Living out of synch.

london
If you do what everyone is doing, u will pay more. A good example of that is school holidays, or bank holiday travel. Or going to the gym at peak hours, or seeing films at popular times, or buying the latest fashion,or a new car, or latest accessory, or high definition tv screens. Whatever is in demand and/or popular will cost more. Wait a little bit, and the price goes down drastically.
I am glad i can live slightly outside the mainstream and so take advantage of this anomaly in our society.
I went to my gym today, and enjoyed a leisurely uncrowded gym, with coffee afterwards. When I came out at about 12.30pm, I can see the office crowds taking their lunch hour. There was lots of hustle and bustle, rather pleasing to watch, but I know if i were one of the office workers having to do everything within the lunch hour, when everyone else is doing it, it is hell. There were queues in the shops just to pay.Another bonus is the library was relatively free of people so i can read the papers one after another without interruption. Ah, what a lovely life to be able to live it slightly out of synch with everyone else.
I read that the boss of British airways is asking its staff to work for free for a few hours every day saying it is necessary for the airline to survive. (Correction.It's worse...) he is asking them to volunteer for 1-4wks without pay).Yet, when times are good, the shareholders gets all the profits, the workforce gets nothing. The moment there is a downturn, they ask the work force to make sacrifices. If i were working, i would be irate. And the worst thing is there is nothing the workforce can do, because if they go on strike it will make things worst and the airline will go bankrupt. They lose out either way. That is why i dont work. I dont see why i should follow the system, when it is not to my advantage. Fortunately, i never spent beyond my means, (something that everyone seem to be doing when they are working) and paid off my mortgage (something i can do because i bought my flat at the 1991 recession, and so got it cheap in the first place) so can stop work without too much hardship. See what happens if u live outside what everyone is doing, and going against the grain of what society expects?
No one i know pays off their mortgage early, that is why if u pay it off and live out of synch with what society does, you reap the rewards.
What i like is to spot the trend and go against it. For years i have been charity shopping, but now what with the awareness of what bargains can be had, everyone is jumping on the bank wagon and so it is not so much fun now. It is the same with bargain shopping at supermarkets when they reduce their prices near the sell by date. In the past, people were too rich to bother with it, and so there were great buys to be had. Now, everyone is getting wise to it, even the supermarkets, so they are not reducing so much. And also i suspect the supermarkets are throwing away good stuff instead of reducing the price just so that less of these reduced stuff for sale.
I have noticed the trend and so i noticed not so good bargains now in supermarkets. I shall have to think about new ways of sourcing meat cheaply. I have some ideas but i dont think i shall say it here as i dont want others to pick it up. too many people doing it will destroy it. And also i m not sure if it will work.