My father-in-law always had to be careful with money and finally after he retired and his daughters were off his hands, he started to be able to put aside a little money. He had always had to err on the side of economy for his cars - Cortina, Morris Ital, Fiat uno, Fiat 500, etc. All must have been disappointing and also disolved in front of his eyes in our damp climate. He has always been a great admirer of Lexus, representing the sort of cars and ownsership experience he could never dream of having.
He was talking to my wife one day about inheritance money for her and her sister. She was telling him to enjoy it since he had earned it and scrimpted and saved all through their childhood to ensure that they were never left wanting. He was having none of it.
I piped up and said. "You know what. The first thing I'm doing, when Mrs Eb inherits, is going down to the Lexus garage".
He bought his first Lexus the next day.....!
Eb
great story!
My father in law was an interesting paradox. He was a Geordie, and (I think) from a fairly poor working class background. First of his family to not work in the mines, first to go to university, a geologist who worked in oil and gas exploration, and who was obviously gifted at what he did as he travelled the world (Germany, Texas, Norway, Dubai, Africa, etc) and worked his way through a number of fairly chunky roles in some of the largest energy companies...
When he retired, the combination of the expat lifestyle (lack of tax) and some clever/fortunate property investments along the way meant he was wealthy, and was in a position to enjoy a lot of the finer things in life.. which he did. He liked his big powerful cars (Jaguars of various ilks, S500, E class, 535i), he liked his wine, cognac and whisky, and he was a proper foodie.
He was fabulous company to be around, extremely loud and vivacious (but actually quite shy), very intelligent in an understated way, and incredibly welcoming to me when I rocked up in my early thirties dating his youngest daughter...
I miss him, but like to think he would approve of me working my way through his back catalogue of red wine...
