Penny Millionaire Project - Week 59

Well, now autumn's here, we've been having a big spring clean at the GAAPweb offices.

I came into work on Monday and passed a gargantuan pile of rubbish in the corridor. There were seagulls circling it, it was that big.

Awestruck, I arrived at my desk. There was yet more awe. Sat in the middle of my desk was a clear plastic cup almost full of coppers, and next to it a blue mug half-full of coppers.

By the side of them was a Post-it, on which Kirsty had helpfully written 'from Secs in the City + their clear up'. Secs in the City reside in the offices upstairs, and are good pals of GAAPweb. Even better ones now.

The clear plastic cup contained a massive £1.56 in pennies, 26p in 2ps and an inevitable copper-coloured, practically penny-sized 5 Euro cent coin (worth about 4p).

The blue mug had 50p in pennies plus 94p in 2ps.

What an absolute bonanza.

And that isn't even the end of it.

Also on my desk were two more Post-its. One had a 5p and a 2p on, and Kirsty had written 'from my drawer during the big clean up'. The other was from Maz, with a penny she'd found on the bus seat on her way into work.

Later on, Simon found 3p on top of the fridge. Clean up? I certainly did.

Week Fifty-nine

How much found: £3.41

Total found so far: £47.02

How it could now be spent: a Japanese black Hakama suit.

Take a look at this. The sleepy old BBC news page has finally caught on...

Penny Millionaire Project - Week 58

Tuesday - I was sprint-walking back to work after lunch (I'd had a grande coffee at Starbucks...), when I chanced upon a shiny penny sitting on the pavement of Kensington High Street, amid the feet of busy lunchbreakers.

Coffee, much the same as alcohol does, turns me into someone perpetually amused, positive and bold, so I swiped that one with abandon.

Got back to the office, grinning, and Maz had also found a penny at lunch. See? It pays to be positive.

Wednesday, Maz found a 2p as we walked up to the pub after work. Later on, inside the pub, she found a penny on the bar that I'd just been served at and completely missed.

Thursday I arrived at my desk and was met by the customary once-weekly Post-it. This one was from Kirsty, and said "a penny found under a bench on the grassy bit outside while I ate a potato on Wednesday".

Week Fifty-eight

How much found: 6p

Total found so far: £43.61

How it could now be spent: a Wolfcraft adjustable trolley.

Your job making you off your trolley? Find a lovely new one.

Penny Millionaire Project - Week 57

A beautifully democratic week this week. Nearly all my regular contributors feature, as well as myself, and there are finds nearly every day. Consequently we have a nice healthy total.

Monday morning, Kirsty came in with 5p she'd found at Clapham Junction station as she was buying coffee.

Tuesday, Nix gave me 2p she'd "found" by her desk - though seconds earlier she'd been fumbling in her pockets for money...

Wednesday, Iain strolled over and held out a penny. His 15 month old daughter found it at Lambeth Country Fair. She picked it up, and, confounding all expectations, didn't try and eat it, but gave it straight to her dad. She knows the rules - Iain made them perfectly clear to her after beating her to a penny in week 51.

He tells me he's trained her to look at nursery too, and she's really keen. Apparently she now often passes him raisins and bits of fluff. This is very cute, but does make me feel a bit like Fagin.

Thursday morning - Maz came in and gave me a penny her dad and boyfriend had found in a coffee shop in London Bridge, as well as a 20p she'd found on the way to a restaurant. She'd had to double back for it alongside a line of traffic waiting at the lights. Good girl.

Thursday after lunch, I came in reeling after an encounter with a man in a newsagents. I'd been browsing through the papers when I felt a presence at my left shoulder. I turned to look and a man was stood watching me. I uttered a cheery, if wary, greeting, and he replied... "are you one of us?".

Now, I wasn't sure what to make of this. I didn't know if I was being headhunted by MI5, mistaken for a Mason, recruited for the Guardian Angels or what. I was excited. "What's one of you?" I asked.

His reply was not even one I'd considered.

"AA. Alcoholic."

I told him not yet and left.

Back at work, Nix was waiting with a penny she'd found at Earl's Court tube station. She said it was wet when she picked it up, so she'd washed it for me. Aaw.

Saturday - I did my bit for the project, finding a penny on a twilight walk near my home.

Sunday, I was walking back from town when I found a 20p outside the brilliantly named "Birdi News" newsagents.

Week Fifty-seven

How much found: 51p

Total found so far: £43.55

How it could now be spent: a Thistle Topped Imitation Stag Antler Sgian Dubh.

Penny Millionaire Project - Week 56

I feel like I'm saying this a lot lately, but sorry for the absence of Penny Millionaire last week. Unfortunately for me I was at the garage having my broken car window regulator replaced (a car electrics moron before, I now know more than I ever wanted to about this particular problem).

I went to pick my car up, effecting as best as I could the appearance of someone assertive, worldly, no-nonsense and impossible to dupe, but it seems I won't be getting into RADA any time soon. The mechanic led me into his little lair and presented me with a bill for more than double the price I'd been quoted!

As he talked me through the massive bill, I noticed he also had on his desk what looked like another invoice, filled out with the original breakdown of costs I'd been given.

The assertiveness kicked in for real. I now need to go and get my car window fixed somewhere else.

Still, Tuesday morning, things got better. I came into work to be greeted by two notes on my desk. One was a lengthy missive on notepaper and the other a shorter one on a fluorescent orange Post-It.

The one on notepaper was from Vic, and had £1.05 on it. She'd found a pound on the floor of the Coast changing rooms in Selfridges, and 5p by the tills in the Selfridges food hall.

The Post-It was from Maz, and had a penny on top that she'd found in the pub.

Week Fifty-six

How much found: £1.06

Total found so far: £43.04

How it could now be spent: a radiator for a Rover 100 series (snap it up! The price'll be nearer £100 by Tuesday)

Penny Millionaire Project - Week 55

Monday - I was having the sort of afternoon that made me long for infancy. I quite fancied being left alone to pour liquids between different receptacles, whack seats with wooden spoons and make magic potions out of mouthwash and talc. Sadly, if you try and do any of these things in the workplace, questions get asked. I decided to compromise and get some crisps and fizzy pop.

I took all the web team's orders and went upstairs to the vending machine. I fed the money in for Maz's (Diet Coke and ready salted crisps if you want to know), pressed the relevant buttons and they tumbled out obediently. I put my money in and pressed the button for a Diet Coke, which fell to the bottom with an angry thud. This was all going really well.

I pressed to get some salt and vinegar crisps, and the machine whirred into action. Then the crisps decided they were in the mood for a bit of fun.

Instead of doing what they'd been asked, they made it look like they were going to come out far enough to drop, but stopped just short and dangled at the end of the spirally thing. I swear I heard a little crispy giggle.

All at once I felt deprived, incredulous, victimised and bitter, like someone had just picked up my dinner, ate half of it and pushed the rest into my face.

With all the righteous anger I could muster, I shook the machine. Not only did the crisps fall out, but the machine coughed out a 20p that wasn't mine. Ha ha.

Friday, Maz handed over a penny she'd found on Sunday outside Waterstone's in Clapham Junction station.

Week Fifty-five

How much found: 21p

Total found so far: £41.98

How it could now be spent: a pair of Hoggs of Fife Moleskin Breeks (well, anything Madonna can do...)

Apologies for the absence of Penny Millionaire last week. I was at the wedding of two of my very good friends - congratulations Rob and Jennie!

Penny Millionaire Project - Week 54

Thursday - I returned to work after having taken a day off to get work done on a tooth I'd smashed (life really does work in cycles doesn't it?) to find 2 notes on my desk, one on a pink Post-it and the other on a sheet of notepaper. Both of them looked like they could have been love letters...

They weren't of course. They had coins on them. Unless you're getting a love letter from someone really desperate and really cheap, you're unlikely to receive declarations of love with a few coins piled hopefully on top.

One from was from Vic and one from Nix. Vic's detailed a penny she'd found at West Ken tube station and Nix's was all about three 5 pences she'd found - one just inside the gate at Glastonbury, one "somewhere else in Glasto.... have no recollection where...." and one outside her house upon returning from Glastonbury.

Lucky for me the festival attracts such an affluent crowd these days. Ten years ago the layabouts would have had Nix's hand off for those 5ps. Or maybe it's time for me to stop reading the Daily Mail.

After lunch on Thursday, Nix delivered again with a pretty penny she'd found at lunchtime.

Week Fifty-four

How much found: 17p

Total found so far: £41.77

How it could now be spent: one night in a standard room at the Drury Inn, Jackson, Missouri.

Got the urge to run away? Why not take a look at our overseas jobs?

Penny Millionaire Project - Week 53

Would you believe it, just the one this week. Difficult times we're living in.

Monday, Dave gave me a penny he'd found by the fire escape just outside our office. He surmises that someone must have dropped it as they were fleeing for their life, but I'm sure I'd have heard more about that.

Actually I'm not altogether convinced I would have noticed. I've been living such an insular little half-life lately. Maybe it's time to shake things up a bit, make this project a bit more exciting.

How can I give the project a shot in the arm, get to this million a bit faster? Any suggestions?

Week Fifty-three

How much found: 1p

Total found so far: £41.60

How it could now be spent: a Rucanor heart rate monitor, so I can make sure I'm still alive.

Feel life's passing you by? Get out of your comfort zone and find a new job.

Penny Millionaire Project - Week 52

Well here we are, Week 52 of the project. When I started all this a year ago, I had no idea it'd still be going strong after all this time. But yep, people are still scattering their money willy-nilly. I ask you, have no lessons been learned? Enough faux-indignance now, I'm very pleased.

Monday - Maz handed over a 2p she'd found on Saturday near her flat. She tells me that bending over to get it was the most active thing she did all Saturday (she'd had a little drink the night before).

Tuesday morning proved even more profitable. First of all, Maz gave me a penny she'd found by the bus stop as she hopped off the bus after work. Then Vic, not to be outdone, handed over a shiny 20p she'd also found at a bus stop. Not her usual bus stop, as it happens, but a different one she'd gone to because she "couldn't be bothered to cross the road".

Wednesday - a bright yellow flash out of the corner of my eye as I was hard at work. I looked to my left and saw a pile of coins had been hastily set down on the far corner of my desk.

In this pile were the following coins:

20 Australian cents (roughly 10p)

50 Euro cents (roughly 40p)

10 Euro cents (roughly 8p)

1 Euro (roughly 80p).

No wonder Simon beat a hasty retreat. He's turned me into one of those collection boxes that cabin crew bring round at the end of your flight to stick all your useless foreign coins in.

I approached him to ask where exactly he'd found that lot, and he swore he'd found it all in his desk tidy when he started at GAAPweb.

Well, this prompted a flurry of activity among the Account Management team.

I circled their table, hands outstretched like a strangely unerotic stripper, as they all shoved money into my open palms. A penny from Dave, a US cent from Kim, 30 Euro cents and a penny from Gemma, and 16p plus a US dollar from Nick.

I'm going to have to disregard that US cent (sorry Kim) because it converts to 0.5 of a penny, and that doesn't add any real value to the pot. I'll keep it as my good-luck charm, and therein will lie its value.

The rest of the Account Management booty adds up to a massive 92p once converted into sterling.

Week Fifty-two

How much found: £2.53

Total found so far: £41.59

How it could now be spent: a 12 year old bottle of Dalmore whisky. Happy birthday project!

Penny Millionaire Project - Week 51

Please forgive the brevity of today's blog. There's not a great deal to report. Maybe credit crunch cautiousness has kicked in since last week. It could be that everyone's out there scrabbling around for pennies and getting to them before me. Thankfully there were a couple of pickings to keep us going.

Monday - Nix came in with a penny she'd found in the corridor down to the easyJet lounge at Glasgow Airport.

Tuesday, I'd just got back from lunch when Iain marched over to me, put 2p down on my desk and boomed the following:

"Parking the buggy at the buggy shed, turned around and saw this. It was between me and a 14-month-old. I won the race."

A little monologue which, I think, probably tells you quite a lot about Iain.

Week Fifty-one

How much found: 3p

Total found so far: £39.06

How it could now be spent: a Le Creuset Round Grillet pan in Almond.

Credit crunch or no credit crunch, I'm coming back brighter next week.

Penny Millionaire Project - Week 50

Thursday - Maz had been at a GAAPweb corporate event the previous night, schmoozing and boozing. She'd clearly kept her wits about her, because I was again greeted in the morning by a Post-It, on which was written 'Found this on the bar last night' and an arrow leading to a 2p.

Now I've seen Maz when she's had a drink, and I know that the complicated motor function it must have taken to pick such a tiny object up can't have been easy for her. Bravo Maz.

Trudging home on Thursday, I unfortunately noticed a 2p that was sat in some guttering after it had been raining. I'm still picking grit out of my jeans pocket.

Friday, Dan was moving desk. Well, that's what he said, but as far I can see he's still there. Maybe he just meant he'd decided to push it a little bit, I don't know. Anyway, he came over soon after with a 5p he'd found under his hard drive.

Friday was, by any measure, a taxing day. Completely drained, Kirsty and I decided we needed succour, urgently. The kind we needed could only be provided by a loved one, or the pub. In the absence of loved ones, we were driven to seek comfort in drink.

We'd been in the pub a couple of hours, long enough to drown our ill-humour in a sea of wine and vegetable biriani, when we decided it was probably time to go. I went to pick up my bag from under the table, and right there beside it, leaning into it, like Thumper cosying up to Bambi, was a £10 note.

It was like the universe was telling me I'd suffered, and now it was time to rejoice. No scrub that, it wasn't as ethereal. It was weirder than that, because it was far more worldly. What was really happening was that the universe, in its all-seeing, market-aware wisdom, had decided to pay me overtime!

The second ten pound note of the project, and both of them found on days when I'd been feeling mopey and sorry for myself. Not much incentive to be happy now, is it?

Week Fifty

How much found: £10.09

Total found so far: £39.03

How it could now be spent: a 4-hour "Sibelius' Home and Art Nouveau" tour in Helsinki (I'd have to get there first, but there's always next week's cash - I'm practising being really miserable in the hope of a £50 find...)