RANDOM REMINDER

Press, Volume C, Issue 29458, 9 March 1961, Page 23

RANDOM REMINDER

Is there anything more potent than the profit motive in life? Of course, answers everyone but the grossest materialist: but a Spreydon woman has her doubts. The twentieth anniversary of her wedding was looming and with a small insurance maturing and her small savings mounting, she suggested that a small second car—an idea she had been nursing for some years—would be an excellent w’ay of marking the anniversary. Her husband, w ho used the family car almost constantly, agreed, and even offered to teach his wife the finer points of driving. She was a good and willing pupil and, satisfied w’ith her prowess, he decided to buy her the car. He could find nothing

really suitable among the pens of cars round the city, but a friend introduced him to an elderly aunt who had just the sort of car he wanted. It had been carefully used and allj she wanted was £245. He was not very knowledgeable about car prices, but this seemed satisfactory to him and a deal was made. On the day of the anniversary he collected the car to drive home, but stopped at his suburban garage to fill up the tank for his wife. The proprietor was surprised to see our friend in a different car, remarked how* popular they were on the used market and said he could get £3OO for them at any time. The husband pricked up his ears, almost literally, and after a cer-

tain amount of debate, he closed a deal with the proprietor at £290. He sprinted home round the corner with a profit of £45 almost burning a hole in his pocket, and burst in to break the glad news to his wife. For some reason, she did not seem as pleased as he; in fact, she became more and more displeased about it as the day went on and finally accused the bewildered husband of not loving her any more after 20 years of marriage. In vain did he explain that the profit he had made would go towards an even better car and if he had not loved her so much, he would not have tried to get something better for her. Women, it seems, will never understand.