Money madness

So on Friday afternoon I'm doing the usual freelancer thing of anxiously checking my bank account every hour or two, to see if the money I was owed by the National Gallery of Victoria for a two-hour DJ set a couple of weeks ago had been deposited yet. Eventually it was - followed immediately afterwards by an additional NGV payment of $15,000!

To say I was flabbergasted is an understatement. Fifteen grand? Fuck!

As you can imagine, I had a moment of temptation where I thought 'Spend it! Pay off all your debts and spend it!' I didn't of course. It would have been wrong, and also, sooner or later, someone at the NGV would have noticed the mistake, and I would have had to pay the money back. But it was bloody tempting all the same. I could have visited friends in Ireland and Scotland and Sweden and Berlin...

Ah well.

This morning, having been emailed the NGV's bank account details, I strolled down to Smith Street and the local branch of my bank to work out the easiest way of transfering the money over. Turns out the quickest and cheapest way of doing it was to withdraw it as cash, walk next door to the Commonwealth Bank, and pay it into the Gallery's account.

Thus, for the first and probably only time in my life, I walked out onto the street carrying $15,000 in a plain white envelope. It suddenly occured to me that I should have arranged for a friend to mug me, and split the proceeds with them afterwards...

Of course I didn't, and the money was safely deposited, and my own bank account balance is back to its usual meagre state. Nonetheless I have the warm inner glow of knowing I did the right thing. And if nothing else I now know how heavy $15,000 in cash feels in my hand. I just wish I'd taken a photo.