Good news for SCOPE is that the collection from the London run and the other gigs this year has raised over £2500. Thanks to everyone who donated, that is a wonderful sum, on top of the £10,500 already raised last year and still with 30 gigs to go! If you wish to add to the total or missed the bucket at the venue then head to
my justgiving page. Donate over a tenner and send me your address and I will post you signed copies of as many show programmes as I still have left. You are helping
a wonderful cause.
Less good news for my back and the teller at the Nat West bank though, as this lunchtime I took over £1000 in coins to pay in. I wonder if the world would be a better place if everyone was forced to carry all the money they owned around converted into coins. It would be one way to ensure that no one started accruing money for money's sake. Millionaires would be stuck, sitting in the gutter and the only way they'd be able to ever get anywhere would be to hand out their coins to those without any. Money is all well and good, but it starts to lose its meaning when people become obsessed with accruing it for its own sake. If we had to carry what we owned then would probably use it more carefully and hoard much less of it, and only extremely fit people would be able to be muggers.
I knew that if anyone was foolish enough to try and steal my rucksack they would find it very hard to get away with it at any speed. And lightened of my load I would surely be able to catch them.
Perhaps my brave new world where everyone carries their money with them in coins is impractical, but I'd still like to see it implemented. It couldn't get us into any more of a mess than the current system seems to have done so.
The bank was pretty busy and I knew that I would be unpopular turning up with bags and bags of 1p pieces (though the main bulk of the coinage was over £600 in one pound coins). Some tellers choose not to hide their annoyance when I turn up with my bags. But then again if they didn't want to have to spend all day dealing with money then maybe they should have worked somewhere else. Even when I explain it's for charity some of them are still sulking. But it's not like they actually have to count it (like I do), they have machines which let them know by weight if the bags have the correct amount in them, and I am pretty efficient and have rarely made more than one or two errors. Today's teller took the inconvenience well and didn't complain or moan and just got on with it. Even though this is almost certainly the most money I have paid in in one go. The woman at the next window did look relieved not to have won this particular lottery.
My rucksack felt lighter than air when I picked it up to leave and further added to the notion that our money merely weighs us down and turns us into shuffling drones who are naught but slaves to it. Still it was good I had some paper money in my wallet as I needed to get some food to eat. Though Jesus might have thought it was a good idea to get rid of all our possessions and let the world provide for him, you don't see too many Christians following his lead. Flowers and birds might get by without food and clothing and never need to get a job, but I don't think that would work too well for humans. Not all Jesus's ideas were good. But we're all allowed an off day.
My ruck sack full of all our money concept is probably one step closer to being workable, but even that will probably get as few takers as having nothing. But maybe a third Christ will come along and come up with a third idea that will somehow combine my idea with that of the first Jesus and the world will finally live in peace and harmony.
Good luck mate, is all I can say to Jesus III. Being a Jesus is much harder than it looks.
In the mean time though, if you are burdened by your money and understand that it is responsible for all the world's evils, then why not do some good with it and dump it all on SCOPE. That'll show them.
Plus it's going to be completely worthless pretty soon anyway, so you might as well give it all away so as you can appear to be charitable and unselfish.
