GOODS AND SERVICES (2)

A month or so ago, I said that I thought that goods had become too cheap, and that services had become too expensive.

Yesterday I bought some socks for kr.69.79 (or just over £8). However, not one pair, but ten pairs. How people can grow cotton, make a pair of socks in Bangladesh or wherever, ship them halfway around the world, and then sell them for kr.5.58 ex-VAT is beyond me.

By contrast, my mother-in-law wanted a gardening job done. She has a beech hedge which surrounds her house. In amongst the hedge, at regular intervals, are 10-12 young trees, about the size of our apple tree in the photo below. Having reached head height, the trees needed pruning and shaping, so that from now on they grow straight and symmetrically. Not a particularly demanding job, if you know what you are doing (I offered to do it for free, but she wanted a professional). It cost kr.6,000 + VAT for a day's work.

I rest my case.

Walter Blotscher