{"id":1111,"date":"2022-02-12T19:53:04","date_gmt":"2022-02-12T19:53:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/?p=1111"},"modified":"2022-02-12T19:56:03","modified_gmt":"2022-02-12T19:56:03","slug":"the-serpent-eats-its-tail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/the-serpent-eats-its-tail\/1111\/","title":{"rendered":"The Serpent Eats its Tail"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Elderly<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The discussion always went round in circles like a serpent consuming its own tail. It was a tough problem, and becoming important that they found some solution, what with the cost of living crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Joe and Elizabeth, a brother and sister in their sixties, were living in the jointly inherited house where they had grown up. They had each ended up alone in life and without a great deal of cash, so it made sense to share expenses. Their house, apart from meagre pensions, was their sole asset. It was a grade 2 listed property in a pleasant area where there was something of a community feel. It was definitely a des.res.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018I say we just get what we can for it and buy a small flat. We\u2019d have a bit to put by that way,\u2019 Joe was keen to get away from the costs of maintaining a listed property.<\/p>

\u2018Good idea, but you can\u2019t sell it with the roof like it is. And you\u2019d need matching slates, which cost a fortune.\u2019 Elizabeth was the realist.<\/p>

\u2018It doesn\u2019t make sense, sitting on a gold mine when we can\u2019t afford to heat it. Perhaps we could get a loan to do the roof. Then sell it.\u2019<\/p>

\u2018But we\u2019ve always lived round here. I like it. It would be hard to start all over again in a strange place.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

And so the serpent continued to swallow its tail. A circuit breaker was required.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Months slipped by, and the roof deteriorated. Property prices rose and the circular arguments continued, until Elizabeth read an article in her magazine about people who had retired to southern Spain and were living the life of Riley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Property\u2019s cheaper over there. So\u2019s food and wine, and the sun would be good for your arthritis.\u2019 Elizabeth the temptress was at work.<\/p>

\u2018Yes, but it\u2019s all olive oil and squid, and anyway, neither of us can speak Spanish.\u2019<\/p>

\u2018No need to speak Spanish, there are a lot of Brits in the housing development.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Long story short, the two abandoned the leaky roof, sold up and embarked on their viva Espana. It was an uncharacteristically bold plan and bought the two a small villa and a bit of cash to burn.  They were soon on nodding terms with a few neighbours and enjoyed the company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tail swallowing serpent went into temporary hibernation until it occurred to Joe that now he had cash in the bank, he should make a will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018We\u2019ll just leave everything to one another. No relations. No dependents. No problem.\u2019 Elizabeth, enjoying her afternoon pina colada, couldn\u2019t be fussed.<\/p>

\u2018Yes, but one of us will die first and the other will have the problem of who to leave it to.\u2019<\/p>

\u2018Well, if we\u2019re dead it won\u2019t be our problem, will it?\u2019<\/p>

\u2018That\u2019s not being responsible. is it?\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The serpent roused himself and started to place his tail in his jaws. Fortunately, serpents are not troubled by wealth or leaky roofs but they recognise a circular argument when they see one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Image Credits<\/strong> – Original images adapted for use by Swansea Writers<\/p>\n\n\n\nPhoto by Daria Nepriakhina<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a>\n \n\nPhoto by Rusty Watson<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The discussion always went round in circles like a serpent consuming its own tail. It was a tough problem, and becoming important that they found some solution, what with the cost of living crisis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10158782359051062_103813597863211":"","twitter_1225722811282530305_1225722811282530305":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[597,603],"tags":[608,609,11],"class_list":["post-1111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-597","category-february-2022-wealth","tag-elizabeth","tag-property","tag-was"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbrNJE-hV","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1111"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1111\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1114,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1111\/revisions\/1114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}