As many of you know, I get the train to and from Belfast every day as part of my commute to work. My adventures on the 07:53 express to often feature on this blog. Today’s post is no exception. But today I want to talk about money, or rather saving money. Something I’m not very good at normally but we, as a family, have been making a big effort at of late in order to become more economically frugal.
I normally think nothing of landing at the station and purchasing a daily return ticket to Belfast – £9:60, no less. In an average month, I make this transaction approximately 20 times. Which, if you do the maths/math/finger counting, equates to forking out £192 per month on travelling to and from the office. A sizeable outgoing, I’m sure you will agree. With me so far? Good, then I’ll continue.
When it comes to good ideas in our house, you will normally find that 99% of them originate from Fionnuala. For it was she who suggested I research the price of a monthly return ticket to Belfast. When I checked, I was amazed to find that this cost a mere £138. A saving of £54 a month. That’s £648 a year! Imagine all the Diet Coke and honeycomb ice cream I could buy with that.
It was with some smugness, therefore, that I made my purchase at the beginning of the month. I clutched my brand new, shiny monthly ticket as if it was a winning lottery ticket. The conductor even gave me a little plastic wallet to hold it on, so that it would never become torn or creased. I felt akin to public transport royalty. Then it struck me. What if I lost it?
I’m a bit of an expert at ‘misplacing’ items. Keys, wallets, anything remotely valuable. My mind is a leaky sieve and Fionnuala and Rebecca are forever running around after me, picking up the detritus of my life. How on Earth then could I be trusted to hang on to a tiny ticket for an entire month without it going AWOL? Which would necessitate yours truly having to go permanently AWOL when he reported the bad news back to his wife!
What happened next? Find out later today in Part 2 of ‘The Winning Ticket.’
Black Thoughts 
what a cliffhanger! I wanna know what happens so will tune in later! xox
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Thank you. I’ve just posted it.
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Go read it soon XX 👍
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Ha! I am permanently losing things so have no advice whatsoever … When the children were little and we had to remember a whole host of detritus to take to school we resorted to writing a list on the back of the front door. This however did not take into account some of the basics such as shoes and socks – more than once we arrived at school with one of them in slippers ….
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Wow! Seeing that Golden Ticket brought back memories! I saw the original “Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” at the DRIVE-IN with my parents & all us kids (six of us plus a few cousins) in July, 1971 … in the station wagon, of course … with homemade popcorn & brownies & I am sure a few beers for my Daddy … “True Grit” starring John Wayne was the second feature.
Two years prior to that, I had been in fourth grade and my class read “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” … one chapter a day, usually after our lunch break. Two chapters if it was rainy and we couldn’t go outside for recess. Ah, those were the days.
Golden ticket, indeed.
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Good times! Thank you for sharing them with us.
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If you have lost your ticket you can camp it out at work till next pay day 😂
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So far so good 😂
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Uh, oh.
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😂
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Don’t you feel so fancy carrying that around? At camp this year, we had lanyards with an ID card type thing on it. I got to scan in to meals and my room and use it to pay for stuff. I felt so special. 😜
So did you lose it?! Will part two come tomorrow?!
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Part 2 has been posted. I have to wear two lanyards at work. I’m always getting them tangled up or caught on door handles 😂
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That’s annoying 😤
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Uh oh
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Indeed 😉
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Okay, you got me with your cliff hanger – moving on to part 2 now LOL
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They need a phone app.
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Haha are you my male doppelganger? so many uncanny similarities that have made me literally hoot with laughter Thanks 🙂
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Possibly. Although I hope we don’t look alike for your sake 😂
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Haha 😂
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Every time I think of honey I can’t help but think of your honeycomb ice cream! America needs to get on board because I need to try this!
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Surely there must be somewhere you can purchase this in your great nation 😆
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Hmmm, as far as I know…no. But I also don’t like in a fancy city that offers a wide range of stuff. xD Somebody needs to set up a store just for me to try things haha!
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