♫ Money, Money, Money...♫

Nineteen grand. All hundreds. Not something you see very often. Unless of course you win lotto, marry a millionaire, or hit an investment jackpot... or have a successful career in armed robbery, I guess.

We sold our Hilux this morning. The bloke phoned during the week, said he was coming down from Childers this weekend to look at another Hilux on the Sunshine Coast, and ours, if we still had it. He asked if we had the Safety Certificate and paperwork ready to go, because he'd be bringing cash (as long as Steve'd take $19 000 for it, a grand less than the $20 000 we'd advertised it for) and if he liked it, he'd take it straight away.

We had, and he did. He checked it out, took it for a test drive, signed the transfer papers, handed over an envelope full of cash, and drove off in his new car.

Normally banks try to talk you out of hanging onto that much cash. They try to steer you towards a bank cheque (which naturally attracts a fee, so that's better for them) or at the very least, direct deposit. Consequently, we've never seen this much cold hard cash in one place.

Why do people say "cold hard cash" ?? Sure, if you're talking coins, but notes? They're neither cold, nor hard. OK, so maybe I should say a "thick wad of cash", which, let's face it, it certainly was!

Steve and I had a chuckle about it after they'd left. It was just a little bit 'gangster' - his wife pulled this envelope (albeit an ANZ Bank envelope) containing a thick wad of cash done up with rubber bands, out of her handbag. "It's all there, you can count it", she says. It brings to mind scenes from movies. People just don't do that these days, so we had to take a photo for posterity.

You wouldn't believe the cheek of some people though. We'd advertised it for sale at $20 000. It was after all, a 2004 model, with only 86 thousand kms on the clock. Car yards would have been asking over $25 000, and if the paintwork had been pristine, we could have asked a few grand extra as well. As it was, it was nicely priced. Steve received a text on his mobile that said "Mate, I got $15 000. Worth coming to look?" Steve sent a text back "NO". Another bloke sent an email saying "I've got $17 000. I'll take it without the mag wheels and tyres." Seriously? ...um... NO!

$19 000 is probably a bit less that we need to get a decent turbo diesel ST-R Nissan Navara, but still a couple of grand more than the Hilux owed us, so you have to be happy with that!

This means that the hunt for a replacement vehicle can now begin in earnest... AGAIN !

I don't even want to think about that just yet.