From The London Times:

A Well-Planned Retirement

Outside England 's Bristol Zoo there is a parking lot for 150 cars and 8 buses. For 25 years, its parking fees were managed by a very pleasant attendant.....

The fees for cars ($1.40), for buses (about $7).

Then, one day, after 25 solid years of never missing a day of work, he just didn't show up; so the zoo management called the city council and asked it to send them another parking agent.

The council did some research and replied that the parking lot was the zoo's own responsibility. The zoo advised the council that the attendant was a city employee.

The city council responded that the lot attendant had never been on the city payroll.

Meanwhile, sitting in his villa somewhere on the coast of Spain or France or Italy is a man who'd apparently had a ticket machine installed completely on his own and then had simply begun to show up every day, commencing to collect and keep the parking fees, estimated at about $560 per day — for 25 years.

Assuming 7 days a week, this amounts to just over $7 million dollars ..... and no one even knows his name.

According to www.snopes.com, this is false.

According to www.snopes.com, this is false.

Well done spotting this. It amazes me that nowadays people seem to believe anything that is passed to them in an email , however unlikely.

I wonder if it's an age thing? Most kids who've grown up with the internet know more than 80% of what you read is not true, but older people often don't get it, gleefully passing on chain letters and urban myths and (what I personally find most irritating) lists of crappy unfunny jokes that some bore has forwarded to them.

While stories like this are just mildly annoying, it becomes more serious when you realise that people who fall for this stuff are primed to be believe equally fictitious, and therefore potentially dangerous health advice and quack claims, put up by any charlatan who can afford $20 to hire some server space.

Here's part of the Snopes article: http://www.snopes.com/crime/clever/carpark.asp#C4c17h2eyQrxU6gB.99

"In reference to the Bristol Zoo, at least, this tale is purely the stuff of fiction rather than fact. The Bristol Zoo says it has never experienced any confusion over parking attendants, and that it has several attendants and more than one car park, none open to coaches. Moreover, in response to our inquiry about the tale, a Bristol Zoo representative told us:

We have had numerous similar enquiries lately but I can assure you that this rumour is not true.

A version of this story did appear in the Bristol Evening Post back in 2007, but it was as part of a feature on urban myths published to coincide with April Fool's Day, not as a reporting of a real-life event."

According to www.snopes.com, this is false.

Well done spotting this. It amazes me that nowadays people seem to believe anything that is passed to them in an email , however unlikely.

I wonder if it's an age thing? Most kids who've grown up with the internet know more than 80% of what you read is not true, but older people often don't get it, gleefully passing on chain letters and urban myths and (what I personally find most irritating) lists of crappy unfunny jokes that some bore has forwarded to them.

While stories like this are just mildly annoying, it becomes more serious when you realise that people who fall for this stuff are primed to be believe equally fictitious, and therefore potentially dangerous health advice and quack claims, put up by any charlatan who can afford $20 to hire some server space.

Here's part of the Snopes article: http://www.snopes.com/crime/clever/carpark.asp#C4c17h2eyQrxU6gB.99

"In reference to the Bristol Zoo, at least, this tale is purely the stuff of fiction rather than fact. The Bristol Zoo says it has never experienced any confusion over parking attendants, and that it has several attendants and more than one car park, none open to coaches. Moreover, in response to our inquiry about the tale, a Bristol Zoo representative told us:

We have had numerous similar enquiries lately but I can assure you that this rumour is not true.

A version of this story did appear in the Bristol Evening Post back in 2007, but it was as part of a feature on urban myths published to coincide with April Fool's Day, not as a reporting of a real-life event."

Gee it has really affected you this story hasn't it. Lighten up a little perhaps and don't take things so seriously.

According to www.snopes.com, this is false.

Well done spotting this. It amazes me that nowadays people seem to believe anything that is passed to them in an email , however unlikely.

I wonder if it's an age thing? Most kids who've grown up with the internet know more than 80% of what you read is not true, but older people often don't get it, gleefully passing on chain letters and urban myths and (what I personally find most irritating) lists of crappy unfunny jokes that some bore has forwarded to them.

While stories like this are just mildly annoying, it becomes more serious when you realise that people who fall for this stuff are primed to be believe equally fictitious, and therefore potentially dangerous health advice and quack claims, put up by any charlatan who can afford $20 to hire some server space.

Here's part of the Snopes article: http://www.snopes.com/crime/clever/carpark.asp#C4c17h2eyQrxU6gB.99

"In reference to the Bristol Zoo, at least, this tale is purely the stuff of fiction rather than fact. The Bristol Zoo says it has never experienced any confusion over parking attendants, and that it has several attendants and more than one car park, none open to coaches. Moreover, in response to our inquiry about the tale, a Bristol Zoo representative told us:

We have had numerous similar enquiries lately but I can assure you that this rumour is not true.

A version of this story did appear in the Bristol Evening Post back in 2007, but it was as part of a feature on urban myths published to coincide with April Fool's Day, not as a reporting of a real-life event."

Gee it has really affected you this story hasn't it. Lighten up a little perhaps and don't take things so seriously.

Yes I agree, good point.

I do tend to let my annoyance at all the bad health stuff I read on here spill over onto things that are not important at all.

It is true it doesn't matter at all if people want to spread made up stories around as a recreation, so I'll keep out of these kinds of posts in future...

All the best.

According to www.snopes.com, this is false.

Well done spotting this. It amazes me that nowadays people seem to believe anything that is passed to them in an email , however unlikely.

I wonder if it's an age thing? Most kids who've grown up with the internet know more than 80% of what you read is not true, but older people often don't get it, gleefully passing on chain letters and urban myths and (what I personally find most irritating) lists of crappy unfunny jokes that some bore has forwarded to them.

While stories like this are just mildly annoying, it becomes more serious when you realise that people who fall for this stuff are primed to be believe equally fictitious, and therefore potentially dangerous health advice and quack claims, put up by any charlatan who can afford $20 to hire some server space.

Here's part of the Snopes article: http://www.snopes.com/crime/clever/carpark.asp#C4c17h2eyQrxU6gB.99

"In reference to the Bristol Zoo, at least, this tale is purely the stuff of fiction rather than fact. The Bristol Zoo says it has never experienced any confusion over parking attendants, and that it has several attendants and more than one car park, none open to coaches. Moreover, in response to our inquiry about the tale, a Bristol Zoo representative told us:

We have had numerous similar enquiries lately but I can assure you that this rumour is not true.

A version of this story did appear in the Bristol Evening Post back in 2007, but it was as part of a feature on urban myths published to coincide with April Fool's Day, not as a reporting of a real-life event."

Gee it has really affected you this story hasn't it. Lighten up a little perhaps and don't take things so seriously.

Yes I agree, good point.

I do tend to let my annoyance at all the bad health stuff I read on here spill over onto things that are not important at all.

It is true it doesn't matter at all if people want to spread made up stories around as a recreation, so I'll keep out of these kinds of posts in future...

All the best.

Nurse! Someone's left to door open again.

Thanks, KrisB...it was a pleasant laugh.

At least Rob sees the humour in it!

I see the humor

In Rob seeing the humor

In it.

Well, here's a true story. For much of my life there was a man perhaps 30 years older than I was who rode a bicycle around town picking up cans and bottles apparently for their deposit return value. That's 5 cents each and has never changed.

He used a rope for a belt, and bought his clothing at a charity thrift shop (used donations.) His bike was outfitted with wire baskets front and back for whatever he could pick up.

He had an old 40 acre (100 rai) farm of good farmland and an old unpainted wood house from about the 1880's. That's old considering this part of the US wasn't settled until the mid-late 1800's. The house was a shack.

When he died he left a will to unspecified charity for $7 million dollars in cash plus his farm. The court formed a foundation and a good friend of mine is on that foundation's board. The money is invested and a bit of it has been used to build a big community baseball site with several playing fields on his farm. The foundation decides what giving to do, and it's usually to the Historical Society.

The guy saved every dime he could find and with the magic of compound interest, and a pretty good knowledge of the stock market, he had amassed a fortune. Neither his bank nor his stockbroker ever let people know he had a dime, as well they shouldn't have.

True story.

I see the humor

In Rob seeing the humor

In it.

It's heartening to know

that there is someone in this world

who is just as easily

amused as

I

am.