This time next year, Rodney...
I had a very good friend at school who was always talking about his plans for the future, how he would make lots of money, told me about the trips we'd take and the cars and other boys toys we'd buy once his money came in.

As a gullible 17-year-old, I mentioned this to a girl I was seeing at the time, who told me not to be so naive. And I thought, yeah, she's got a point - I'd just fallen for my friend's charm and spiel, without thinking for a moment about how small the chances were that he would actually manage this.

25 years on, my schoolfriend, who I lost touch with a year or two after leaving school, has a Central London property portfolio worth hundreds of millions of pounds, a 110-foot yacht moored on the French Riviera that you can charter for the week if you have a spare 100,000 euro, and co-owns some very well known restaurants.

Fair play to him.

(And just for the record, money's never been a huge motivator for me - I'm writing this and watching the Olympics when I should be getting on with freelance work - and I cycle everywhere because I still can't drive, so a sports car would have been wasted on me)
(Capo, Fri 22 Aug 2008, 9:33, Reply)