Ade’s Tea Towel

Let me introduce you to Ade.  I ‘met’ Ade through Twitter; he was one of my first followers of @myteatowels which was the Twitter link to my Tea Towel Blog (myteatowels.wordpress.com).  Ade’s Twitter profile says that he is an author of a book called “Maximum Inheritance” and an Inheritance Planner.  Why would an Inheritance Planner be following me, you may ask?  I may have spent a fortune on tea towels but as second hand objects they do not retain their value so I don’t have a lot of money to leave. Ade’s other interests are cycling, baking (all good bakers have tea towels) and shoes “I take my shoes seriously”.  But his other interest is collecting tea towels!  So that is why he is following me on Twitter, and that is why I invited him to be a Guest Tea Towel.

Ade says “My day job is about relationships.  People I talk to rarely describe it thus.  But Inheritance Planning is about human nature and the people in one’s life.

….You know the saying ‘What do you get the person who has everything?’.  If you need to ask that question, you’ve no business getting any gift for the intended recipient.  Some ‘swat’ the query away, as being merely a rhetorical question…..The meaning of the question is ‘This person is of such great wealth that s/he can buy anything they want/need’ or alternatively ‘I can’t afford to spend the sort of money that would impress this person’.

I beg of you not to alight on the wrong impression; I am not averse to expensive presents.  My acquaintances know that I take my shoes seriously; I favour Church’s and Barker but I have had my eye on a pair of Crocket and Jones loafers.  Hint, hint.  (Just looked them up on the internet – wow – they are stylish, I believe him).  Your largesse I will accept with the utmost grace.  But, in truth, you don’t have to spend thousands, or even hundreds, of pounds to impress me.  I can be a cheap date; spend a few pounds on me and I’m anybody’s.

A huge proportion of my Tea Towel Collection are gifts from friends and clients, souvenirs from their visits to places far and near.  When I am near a tourist attraction, you will find me making a beeline for the Gift Shop.  A couple of years ago, I turned 50.  I had the most wonderful celebrations; they didn’t cost masses of cash but they were no end of fun.  My friend Karen, a likeable lass who is also very funny, gave me the tea towel in the picture.  Before opening the package, I could tell it’s contents; nonetheless I was all smiles.  She had made an effort, worthy of Sisyphus, to acquire this momento.  Tea towels aren’t expensive; in fact, they are positively cheap (compared with a pair of Crocket and Jones Loafers!) but the thought and effort needed to acquire such a simple gift could be out of all proportion to it’s cost.  The pleasure, the creased face brought forth by a gift of such simplicity, is an uninsurable jewel.  To come back to the question: ‘What would you get the man who has everything?’  The answer:  To thank my friend for this tea towel.

Thank you Ade for such a lovely story, with a moral.  I hope Karen likes it as well!  And that tea towel is older than most of mine!