I managed to spend all but 90p of my remaining cash over the weekend. This was leaving me with just 90p for today, with a possibility of a trip to the cinema. It would be a bit crap to fail the challenge at the last hurdle, and no fun to miss an outing to the cinema. This is where the mystery comes in. This morning, I found two £2 coins wedged into a clip on my little backpack:
Where did they come from? I’ve no memory of doing this, plus I’ve watched every penny like a hawk since the beginning of February. There’s no way I could have put them there and forgot since the challenge began. Plus, I’ve worn this bag pretty much every day over the same period. Is it possible that I didn’t notice they were there and that they’ve been there for months and months? Or has someone else put them there. It’s a real mystery. Anyway, I’m adding £4 to the budget.
Saturday night it was raining and the bar was far, so I dug deep and we took a taxi. The taxi we hailed stopped a little bit up the road from us. While we were walking towards it in the rain, another taxi stopped right next to us. I decided we should continue on to the taxi we’d hailed. I thought this made me a good person, principled like. The fare was £5. We visited a couple of drinking establishments. Rounds were cheap, as we were buying coke and surreptitiously pouring in some leftover Cuban rum. £6.30.
On Sunday, my housemate Andrew and I ventured out into Bristol to see what fun we could have for the remaining £8.10. First we visited a pub called “The Old England” in the Stokes Croft region of Bristol. It was recommended to us by two people standing outside it who beckoned us from afar. There was a woman lying on the ground drinking out of a bottle of whisky who seemed to approve of the pub. We ventured in, and were treated kindly throughout our stay. We enjoyed a pint of lager each, and some patties, for £4.20. There was a sign on the wall saying that no-one was allowed to sell drugs in the premises. I think that some of the people there must not have seen the sign. There was loud music to enjoy. I didn’t get a picture of the patties, but here’s Andrew in post-prandial bliss:
After the old england, we walked on. We decided to head to the Old Duke. You remember, the pub that is somehow named after both the Duke of Wellington and Duke Ellington. On the way we saw a dog that was in love with a traffic cone:
That dog really loved that traffic cone. I mean really loved it, in the most literal of senses. I suggested to the owner that they should get it a female friend.
£1.40 in the Old Duke for a coke. We chatted to a couple of girls outside the pub. They liked to talk about drugs, mostly about where you could buy them. Somewhat unsurpisingly, they were familiar with the Old England.
We finished up in Watershed, £1.60 for a latte. I sat facing what looks like a cupboard door in the wall, over at the far end windows. The last time I sat facing this cupboard door, Paul Merton walked out of it wearing a mis-shapen white cotton T-shirt and looking grumpy. I stared at the cupboard for some time, hoping that it would happen again, but I left disappointed.
Balance = £4.90 (-75.9%)
