The GUARDIAN has an article about a gannet, whom humans named Nigel, who lived a lonely life on a New Zealand island surrounded by replica gannets. It’s a good human interest story, but not I think a tragedy. Nigel may not have been the brightest of birds.
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Ron sent me the above photo, taken at a Costco. When I first saw it I thought the price was $2,000 and wondered who would go to Costco to buy a bottle of whisky that expensive—a billionaire bargain hunter? In a subsequent email Ron corrected my misperception. The bottle is priced at $20,000. Well, actually a dollar less to appeal to bargain hunters. He and I are going to see if they will give us a case discount.
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A few days ago I telephoned BoatUS with whom GANNET is insured to notify them that she is now based in South Carolina. I don’t believe in insurance really of any kind and expect that if the entire industry vanished, prices for goods and services, particularly health care, would drop dramatically, but you have to have your boat insured to be in marinas and boat yards.
I was pleased, but not surprised, to learn that moving from Florida to South Carolina will cut my annual premium by more than half and entitle me to a refund of $116 for the current year.
I’ve now had GANNET insured in four states: Illinois, California, Florida and South Carolina. The premium in Florida was almost three times greater than any other state. I asked the agent if that was because of hurricanes and was told only partially. The primary cause is that Florida is a “high claim” state.
Could that possibly have anything to do with all those little power boats with two or three 300 horsepower outboards and too many beer can holders?
Booze is more expensive in South Carolina that I am used to. The savings on boat insurance will help compensate.
