People are getting bored everywhere and trying to think up something new to spice up their lives. Some of us have gone for walks in the forest (not me – but I might), some have taken up canoeing and others are staying at home making sourdough bread or cupcakes. In Florida however a man decided to buy himself a Porsche 911 Turbo, well that would cheer anybody up in lockdown. Into the dealership he went and handed over a cheque for $139,203 and drove his motor away, another happy customer. The following day he went to a jewellery shop and chose three Rolex watches (I imagine he drove there in his new motor) and handed over a cheque for $61,521. The owner of the shop wouldn’t complete the purchase until he checked out that the cheque was ok. It wasn’t. Our happy customer had printed both cheques on his home computer and was arrested and is now in the local jail.
I’ve just learnt that the oldest restaurant in the world, according to the Guinness Book of Records, is in Madrid and it opened in 1725. They serve all the typical Spanish dishes such as roast lamb and suckling pig, and before the pandemic would have up to six hundred customers each day. For the first time ever they’ve had to close due to the coronavirus lockdown but have reopened since 1st July. They are currently only serving sixty diners a day but the owner says he hopes to navigate the crisis and stay open. I hope he does and maybe next time I’m in Madrid I’ll get to eat there.
A miner in Tanzania dug up a gemstone in June which turned out to have a value of £2.6 million. He was very happy with his find and declared a millionaire by his government. I don’t know how he found the time to be out there digging as it’s reported he has thirty children. Still, he said that he would hold a party and spend money on improving the locality for his neighbours. He plans to build a shopping mall, a school and a health centre. Now he has managed to dig up a second huge tanzanite gemstone worth another £1.5 million. The stone apparently is rare and bright blue coming in different shades and is used in jewellery instead of sapphire.
It’s been announced that the BBC have started to send letters to the over 75s explaining how they will need to pay the license fee. The ten pages does not however let pensioners know when they will receive a letter telling them when they should pay. The BBC say they have 800 extra staff to deal with enquiries and have received more than 300,000 calls since March. And that is before the ten page letter has dropped through the letter boxes. I have to wonder how much all this extra work is costing them. They are also working with hundreds of money advice and community organisations to help older people. Can it possibly be worth it. Just cut some salaries and leave the pensioners in peace. Good night one and all. 😴💤😴