Avios for the sake of it.

Some loyalty points are collected because they are useful but I collect Avios because it is fun to do so.

Avios are generally only available on luxury items and most commonly on travel. The scheme is therefore a good excuse to splurge on both these things.

On the other hand, Avios may be earned or spent on almost anything. There are credit cards that offer Avios and once earned they may be spent on meals out or crates of wine.

The fun (for points nerds such as myself) is that the scheme is complex and easy to game. Tesco Clubcard points may be transferred into Avios and more than double their value as they do so.

If you want a good stash of Avios you will have to treat yourself. This must be a luxury purchase and something you absolutely do not need. Ignore everything the company says about getting'free' things on purchases you would make anyway. If you were making the purchases anyway- why would they give you the miles.

Avios are not a sensible way to save money. They are a cool hobby with benefits!

This is a trial Avios budget to let you know what us possible.

Look underground!

This is the crypt beneath St Brides in the City. It tells a tale.

The bee is a symbol of industry and thrift and it is interesting to see it here among the dead. What good is thrift to a corpse?

This grave is a crime scene. The body was stolen by ‘resurrection men’ who stole the body for medical research despite the locked down iron coffin.

My latest adventure.

If this blog is ever to be truly useful or inspiring I must take 52 holidays a year. In other words I must find a way to work weekends only and to take Monday to Friday as a holiday. I have already proved to myself that I can spend four days in Oxford for £73- and I think I could do it for even less with what I know now. As a single man I can live on very little and just about afford a Ryanair and rucksack lifestyle. The problem will be keeping body and soul together in England but I feel like being brave. I think I could bare to starve if I were living the dream as I do so. At least I would become thin before I died.

I therefore enter my own Brexit negotiations with my employer and- like Boris Johnson- my chief negotiating strength will be my willingness to burn bridges.

I have 7451 Avios and can do nothing with them.

The photograph was taken in Westfield Stratford, It shows a man who has too few Avios to spend on anything useful.

There is nothing quite as useless as a small number of Avios and one should either collect them seriously or not at all.

The easiest and best value way of collecting them is probably Tesco. Their £3 lunch deals are good value, £10 'finest' meal for two is even better but almost always has a sugar laden pudding included.
I am also buying cashew nuts and almonds as a snack to eat while working. This boosts my spend a little too. £250 translates as 600 Avios which means a crate of wine every 16 months. Not bad, and they make good Christmas presents.

Four days in Oxford for £73.

At the damp end of October I took a very cheap holiday.

The main costs were a coach trip from London via Megabus. Three nights discounted stay at Oxford YHA (including breakfast) and some sandwiches during the day.

I received cash back through Top Cash Back on the coach and accommodation (which is free, join through the side-bar to the right) and received a second discount on the accommodation by being a member of the YHA.

My holiday snaps!

I am currently getting into Stoic philosophy, partly because the BBC advised me to remain ignorant. The statue is of Cicero and the painting below illustrates Stoic virtue. The graphiti is included as the sort of thing Morse might understand but I do not.

The highlight was probably Evensong in an unlit and unheated Oxford College (all the gloomy photos). The low point was probably Inner Space that gave me in a guided meditation that put me into a trance I could not fully get out of. I lost as pen and an expensive microphone while in this state.

Total cost excluding beer was £73.