilet roll or whether we should put the appallingly low-quality junk mail to re-use. We had €3.15 to last until September, with bills to be left unpaid, a mortgage to put us overdrawn - all that not-so-fun stuff.

Then my older brother arrived and, very generously, stocked us up on beers, juice, wine and sundries. Then I opened a letter with belated money back from the solicitor, as you know. Yesterday, I opened another letter with a tax rebate from my paltry income last year: €1,000 euros.

'Yes,' said the fairly godless mutha, 'you shall have the sand for your second-stage sewerage treatment before winter.'

I feels very much like we've hit financial bottom and bounced back up again. Again.

(One day, if you're very good, I might even tell you the story about how the criminal banking practices of NatWest at the end of the last recession nearly killed me; a tale which, although disgraceful, criminal and almost unforgivable, put me firmly on the anti-capitalist, anti-materialist path that will have me and my family living happily ever after.)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi Alex, You don't know me but I'm a very (not so) old friend of Clares, reunited through the delights of Facebook. I have been reading your Blog with great interest and think that using junk mail for bog paper is not so daft. I'm sure it could be marketed in some way...
Tell Clare she promised to post recent photos. She has a fortnight as we're off to France on Thursday and I shall expect to see them on my return!
Sally (Tell Clare Caversham, Squash, The Abbey, australia and more....)