In 1969 Walter Annenberg was appointed as Ambassador to the Court of St. James. In other words, he became the American Ambassador in London. He apparently did many good things but the only memory most people have of him is that he disinterred the word "refurbishment". Prior to that, no decent English person would have used such an irritating, pompous word. They would have said "renovated". He has a lot to answer for.
The conversation was with Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second and went as follows:
Her Majesty: I understand you have not been able to move into the embassy yet because it needs some work doing?
That was 55 years ago but I can remember hearing it with crystal clarity - as for what I had for breakfast this morning, no idea.
Where was I? Oh yes, I was going to tell you about the dangers of buying a ruin which you hope to renovate.The first thing to realise is that a wise man does not learn from his mistakes, he learns by observing the mistakes of others. Me in this case.
I won't bore you with the details as it is like every other house renovation project. All you need to know is the following
It will take you three times as long and three times as much money to renovate even after you have allowed for that fact
So that would be nine times as long and nine times as much. Let's just call it the "Ten Times Rule" for simplicity
I have just saved ten years of your life and your marriage
Bob Cory
Modified on 22/01/2025 at 11:27:28 by ℗ Bob Cory