Found

I've covered the concepts of "found time" and "found money" in the past but I'll quickly sketch them again to contextualise the title. When you pull on a jacket you haven't worn for a while and find a fiver in the pocket this is "found money". As this is money you didn't have you can do whatever you want with it - spending it doesn't affect your budget. "Found time" can be equally precious and originates when a meeting is cancelled or something you had in your diary is booked on the wrong day so when you thought you were working all day on a Saturday but realise that it's still three weeks away you have "found time"; spend it wisely.

Today I was due to drive for a couple of hours for a meeting for a couple of hours and then drive back through rush hour so it would have been longer. Before I'd done the full two hours drive I collected an email cancelling the meeting. Because it's a work day this wasn't "found time" that I could use on myself but it was still handy to get stuck into the mountain of work.

I've had a letter from Santander hanging around for week or so. I'd not opened it as I have never had any dealings with them so I assumed they wanted me to give Rory McIlroy a buzz and ask him what on earth he thought he looked like in their adverts. I decided to open it before I binned it and was surprised indeed! It seems that a long forgotten Abbey National account is now held by them and they wanted to see if I'd died before they chucked the contents in their Christmas party fund. I gave them a call and walked through the process needed to get the account taken off the dormant account list. I've got to call into a branch to confirm my current address (it's not the one they wrote to) and to close the account or order a bit of plastic with which I can access the brass. It is not a great deal of money - it was £109 in 1998 and now, after years of garnering the generous compound interest, it has grown by £6 but this is found money and I can do something reckless like buying a tank full of diesel with it!

Photo is the only one taken today - the plan was to get something picturesque during my travels but it wasn't to be. This was hastily grabbed because I heard the dogs working but as I got to the door with my camera the phone rang.

So a Monday riven with surprises draws down darkly - what mysteries might Tuesday hold?