Wow. I remember saying that, though not the context in which I said it. I had no idea it would be remembered or have any effect on anyone, though. I'm glad you got something from it, even if only a useful way of phrasing what you meant already.

That isn't a peculiarly British tendency. I heard an earful of that sort of thing yesterday in the cafe/bookstore where I like to have lunch. It is the half smile I see on someone's lips when they go off on that subject that bugs me the most I think.

Wesley and I have plenty of could have/should have/would haves about the financial choices we made when he finished residency and we moved to north Alabama. We are okay right at this moment. But, if a couple of instances of depressive spending happen, then we start overdrawing the bank account, and it gets really scary very quickly.

I see hope for getting out of debt, but it will be a very long road for us.

I really like our home, but I find I am caring less and less about 'stuff' as each year passes. Right now though it very hard to sell 'stuff' though as people have trouble getting the credit to buy 'stuff' from anyone.

But, we've still been managing to get rid of 'stuff' a little at the time over the last five years -- mainly by giving it to charity, and it is amazing how little we miss it. We think when Simon goes to college we may scale down even more dramatically* and move somewhere where there is enough of a public transportation system that we don't need cars.


*'Dramatically' would mean getting rid of all our books. We wanted a library, and that was why we bought the house we did and did all the work on it in the basement. It is lovely, and we like it very much. Could I live without it? I realize, yes.