Learn to control money but do not allow it to control you

savingwannabe

Practical people intimidate me and selfish people as i am an idiot but a nice one. Luckily people here are nice and i am learning lots. I hope hols are going well Firewalker.

Firewalker

We are back from the ski slopes of Pirin mountain and all is well; no broken bones, no trauma of any kind; we all are feeling very relaxed and I have re-gained my long distance vision. I am reading this book Memorygirl mentioned on her tread about the four hour working week. One of the main claims is that by doing less we end up doing much more. Paradox? Well, not really. When we do loads our aim becomes to be efficient but we forget completely about effectiveness. What gets up where we want to be is effectiveness and only after that efficiency.

I am not going to say that I had a week of complete rest – I did work every-day except the last couple of days. But I worked only one hour a day and for this hour I had a set goal – to edit one part of the paper. And it does work – I have finished the paper and will be e-mailing it tomorrow and enjoyed the ski slopes very much.

Now we are in out apartment in Sofia and relaxing; OH is in bed because he did all the driving and is very tired. Driving in the mountains is not that easy; apart from that the mountain itself is very tiring and so is skiing – particularly when you are not very good at it. I enjoyed every second – the mountains, the snow, the exercise, the young fit instructors and of course Little Boy looking really cool on a snowboard.

We have not done the accounts yet but I do suspect that we did spend a bit more than I thought we will. It is still half of what we would have spent if we went for a package holiday and was more enjoyable.

Will write about our exploits here more but for now signing off.

Firewalker

savingwannabe

Are you back here in Blighty? Your holiday sounds wonderful, and you managed to do work too. Well done. I am doing most of mine tomorrow!

Firewalker

SW, we are still in Sofia. Back in the UK on Monday.

FW

savingwannabe

I hope you enjoy the remainder of your holiday Firewalker. It feels safer now you have posted. Kind of like an angel watching out for Mr W.

Firewalker

One thing that I set myself to do whilst on holiday was to try new things. So how did I do on this one? Here is what I tried:

1. I tried snowboarding – in fact Mr FW tried it under my insistence as well. I have only one word to describe the experience: humiliating. Sitting in the snow, having secured the snowboard to my feet and trying to get up! The attempts lasted for about five minutes – and I flung myself so that ended on my knees; which interestingly was a much better way to get up. Needed to be about 30 years younger and much, much more agile and strong me thinks. Grown up members of the FW clan lasted for about 1 h 15 min – after that decided that Little Boy can keep the instructor and we should be grateful that there were no broken wrists or other bones. The shoes though are much more comfortable than skiing shoes.
2. Every day except one I managed to buy a ski pass from people coming back at lunch time. We never managed to go up on the mountain early in the morning. After 12.30 the ski passes were cheaper; but then there was also the option that the people who bought whole day pass and were coming back at lunch time were selling them half price (that was cheaper than the half day pass). One only had to stand at the end of the ski road and ask passing people. I did; now this is so much out of character that I was very pleased. Remember the rule; ask and do not give up before three rejections? It works! This skill can be applied to other areas of life.
3. Every-day I spoke to at least two strangers. Until recently I would not have done this but with a bit of effort I did. Had interesting conversations including with a lady from Macedonia who spoke Macedonian and we understood each other perfectly. On the Balkans we talk politics most of the time so this is what we did.

One downer was that till day three I worried about money all the time. By this time I started feeling more relaxed and also started to have interesting thoughts. One of these was: ‘I am so much worth it!’ This is when I stopped worrying.

Firewalker

Lara44

You are so much worth it Firewalker!

savingwannabe

Lara that is so funny, it is just what i was thinking. Flick your hair when you say it Firewalker.

Aesop

I've been snowboarding at Tamworth and hated every minute of it! I was rubbish at it too, probably why I hated it.

Well done! talking to strangers and asking for their day passes, that is brave and a good step forward.

Firewalker

Friday was a very emotional day for me. I was born in a little traditional town, very close to the Greek border; and as it happens to the place where we went skiing. So we decided that we will drive there and we’ll visit with my favorite cousin. I had not been there for over thirty years and have not seen my cousin for about twenty.

What can I say? Do you remember how it feels to have butterflies in your belly from excitement? How your voice goes high when trying to say something…and then you give up and keep totally silent? Not because there is nothing to say but because your feelings are over-riding any capacity to communicate in understandable form. This was me on the way to this little town. I was looking around, absorbing the mountains which I have missed for so long…and the mountains make my heart sing.

We arrived and OH and Little Boy met my cousin and his wife; I met their grand-children for the first time. The warmth was there, enveloping me – this cousin looked after me when he was a young boy of seventeen; we are born on the same date seventeen years apart. He has aged but probably so have we all…

Little Boy and OH saw the apartment where we used to live (on the outside, obviously); we could not see the my old school because it had been demolished and there was no time to go and see the gypsies – and this is what I would have really loved to show my son; the people who partially raised me and who gave me the tinker lust. Something strange happened – I lost my earring and I think that this place wanted something of mine to stay there. And it always does.

Good night.

Firewalker