Jose's economic epiphany

Jose turned to Tommy as another tired looking Pellegrino put his washing on the line and said

" I had an epiphany about my my will today.

I decided that it should reflect my spending so I've completely changed it.

They were sitting as the sun streamed down in the first bar in Itero de la Vega drenching themselves in Estella.

I really like the Pataka restaurant back home. I probably spend 5% of my money there every month so I have given them 5% in my will and get them to feed someone on me. Do a lucky dip for their regulars!

"Oops," she laughed as the Pellegrino dropped their clean shorts on the dirt path.

I play my golf at prestonfield and I enjoy my lunch with the lob wedge lassies on Tuesday and Friday. I spent 10% of my money there last year so I am leaving them 10% in my will to sponsor a woman who will eat, drink and be merry on me.

I suddenly realised that these were the people who matter to me. When I am gone on I will no longer be going. I have created a standing order from my estate which will pay exactly what I used to spend each month.

I am going to continue to pay my rent to the retirement home. This is 14% of my monthly expenditure and I hope it helps them to continue you to provide the excellent accommodation that I lived in.

Next up is swanys. I probably spend 16% of my monthly expenditure there. It's a great pub full of fantastic people and the odd bullet you have to dodge but nobody ever bothers me and I just sit and read my book enjoying the wine.

"That's half sorted then" laughed Tommy, "next I'm sure you'll help those university and school kids you used to teach. Or is a teacher...."

"Yes, I'm not sure yet. Hopefully by the time we get to Fromista I'll have a plan" she cackled back, enjoying the moment.

Did you meet the French lady from the fashion shop, she was amazing. There was a big climate meeting in Lille and she launched a new brand called CE. It was short for climate emergency. She had the C as a clock face with the time at 25 past one and the E interwoven with a Ziggy Stadust lightning flash. She made a fortune. She was at a board meeting, a year earlier, and the folk around the table were asking what they could do, mostly the marketing guys, to look more green. She said we could stop selling so much product and make the garments last a bit longer, like they used to. They laughed at her. She explained how lowering demand wouldn't be easy but if they stopped marketing and used the resources to make better product that lasted longer, they could re-establish the brand as a lifestyle and lifetime option. Swim upstream with higher margins. She'd spoken in the past with the designers and manufacturing about undestanding each others briefs. They had a weekend away. In that conversation she had got both to imagine that every season we would get the clothes we'd sold back to remodel and re-use. A fascinating stoy. How to still have fashion on a desert island or post apocalypse. I laughed and she agreed. They looked at how garments could be tapered, seams could be let out and in, how to benefit fom the excess material, how to move it and stitching lines that would allow such flexibility while still being operational and stunning on the models. It was a great success, so much so that every year designers got placements in the manufacturing and vice versa. "Sounds right down my street Jose", said Tommy. "What happened to the marketing guys?" "They're still there! She left that boad meeting and set up the brand from scratch and had product on the shelves in under a year. 2 months before the conference in Lille her shops and brand exploded onto the scene. Whether you were a protester on a ship or a kid going to school the logo was everywhere. French TV picked it up from Social Media. She was on the national news and became quite a cult figure. She said to me how strange it felt. She was just following her conviction of doing a little. She'd read about a dairy farmer who was using the heat generated from her cows to grow tomatoes and cucumbers. For her, disaster meant opportunity. You just had to look. It was looking back into that meeting that got her thinking. She knew she couldn't take the boad with her so she set up from scratch. So many people say less is more but so few do it. The dairy farmer has 20% less cows and makes more from tomatoes and cucumbers being so profitable out of season. I mentioned you with your solar air conditioning units and lawnmowers. How you only need lawnmowers when the sun is out and the gass is growing! Versatility in your thinking. She said the best thing about scaling back is most large operations need retrenchment. They grow unwieldly. She had so many manufacturers around the world and designers that poaching a few for this project had been a joy! She loved being able to gift the staff the company. Every employee and customer received shares and over 4 years she had diluted her own 95% down to under 50%. She wasn't naive enough to think it would remain independent but hoped it would at least continue for 10-15 years. Long enough for her to do another 10-15 caminos!