If I were a rich woman....

[annwfyn]

So, the lottery is £110 million next week.

If you won, what would the first five things you would buy? Presume you've already paid off your debts, sensibly invested most of it, and given sums to close friends/family.

My car



A cheerful yellow mini cooper, for mini coopers are the nicest kind of car to drive, look lovely and bright, and are easy to park. They are my favourite cars in the world, and having a shiny new mini would make my world a happy place.

My new house



More details here. It's a converted church in central Greenwich, with four bedrooms, and within walking distance of all the things I love in Greenwich. Lots of room for me and jez, and extra room for anyone who comes to stay. Plus it's a converted church, which makes it extra cool.

My holiday



I want to run away and go to Africa, preferably Tanzania. I went there once, when I was 16, and I really want to go back again one day. This is about my dream holiday, and it would be wonderful. If I had much money, I could afford to drag a random collection of shiny people along on it as well.

My racehorse



I always promised myself that if I were very very rich, I would buy a racehorse. I'm not sure why. I think it's because I was brought up in Lambourn, and 'racehorse owner' still screams 'ultimate in status symbol' to me. That, and I like the races.

My holiday house

To be fair, I don't so much want a holiday house, as I would like to move to the country and never have to go to London again. However, my job is in London, as are my friends, and it would be nice to be able to go into London for an evening and not have to trek miles home. Plus, I know jez loves London.

However, I'd buy a cottage in the country and spend as much time as possible.

And it would look like this.



More here.

So, that's me. And then I'd live happily ever after...

Comments

[trouble]

Hee! :)

I think, after buying an awesome home (and getting it converted so it was fully accessible), I'd just become a professional philantropist. And I'd fly first class everywhere.

[annwfyn]

My follow up plan is to spend a lot of time doing new training courses and volunteering places until I'm good enough to set up my own conservation practice. Or maybe start up my own charity and administer it, although I really don't know if I'd ever know enough to actually do something like that.

[nickys]

1. I'd like a castle, I think.
There was a cool one on one of the renovation programmes on TV a while back. I'd like one with a ballroom in.

2. Camper van with robust suspension (possibly from a landrover or similar).

3. A flat in Edinburgh with a view of the castle fireworks that was handy for the centre of town for socialising.

4. The kids might be keen on horses, but I have a traditional maternal dread of being the one who'd have to get up early and feed the things, so maybe a subscription to a local stables or something... :-)

5. A holiday to Iceland maybe...

[lanfykins.livejournal.com]

Ah, yes.

I'd be buying a nice big place in the country, with lots of bedrooms so that I could have half my friends living with me, because that would be cool. Actually, I might build my own, so it would be exactly what I wanted...

And I'd have a little town flat for sleeping over in if I wanted to do stuff with people in London.

And I, too, would have a racehorse. Cos I love the racing, on the quiet like :) I haven't decided yet whether I want a flat racer or a steeplechaser, though...

And then... I don't know. I don't really want stuff.

[annwfyn.livejournal.com]

If I buy the lottery, I'll buy you a racehorse too! Then we could go to the races together.

[lanfykins.livejournal.com]

I'll hold you to that, you know :)

Can I have one that I can tell apart from all the others, please? :)

My list is vaguely similar, I think

[adze.livejournal.com]

Firstly, a place in London - somewhere like
this (http://www.savills.co.uk/residentialsearch/presentation/assets/search/249100/3699148_0_HQBrochure.pdf), maybe.

Secondly, a place outside of London. In the Lakes, maybe, or on the coast somewhere. Four or five bedrooms, so that I could have people over without it being crowded.

Next is a bit of a cheat, but they're lumped together for ease - learning to drive, then a car. Probably two - one for around London, and another for the drives up to wherever I'd have the second place.

Fourth is also a holiday. I've never been further than Austria, so I'd take some time and travel. Probably go out somewhere for a month, then back for a month, and repeat, offering to take whoever wanted to come with me, and pay for them.

Lastly, I'd do this (http://www.virgingalactic.com/flash.html?language=english), or maybe this (http://www.aircombatusa.com/), or this (http://www.flymig.com/). I'm really not sure, but something along those lines.

After that, there's a lot more I'd do, but those are the first few.

[suave-steve.livejournal.com]

Half goes to set up a charitable foundation because I sure as well don't need £110m.

Then somewhere to live, probably on an island with enough land to grow food, keep live stock, generate energy etc. Learn all I need to do all this by hiring people for the first year or so.

Then be a proper hermit.

[gipsy-dreamer.livejournal.com]

1: Set up a trust fund and savings account for my son

2: Buy a larger house

3: Buy a second property to renovate and rent out - most likely a Medieval cottage

4: Buy a couple of Mini Coopers - real Minis and not that BMW fake pretender rubbish

5: take my Mum, sister and niece on a huge shopping spree before putting the rest in savings

[cairmen.livejournal.com]

Invest the lot.

Use the interest to make films (or other creative stuff. But probably films).

Maybe buy a bigger house.

Done.

[lanfykins.livejournal.com]

Actually, I should look at cars. Because I have an agreement with a friend that if either of us wins the lottery, they'll buy the other a car...

I might get a Bentley. With a chauffeur to go with it :)

[wraithwitch.livejournal.com]

110 mil? Okay...

1) Make the mortgages of my immediate family magically disappear. (Also likely buy a flat for my wench of a little sister.)
2) Buy a house. Probably one of those ones on the back of Hampstead Heath, or the ones in Twickenham by the river or... well, any glorious Victorian town house by a bunch of trees and greenary and a tube line is a possibility really.
3) Furnish said house. This would include a *lot* of bookcases and old larder/linenpress style cupboards to store art and craft stuff in.
4) Employ a theatrical seamsmistress to make me a dressing-up-trunkful of clothes. Mostly Regency, some Restoration, some Victorian, some 1920-30s and one or two fantasy-medieval.
5) Surreptitiously find out from friends (especially the ones who have put up with me endlessly) what foolish and lovely thing they would like. Purchase/arrange them. Invent a gifting-day to say and hold a Fortnum & Masons floor picnic.

Then donate a fekk-load to Alzheimer's research charities and sit in my shiny house creating strange works of art and such which can be sold, or not, but most of all make me happy.

[twicedead.livejournal.com]

1. Buy Jo her car, she's been lusting after a Jeep wrangler. It would be black with additional deer lights and macho things like winches.

2. Tickets to New York. First class.

3. A car in New York, followed by a cross country road trip ending up in mexico.

4. Get this house completely renovated.

5. Then back to London (probably via the rest of the world) to buy a west end flat and throw a huge party.

5b. Find some old theatre/warehouse space in central London to run the most awesome LARPs in ever.

[crocodilewings.livejournal.com]

I don't like stuff.

I'd establish a charitable institution to subsidise vocational training tied to the demand for skilled workers in the UK. I'd prefer to subsidise sub-Saharan African infrastructure, but £110 million wouldn't scratch the surface.

I wouldn't really want the responsibility for that much money. Anything more than about £12 million would probably make me miserable.

Good luck.

[omentide.livejournal.com]

Most of it would go to charity. Amnesty and maybe set up some scholarships to promote cultural exchange.

Property. A nice flat for my son. Or a house. Wherever he wants. One of those gorgeous villas they're building near Marrakesh (for holidays), small flat in a nice part of Istanbul - though my favourite parts of Istanbul are not the 'nicest'. House to live in somewhere in the North Agean, preferably Selcuk with a roof terrace looking out over the ruins of the Temple of Artemis (but not too close). No, I'll buy the land and get my house built. And, if Metin my hairdresser still wants a villa on my land he can have one.

Give my son the money to buy a new car. Keep enough money for Ashley to have the Harley serviced (I mean to buy a new one when this one runs out).

A boat. I've always wanted a boat. I can park it at Fethiye.

Museum quality kilims. Several.

Nothing, I think, that I am not actually planning to do. Only, with money, more of it and better quality!

[badgersandjam.livejournal.com]

Never travel cattle class again. And travel more.

House. Several stories and full of neat rooms I could hold parties in. A writing room, a sewing room, themed rooms for my different kinds of books. And solar paneled. With all mod cons for the mobility impaired. And a garden that someone else took care of in the main but that I could potter about in without being yelled at. And breed roses. That would take quite a bit.

Car. Also adapted for the mobility impaired. Possibly chauffeured.

Put an osteopath and a massage therapist on retainer. Oh, ye gods, this would be SO nice.

Sadly, I would save the rest for the surgeries and recuperative strategies I will eventually need.

[richardiii.livejournal.com]

£110 Million?

First I'd buy my favorite house in West Cork. Then I'd self publish my novel. I'd start a chain of alcohol free bars, and use the a load of the money to hire excellent acts every night. Finally I'd buy myself a progressive camoflage coat. Cuz, you know, I could :P

[becky-spence.livejournal.com]

So, assuming that debts are cleared, family and friends given money, etc, etc....

1. £50 million to the British Museum. (well duh, couldn't see that one coming :) )
2. Set up a university-based foundation. One that'll support at least 10 students a year doing ancient history and archaeology and Masters degrees and the like.
3. World tour - one for scuba diving, one for rollercoasters, one for archaeological site visiting.
4. House. Somewhere nice, with a garden.
5. Start doing my phD.

[wildrogue.livejournal.com]

1) A Vespa for Jon. He's such a mod.
2) I'd go to a proper tailor and a proper shoemaker and have a wardrobe full of stuff made to measure.
3) The Adhesive Factory building opposite Ladywell station. It's a glorious old art deco building which is falling to pieces. Jon and I dream of renovating it as a fabulous house. http://farm1.static.flickr.com/175/438949328_d1dbd410ee_m.jpg
4)A boat. Just a little one that I could sail on my own - and a set of sailing lessons to remind me how it goes. If I could track him down I'd ask someone I grew up with to build it for me: he designs racing dinghys now.
5)A library with green leather wingback chairs and glass fronted mahogany shelves (or something more sustainable that looks like mahogany, I have so much middle class guilt).

It's also a standing thing that I'd take 12 other people for dinner at the Savoy :-)

[pmp.livejournal.com]

Personally I'd probably do the following

1) Get a house custom built for me, including things like large, spacious ground floor layout for parties and the like and proper network cabling and plenty of plug sockets all over!

2) Get a yacht, I didn't think I was one for boats but my recent holiday in Gran Canaira convinced me that it's something I could get used to.

3) PC Suite, the idea of having a decent suite of PC's I can share with my friends appeals to me. I enjoy online gaming but my fondest memories are LAN parties at a friends where you could all shout to each other and generally have a laugh

4) Fund some local improvements for the community. As unbelievable as it sounds, I do actually care for people, I just suck at showing it. So doing something that people could appreciate would be a boost.