Why do I do it?????

I still have BBC Radio 4 (sometimes 4 extra) on all night and am constantly amazed at the Lords, Baronesses and other titled persons who appear in discussions.  To us here in Australia it's like a fantasy - we can't bring ourselves to believe this kind of thing actually happens!  And at the present time!!!  Although the British queen is our queen too, we don't really think about her much, except to gawp at the ceremonial occasions such as this one yesterday.  And I have to admit I love all the extravaganza as much as the next person.

We have very few rich or 'grand' people (and Lina and I lived with the wife of one of the richest at boarding school years ago when she was a teenager) and there is nothing like the British upper class lifestyle going on here.  I'm still addicted to The Daily Mail and am always struck by the contrast between the haves and have-nots in UK.  Mind you, the most comfortably off Australians who live in grand houses in the leafy suburbs with harbour views never stop whingeing.  And we have lots of poor people, too.  But, since nobody here would think of getting round in a tiara or lives in a rambling mansion comparable to those in Europe and UK, the difference between the haves and have-nots is not so marked.

Mind you, I'm also still addicted to online jigsaws and the things I enjoy doing most are castles and those unbelievable European and British country 'houses'.

Winifred, you make a very good point about why we should all buy things...:-))