Flexible friends.....

Now there was a time when they used to call, credit cards flexible friends.

In reality they are an invitation to spend today what you might earn tomorrow and gamble on the possibility that you do.

The world economy is in a mess, a mess created by believing that tomorrow would never arrive. That house prices allways go up and that resources can be used without a thought. Like driving a car without checking the fuel gauge and working out what you will do when it hits empty and how you will pay for it.

Now, it has to be said, at least some of the rise in commodities is down to speculation and money being moved out of property into commodities when a world is suddenly less certain. In the same way as the credit card, buying today in anticipation that everything will be dearer by the time you come to pay for it.

Truckers here in the UK are protesting and French fishermen are laying siege to the channel ports. This is like protesting that it goes dark. Complaining about the inevitable.

But the reality is that a tank of diesel has gone up about one percent this week. We have allready started to rein in our expenditure and go back to world war two thinking;

"Is your journey really necessary"

I drove up to Nottingham this week, on a tidal wave of joie de vie and with scant regard for cameras, enjoying the Xantias urge and ability to easily consume nearly 100 miles every hour. My next trip might be an exploration of it's ability to cover distance without using masses of fuel.

R