Posted by Robert Dilley on December 13, 2004 at 18:17:00 from 65.39.13.201 user rdilley.
In Reply to: Re: Land and Mineral Rights ownership posted by Owen Roberts on December 13, 2004 at 13:46:08:
There is a classic Cumbrian story about the pitiful poverty of farmers (I’ll spare you the dialect spellings).
Farmer parks his dilapidated, muddy old lorry outside the bank. He walks in carrying a grubby old sack, followed by his shabbily-dressed wife.
“Here,” he says, dumping the bank on the gleaming, polished counter and scattering dried mud and chicken droppings. “The wife says it’s not safe, keeping money under the bed. So to stop her nagging I want to deposit this lot. There’s 200,000 pounds in the sack.”
Expressions of affront being rapidly replaced by welcoming smiles, the tellers run to fetch the bank manager. Gingerly, he unties the string and peers inside, holding his breath. The sack is filled with bundles of high-denomination banknotes.
“Well, Mr, er, Braithwaite; we will, of course, have to count all this to verify the amount” he finally points out.
“That’s all right,” replies the farmer. “I’ve a man to see about a sheep, and the wife wants to go to the market. We’ll come back later.” And with that the pair leave, and with a few minor explosions, the lorry lurches away.
Later in the afternoon they return. Immediately the manager rushes out of his office. “We counted your money twice, Mr Braithwaite,” he explains, “and you actually made a mistake. There wasn’t 200,000 pounds in your sack. It was in fact 250,000.”
At this the farmer turned to his wife. “There, you daft old biddy. I told you you’d brought the wrong sack!”