Money! Money! Money!

I awoke at 7 a.m. in Peter's study in Hove having slept on a mattress. My usual room was not available. Peter's house appears to be completely populated with Columbians - relations of his son Neil's Columbian wife. I hadn't realised until Peter told me last night that Neil had actually got married. After a breakfast of tea and toast I drove up to Dorking. The traffic around that town was appalling due to a 16-week's repair to the railway bridge which carries the Guildford line over the A24. Back in the office I had a meeting relating to a problem we have in Northern Ireland and which had an amazing outcome. Having tried to solve the problem over there for the last two years and made countless trips to Belfast to prevent a couple losing their home, they suddenly decided they wanted to move anyway and didn't tell us! I also had telephone conferences with lawyers in the Isle of Man and booked my flight and hotel in Douglas in preparation for my trip over there again next week for the hearing of the KSFIOM winding-up petition. The weather was dry today and the only time I saw any snow was on my return to Winterslow tonight. I was amazed that despite all the rain and the lack of snow in Hampshire, Surrey and Sussex, there was still a substantial amount left on our lawns. After a supper of cheese on toast, Sara and I watched another two episodes of Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? It is still as funny as ever. Today the bankers responsible for the failure of the Royal Bank of Scotland and HBOS apologised for the failure of those banks before a Parliamentary Committee. The apologies did not go as far as offering to pay back their substantial bonuses though! The banking failures are very much in my mind at the moment with decisions having to be made in respect of the failure of KSFIOM on the Isle of Man. It is difficult to know where to invest any money - assuming you have any money to invest! Property seems to be vulnerable although it is interesting to note that people who bought property in France are now selling it for the same price they bought it for and still making a handsome profit by virtue of the fall in the pound/euro exchange rate. Today we received the maintenance bill for the timeshare apartment in Nassau which is more costly than last year thanks to the poor pound/dollar exchange rate. I will see how that exchange rate fares over the next few days before paying it.