Swans and Icebergs?

I don't suppose you see many swans swimming around icebergs.  To be honest, I've never been near an iceberg ... and I haven't been up close and personal with many swans either, come to that!  But there are connections, in that they are both used to illustrate broadly similar situations.

One of my friends was asked last week how she was coping - she was looking after the responsibility of three colleagues as well as doing her own job - and her reply began, "You mean, am I swimming along serenely like a swan, but paddling furiously" - she gestured - "to keep afloat?"  She was actually doing OK, but the comparison reminded me of the iceberg: what we see is only about one tenth of the whole, the remainder being hidden beneath the waves.

For the last few weeks, my life  has been a bit like that swan.  I've been working on a major project which had a deadline to meet.  Because I didn't start soon enough to complete it at a leisurely pace, I realised a few weeks ago that my meeting the ultimate target was in doubt, so I revised my procedures a little, alongside of abstaining from many other things that have been part of my normal life for the last year.

This week has seen the completion of the project a few days ahead of schedule, and the last couple of days I've been in 'switched-off mode', not exactly looking around for something to do, but turning my attention to a few things that had been postponed - like booking a summer holiday - before I get down to the business of going over those aspects of the project that were 'by-passed' in order to ensure its timely completion.

Another 'project' (if indeed it's worthy of such a grand title) has come to fruition this week: the sale of my motor-caravan.  I was happy to delegate this to a broker when his wife responded on his behalf to my original advert before Christmas.  In all my vehicular dealings down the years, I've tended to go for part-exchange deals.  On the one hand, you usually have the benefit of a reliable purchase, probably with some warranty and, on the other, you're spared the bother of dealing with enquirers, the trauma of showing the old vehicle with its inevitable faults and shortcomings (why else are you selling it?) to prospective customers, and the general hassle of managing the sale.

The same considerations apply to selling through a broker but, inevitably, for this relief there is a price to pay and I was a little dissatisfied with the amount I got for the motor-caravan.  However, looking back at what I have achieved instead of fretting about that, I think it was worth it.  To use a metaphor, the ship sailed into the dock almost unnoticed.

The same can be said of another matter this week, this one on the financial front.  Although I'm not yet in the position of needing to draw upon my pension - and with the sale of the motor-caravan, even less so - I realised a few weeks ago that I would have unused tax allowances by the end of the tax year, so I set matters in motion to draw down sufficient from the pension fund to soak up these allowances, planning to invest this money in the next tax year into my ISA until it's required.  When I looked at my finances at the end of February - as any retired accountant probably does - I found myself asking, "where has all that money come from?"

Gift horses were not, however, queuing up for dental examination!