£400 to spend on...

[Marco Stefano]

...what?

£400 gift from employers is arriving, owing to 20 years of hard labour (good grief  ). It is a bonus, Jim, but not as we know it; not cash, not white goods or paying utility bill, but something in the way of a present to oneself, either vouchers, or buy and claim.

Bearing in mind I already have tourer, hardtail, fixed, Twenty and no more room for n+1 due to the other 3 bikes & trailers in the garage  , your cycling-related ideas, please...

Ta.

[Tim]

Custom paintjob/chroming/decorating to make one of the current n look like the way you feel it could.

[chris]

A weeks cycling in the spring - somewhere warm.

[Redlight]

A unicycle and a year's insurance against knee, ankle and groin injuries while you learn to ride it

[Charlotte]

I faced this a couple of years ago.  They wanted me to choose a loyalty gift from a catalogue of stuff that they give out.  Problem was, I really didn't want any of the stuff on the website.  It was all glass decanters, picture frames and carriage clocks.  Nice stuff, but utterly useless.

But I had to have something tangible, apparently.  So in the end I reached an agreement that they would buy me the new Oakleys that I really wanted.  They were horribly expensive photochromic ones, with spare lenses.  Lovely cycling specs 

[teethgrinder]

You could always buy any old tosh that you don't want, but could make you a good deal of lolly on ebay, then pocket the loot.

[Marco Stefano]

Thank you all, the usual mix of, er... creative ideas. 

New cycling shoes & pedals is a thought, and I might actually lose my 'what is in the sale?' mentality for once.   

Off topic, I thought this morning of a new acoustic guitar... Hmmm.

A blank sheet of paper is a blessing & a curse for me. I have enough trouble buying anything as it is - always more information & comparisons required. 

Note to self: JFDI. JFDI. JFDI. It's not really your money.

[Charlotte]

Oh yes - new guitar.  Good call!

[geoff]

Oh yes - new guitar.  Good call!

+1 to that... before going on holiday this year I spent a happy lunchtime in our local guitar emporium looking for a "picnic guitar" and was very impressed at how inexpensively (around £200) one can buy a nice-sounding solid-top acoustic, these days. So £400 can get you a lot of guitar, if you shop around.

[Regulator]

Or you could get a banjo and join the YACF band of web-toed uncle-marriers 'eccentric' musicians...  

[Charlotte]

Clearly you've heard about Phil's new five course Puerto Rican Cuatro  

[Marco Stefano]

Or you could get a banjo ...

I have had a mandolin for about 20 years, my bruvver has guitars, dobro & just had a ukelele for his birthday (turned out nice again), my uvver bruvver has one of Paco Pena's rejects (he tries 6 and picks one, the rest are sold) and a lute.

Are we in?

[rogerzilla]

If I survive until 1/10/10, I have the same dilemma, except it's £500 and can ONLY be taken in the form of vouchers for shops I never use 

I will have to work out a trade with someone for cash.

[Charlotte]

But I've always seen you as a Louis Vuitton sort of a guy, Roger...