Friday  January 30th,  2015

Jolly Harbour Marina, Antigua 17 04.2N 61 53.2W

Today's Blog by David (Time zone: UTC -4.0)

I have been back in the UK now for about two weeks and in that time I have seen a doctor five times, The first two visits were painless but no visit since has been complete without a hypodermic syringe being stuck into my ear and through my ear drum to deliver a steroid (Methylprednisolone) into my middle ear.  This is not dissimilar to the treatment in Martinique where the same drug was given intravenously – now the dosage is an order of magnitude or two larger  and it’s being delivered where it is needed.¹

There was a noticeable improvement in Martinique (where any hearing when I was discharged was better than the complete deafness  I had when I was admitted).  It is now two months after the incident It has improved a little since this most recent  treatment started but has now probably run its course.  Whether it  is going to  improve much more is doubtful – the chap in Martinique was of the view it was already too late to do anything meaningful – a view repeated to me in Harley Street.  The good news is that there  probably has been enough response now to make a hearing aid useful – so that’s next in line.

To take my mind off things I have been engaged in some retail therapy – conducted largely through the internet – principally to restock the boat – mostly noise level stuff but. Having had an estimate in excess of US$1,200 to repair a leaking  chart plotter -  dys-functional  or non-functional according to its mood -  I have risked making an offer for one on Ebay. It was claimed to be “As new” etc. so that will occupy me when we get back. If it doesn’t work I will put it down to experience – if it does I will have saved myself £1500.    Wish me luck! I have invested the saving in a new toy – no a new investment.

You see,  when you are bobbing around on the oggin wondering how you are going to make ends meet,  it is easy to get frustrated at deposit interest rates. Browsing the internet one watches rates gradually heading south – the feeling that “Something must be done!” wells up inside you and in high opprobrium you go searching for a higher rate of return – or you open a tinnie and forget about it!

Well, there are only so many tins of beer I can drink (no, really), so I set about finding a way to make my money WORK for me.  (PS If I ever did find  the silver bullet I probably wouldn’t publish it). But instead I decided to invest in a different asset class.   Now, before I tell you what it is,  let me tell you that my advice to anyone who asks me about investing is that they should ask me where my money is and short it. That is because you  can reliably call the top of any market as soon as I have piled in.

With all the money slushing around the system looking for returns, classic cars have posted excellent returns in the last three years – a good, well documented and restored Aston Martin  DB5 will set you back close to £1m.  The other early Astons also change hands for  eye-watering figures.  So – to get ahead of the game - just before I went to the Caribbean in October I bought a half share in a 1978 Aston Martin  AMV8 automatic  71 000 miles,  5.3 litres  375 bhp  engine in need of refurbishment. Its 0-60mph is impressive; it’s the 60-0 mph  is the challenge requiring a lot of forethought (and a straight road).  The plan is a three year “body off” restoration and at the end we will have a fabulous car which … errr…. will be completely unsaleable at the price we’d need to recover our money – UNLESS…. the market moves up.

So if you own any classic cars – particularly any Aston Martins – my advice to you is to SELL, SELL, SELL, SELL! That is particularly so because one short coming of undertaking that kind of project is that you own (half of) a car but you never get to drive it – and when it is drivable I still have to negotiate road time with the other half – Oh and by the way, you don’t want to drive them much (depreciation) nor when the road is wet (corrosion) etc.etc.  So, musing about it one day, the other half (no, not Simone)  pointed out another car that had already been renovated. A better car then ours for rather less money than we will end up paying for ours.

I went to see it,  stroked it,  drove it and then I  brought it home! Now – this is a slightly different beast.  It’s a completely restored, NROR (honest),   well documented 1977 AMV8 with only 32,500 miles. It has a 7 litre 500bhp engine, four Weber carburetors,  a five speed manual (rare) gearbox and brakes that will probably bring you to a halt before the lights change green again. And it’s mine²!

To be clear – it’s a long term investment (really) , not a toy …… but you can’t drive your bank account around on a sunny afternoon – can you!?

PS Back to Antigua on 5 Feb for a party  in Les Saintes – hooray!

Notes

1                     This course of treatment is probably the most painful thing I have ever undertaken voluntarily – particularly now that I know what’s coming after the first injection!  The sympathetic among you might suggest I try child birth, but fortunately that is out of the question – these days! So it remains “Up there!”

2                     As I said:  SELL, SELL, SELL, SELL!