Well if I thought that my multiplicity photo idea was new I was of course wrong, but also Natalie has proved that they can be very well done and attract a lot of interest both online and financially.
Apparently she had had over 4 million hits for just one of her photos, which clearly shows that she did heaps better at advertising than I had, but in time ... who knows.
May 27, 2009
A Double Edged Sword
I am beginning to accept that my trip around the world was a bit of a double edged sword, it was both the best time in my life and yet due to lack of planning about my return to the UK I am now on the verge of losing my house and financial ruin.
I cannot say that I regret a single day of travelling, yet the fact that I clearly had not raised enough funds to adequately cover my trip and the return to the UK has meant I am being chased daily by my debtors, have received numerous letters threatening legal action and my house will soon be repossessed unless something changes for the better and fast.
I should have never remortgaged my house in the past so that there was precious little equity left, I should have left enough funds aside to cope with emergency repairs / renovations to my property and i should have been more careful with my funds while abroad, perhaps going to
restaurants and cinemas less often and instead buying cheap food from supermarkets.
While it may be true that had I left my departure date off for another couple of years I might never have got the opoprtunity to go, as it is I am now feeling that despite not selling my house I still had pretty much burned my bridges back in the UK and that I should have never
bothered coming back and instead stayed in either South America or Asia and tried to make a new life for myself over there.
As always, things seem much clearer in hindsight and I can see now that despite a years planning and savings I was still in no fit position to go travelling with the current financial crisis already starting to bite down.
My other main personal failing is that I did not bother to study when I was working in London and so am not ACCA qualified and thus the chance of walking into another accounts job was always going to be much harder than it should have been, as has proven by the number of rejection emails I have received.
My biggest fear now is that I do not want to go from one mistake to the next, and yet with each day my choice of options is dwindling.
Just to recap - I have a house with no equity one missed payment and in need of electrical and damp work repairs, I have no job or savings to speak of, I have furniture stored at family and friends, I have no girlfriend or dependents here in the UK and I am in debt to a number of banks and credit cards.
I cannot say that I regret a single day of travelling, yet the fact that I clearly had not raised enough funds to adequately cover my trip and the return to the UK has meant I am being chased daily by my debtors, have received numerous letters threatening legal action and my house will soon be repossessed unless something changes for the better and fast.
I should have never remortgaged my house in the past so that there was precious little equity left, I should have left enough funds aside to cope with emergency repairs / renovations to my property and i should have been more careful with my funds while abroad, perhaps going to
restaurants and cinemas less often and instead buying cheap food from supermarkets.
While it may be true that had I left my departure date off for another couple of years I might never have got the opoprtunity to go, as it is I am now feeling that despite not selling my house I still had pretty much burned my bridges back in the UK and that I should have never
bothered coming back and instead stayed in either South America or Asia and tried to make a new life for myself over there.
As always, things seem much clearer in hindsight and I can see now that despite a years planning and savings I was still in no fit position to go travelling with the current financial crisis already starting to bite down.
My other main personal failing is that I did not bother to study when I was working in London and so am not ACCA qualified and thus the chance of walking into another accounts job was always going to be much harder than it should have been, as has proven by the number of rejection emails I have received.
My biggest fear now is that I do not want to go from one mistake to the next, and yet with each day my choice of options is dwindling.
Just to recap - I have a house with no equity one missed payment and in need of electrical and damp work repairs, I have no job or savings to speak of, I have furniture stored at family and friends, I have no girlfriend or dependents here in the UK and I am in debt to a number of banks and credit cards.
May 22, 2009
A White Elephant
When I was in Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur to be exact, I went to an Elephant reserve where we got to ride, feed and swim with them and from my guide I also learned the true origin of the White Elephant, and why it is considered a double edged gift.
Years ago White Elephants were considered the ultimate prize and status symbol of power and fortune due to their extreme rareness, and all the Royal households in the Far East had small collections of them.
However, because of their extreme rareness, their more select diet and grooming requirements, the Asian royalty also saw them as a way of politely causing financial discomfort to any courtiers they disliked or had under perfomed.
The giving such an elephant was considered a very generous and favourable act, but in reality for the poor unfortunate who was now lumbered with the expensively demanding beast it was just the start of his financial misfortune.
In a way it is like the modern day equivalent of giving a very classic car or introducing an extremely attractive WAG to one of your friends, at first it seems you are doing them a great favour and service, but all too soon the high maintenance of them quickly overshadows any benefit of having such a prize and become just a huge financial drain.
The real punishment though was that it was the height of rudeness and ill manners to refuse of give away such a gift and even the burial of said elephant was a lavish affair that could not be scrimpt or done cheaply without causing offence and dishonour.
And so it is that the saying comes down the generations that if you are landed with an unwanted white elephant in your lap you will have a hard time getting rid of it easily.
Years ago White Elephants were considered the ultimate prize and status symbol of power and fortune due to their extreme rareness, and all the Royal households in the Far East had small collections of them.
However, because of their extreme rareness, their more select diet and grooming requirements, the Asian royalty also saw them as a way of politely causing financial discomfort to any courtiers they disliked or had under perfomed.
The giving such an elephant was considered a very generous and favourable act, but in reality for the poor unfortunate who was now lumbered with the expensively demanding beast it was just the start of his financial misfortune.
In a way it is like the modern day equivalent of giving a very classic car or introducing an extremely attractive WAG to one of your friends, at first it seems you are doing them a great favour and service, but all too soon the high maintenance of them quickly overshadows any benefit of having such a prize and become just a huge financial drain.
The real punishment though was that it was the height of rudeness and ill manners to refuse of give away such a gift and even the burial of said elephant was a lavish affair that could not be scrimpt or done cheaply without causing offence and dishonour.
And so it is that the saying comes down the generations that if you are landed with an unwanted white elephant in your lap you will have a hard time getting rid of it easily.
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