Birthday Charity Giving
I’ve had some more positive responses on my idea for giving to charity on your birthday, which I outlined here.
It just seems to hit a chord with people, to give to celebrate another year of life, hopefully well-lived.
So I’ve now given it a name of Birthday Charity Giving. It was the only sensible name I could think using the first letters of the names of my wife, son and the late company accountant, who set me up with the good pension I enjoy.
Kiva – On-Line Microfinance
Kiva is almost a cross between peer-to-peer lending and micro-finance.
You choose an entrepreneur with a business in some faraway country, who needs some finance to either start or expand their business. The business might be a recycling business in Pakistan or a cafe in Vietnam, but the list is endless. You then contribute something like $25 to the loan they require.
The About page on their web site tells you more. I just signed up and then lent $25 through my PayPal account to a pharmacy in the Congo to buy more drugs. Of the pukka sort that is! It was a very simple process, where you just sign in and then start lending in chunks of $25 to those borrowers you choose from a map of the world. I have since made a loan to a woman starting a restaurant in Ecuador. I chose Ecuador, as I have experience of the country, so know a bit about the way they work.
So far they claim they have lent over $337 million dollars and they have a near 99% repayment rate.
I regard any money, I give to Kiva as a donation to charity. If I get any money back, then that is a bonus. If I get all my money back with interest, then that’s an investment.
I think the big disadvantage of Kiva is that it appears you have to pay by PayPal or a credit card, whereas Zopa or funding Circle can be fed using a direct bank transfer.
Perhaps if you’ve had a clear-out and got rid of unwanted clutter through eBay, Kiva is a good way to spend your PayPal funds creatively.
Remember too, that most of our charity donations are either made by cash or credit card, often through something like JustGiving. A lot of these will be increased by Gift Aid.
The Magnificent Olympic Park Flowers
So many have remarked that the best part of the Olympic Park is the flowers.
Judge for yourself! Read about how the gardens were created in the Daily Telegraph.
Jerry Strikes Again
I want to replace my washing machine with a washer-dryer, so I have more space in the garage by selling the tumble-dryer there, but it’s not as easy as it looks.
Jerry Strikes Again
As you can see it looks a bit tight. Note the floral monstrosity on the right. It’s an ironing board. Real men like me, don’t iron! We pay someone to do it, or buy a new shirt, we can wear out of the packet!
Note how the plumbing seems to have been bent around the washing mashing and the crude stand, that it is supported on. Here’s some detail.
Crazy Pipework
If you think this is bad, then the outlet pipe is a masterpiece of bodging!
A Masterpiece Of Bodging!
I dread to think what you would have to do if the pump above the washing machine failed and had to be changed.
As it is, I think I’ll have to sort this mess out before I change the washing machine for a washer-dryer. I’ll also need to change the crude stand that holds up the machine.
I also am getting fed up with moving wet washing through two doors from the hall cupboard into the garage to get it dry. currently, if there’s a car in the garage, I can’t really use the tumbler-dryer, as the door can’t be opened.
I can’t abide bad design and workmanship.
A Woman’s Touch Is Needed
That’s not meant to be sexist, but I do lack a certain amount of female help and guidance.
Take this morning, I woke up and thought, I’d got a splinter in my foot. If I had, it’s probably my own fault as I’m always bare footed around the house. But there was no-one with the supreme experience of a mother to have a look and possibly a dig. So in the end, I went to Upper Street and asked in Shuropody. As it happened, an Australian from Brisbane, by the name of Gabby was free and gave my feet a quick service. The problem was a small corn, which was expertly dealt with.
So this small problem was solved, but then others have not been so simple to deal with, if I had a woman nearby, to ask for help.
A question though I must ask, is why do most of the Australians I meet seem to come from Brisbane? And why do most of them seem to know a coeliac or two?
How Little Possessions Matter!
Melanie Reid, who is one of my favourite columnists, has a piece today in The Times about how little possessions matter to her now, after breaking her back in a horse riding accident. It is one of her best, but then most are and that’s why she was last year’s Newspaper columnist of the year.
She talks about how possessions and what she calls stuff have lost their significance to her. I would also say that since the loss of my wife and son to cancer and my stroke, there’s one thing that matters to me above all. And that is my brain. If one pair of shoes is more comfortable than another, then they are better.
I used to love driving and now all my cars have gone. But then I have no intention of driving again. But then too many idiots can drive, but how many have taken a train all the way to Nice and back as I have. And how many have wangled their way into the cab of an HST between Edinburgh and Inverness.
I got the latter because of my most treasured possession and something I won’t gve away; my brain. It may not be perfect, but at least all the memory and creative bits are still there.
Melanie finishes her piece about how when being searched for a flight, she started to feel the hands of the security guard and says that things are still happening. A similar thing happened to me, when a young lady pushed her supermarket basket into my left leg and apologised. I said she needn’t, as I had felt it and that was good for my left leg. So we laughed about it and carried on queuing. Perhaps, I should have asked her out for a drink, but that would be pushing my luck. The next time it happens I will.
Let’s hope she’s brown eyed and haired, as I lived with a blue-eyed blonde for forty years, and a change would be nice.
Regular Charity Donation
There are some charities I support and others I don’t. For instance as someone who has lost his wife and son to cancer, anything with cancer or loss in it, gets my consideration. On the other hand charities who use chuggers don’t. You will see from the links on the blog, a couple of the charities that I currently support.
So I had this idea to set up a suitable payment for all of these and other charities every year on my birthday, which just happens to be in a few days time. The advantage as I see it, is that because of the payment date they will be easy to find, modify and if necessary remove.
I have chosen to do it on my birthday, as that is a good psychological day for me. I suspect it is for others too! There is also this feeling that you’ve made another year, so perhaps these payments are your present to say thanks for still being here.
I will of course know that on my birthday, I better have a certain amount in my bank account. But then a reminder on my computer for say the first of August every year, would cure that.
I also feel that say £50 each year for ten years is probably better than £500 one year and then a whole lot of aggro as the charity tries to get more.
When in the future I pop my clogs, it will also be easy for my executors to sort out my charity payments. Especially if you put a little note in your will, explaining the payments. I think a good solicitor could write a nice clause for a will saying that some of the estate would be distributed to various charities in proportion to the birthday standing orders.
Since I wrote this piece originally, I’ve set up two of these charity payments.
One was for a small charity and all I needed was their bank account number and bank sort code.
For a national charity, I actually chose them from a list on Nationwide’s on-line computer system.
My only worry is that the charities get the Gift Aid right!
But let’s face it, bankers have had a lot of bad publicity lately and perhaps putting a Gift Aid check box, when you choose a charity from their list can’t be the world’s most difficult programming task.
I would welcome the views of anybody involved in charity fund raising.
Olympic Rings On The Thames
I saw these on the Thames yesterday, by Waterloo Bridge
With the one hole golf course, does the Olympic Closing Ceremony have a water-borne element?
The Big Hole Between Kings Cross and St. Pancras
When I took the Javelin to the Olympic Park, I noticed this big hole between the two stations.
The Big Hole Between Kings Cross and St. Pancras
Looking at this map, it would appear it’s just more offices, with retail underneath.
Could this be deemed boring? A nice public piazza or even some more platforms for the two stations might have been better! But then that wouldn’t have been so profitable.
The Shard Gets Everywhere
I’m getting less and less happy with the Shard, as every picture you take, has London’s most ugly building in the background. Here’s a few pictures.
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- The Shard From A Bus In MIle End
I shall be adding to this gallery. Note that I can even see the Shard from the end of my road.
The only good thing about the Shard is that it’s better than what was there before.
The Anonymous Widower 