This whole requirement to earn money is a right pain in the backside. Nearly a quarter of my monthly bills consists of council tax so I’m earning money just to give it away to wasters who will then use it to make my life miserable. Twenty percent of everything goes to other wasters who will use it to make my life miserable, about ten percent or so goes to wasters running a Ponzi scheme that pretends to give me a pension providing I can manage to age faster than they move the goalposts away, and then they have VAT and duty on stuff I buy.
Why can’t these damn spongers get real jobs and earn their own money? Everyone moans about ‘their taxes paying for those on benefits’ but nobody seems to mind paying for a load of suited monkeys who do nothing but interfere in their lives. At least those on benefits aren’t telling you how to live. And, let’s be honest, they cost us less.
Anyhow, I did some of the money-earning writing and made progress on that instruction booklet on getting into print for free. I’m considering making weekends routinely slow times; the stats show that most of you have actual lives because there’s always a dip at the weekend.
There were also a few things ending on eBay on Sunday and Monday nights so I had to get some packaging done. One of the best investments I made were some boxes of 1/25th scale trucks. They are toys but with excellent detail. I bought them some years back when I had cash to spare. I only really wanted one of each to meddle with the modelling, but they were only available in boxes of twelve. But hey, they worked out at about a fiver each so I bought them. Since then, they have been useful presents for small nephews because they really are impressive models, and tough enough to play with too.
I’ve been putting the remaining ones on eBay to see how they’d do, and I have been impressed to see them sell for around £12-£14 each. That’s a better return than most shares. I should really save the last few for the run-up to Christmas.
The Volvo ones look like this:
They have the windscreen wipers and all the mirrors on a separate sprue. You could leave those off if you’re letting a really small child play with it. Best of all, they are entirely plastic so if they get left in the garden, nothing will rust.
I am still battling with my desire not to sell any railway stuff but seriously, it has to go. I tried to fix the lighting in a coach yesterday and well… no. I can’t work at that scale now. I have some OO gauge coaches, I can still paint the seats and fit proper lights in each compartment at OO scale but N gauge, I’m afraid, is a past glory. (Lighting trick – use a bridge rectifier, resistor and LEDs so you don’t drain all the power from the track. The rectifier makes the lights work in both directions. I am also working on using a capacitor to keep the lights constant and wiring coaches together to stop the maddening flicker. Really, it looks like a supernatural battle when they pass over pointwork. Also, I have fibre-optic that could put a light above every seat in OO gauge).
I think it’s probably best to sell that engine kit as a kit. It depends how that little moped turns out.
Anyhow, tomorrow is job-interview for the Night Manager job. I won’t have to go out until the sun goes down, so I’ll have to invest in a cape and a Transylvanian accent. If I get this, I hope the night staff won’t mind being referred to as ‘my cheeeldren of ze night’.
Managing, I can do, but this is in retail and I’ve never worked in that area. So if there is competition from someone with retail experience, I am stuffed. We shall see. Maybe they won;t like my management style anyway, it works but it’s not in the manuals. Basically, I do not treat people as ‘teams’ in the Borg sense. Instead I treat them as individuals, Staff like it, management consultants don’t.
So, what’s been happening?
Good luck with the interview. I can see you stalking the streets in a hooded cape. At least you may just keep the children – who should be in their beds – off the streets.
I do have a monk’s habit I bought for Halloween many years ago. It’s very effective.
Re the EBaying…
Dunno if it would work with what you’ve got there, but you might consider the option of looking at a fairly large selection of stuff that you pretty much know what you’d be likely to get for in individual sales at this point and consider if collections might be bought at just slightly below the individual prices by folks looking to set up sizable layouts. They save a little money on bidding and shipping, you lose a little money on the bidding but also save considerable time and effort.
The trick would be to put it out there with a minimum bid that you’d be content with. If it doesn’t sell, well, you’ve lost almost nothing if my memories of how EBay works are correct.
– Michael
I’m putting out the trucks a couple at a time, otherwise bidders will just move on to the next one. I have about a dozen left, and some bigger ones, but they’d probably do better in the run-up to Christmas. I’m also saving the best train stuff for later. The attic has some very old computers that might be collector’s items, too.
>Everyone moans about ‘their taxes paying for those on benefits’ but nobody seems to mind >paying for a load of suited monkeys who do nothing but interfere in their lives.
I think you just managed to summarise the state of the UK in one twitter sized sentence.
I mind. I’m sure lots of others mind, too. But nobody cares what we think.
They will. Too late, but they will.
Might be worth joining Twitter for five minutes just to put that out
Noroc! for the interview, Leg Iron. If you get the job, I’ll give you a few Romanian lessons in exchange for some OO gauge rolling stock for my Dad xxx
Ah, but what I’m clearing is N gauge
leg iron i’ve worked all my life since’74 behind counters and tesco just rejected me-ultimate insult
Tesco rejected me a month or so ago as a shelf stacker. I think my crime was ‘showing initiative’. They don’t like that.
Also, when it became clear that I was more qualified than anyone in management, they started looking nervous.