I'd make up some story to explain enough of a windfall to be able to quit my job. Maybe say I'd won a much smaller prize, or the £10k a month prize. Good enough money to be able to claim anything I buy is mostly on credit that's easily covered.
Working remotely I'd just stop logging on for work and see how long it takes them to notice. Likewise I might let DP crack on with work until the end of the week, see if she notices.
£208m is too much money really. Not that I would complain. I would be beyond content to go and buy any of the houses we've been looking at in our area for the last six months but weighing up whether the expense is something we want to commit to. With £208m the temptation would be there to go out and buy a big mansion with lots of land, lots of empty space to upkeep, lots of security to arrange. Don't think that's us.
Get financial advice. You wouldn't even need to invest £208m in any way considered smart to live off the interest. 0.1% of £208m is £200k a year. May not be a lot to some but that's an insane low amount of interest, without even touching the capital. I'm not even sure a high street bank would let you hold that amount in a run of the mill 3% savings account, but even that would be over £6m a year.
I'd find a way to help family and friends without blowing the story. Maybe some way to put it in a trust and drip feed it so it's not a lump up front.
I'd love to set up businesses and charities related to my passions, find people who share those passions and pay them handsomely. There's a story of a CEO in the US who raised wages across the board rather than paying shareholders and management more in mega wages and big bonuses. Feels like there's a need for that more than ever.
And the thing is, I've never liked working. I work in an area I've always been passionate about, loved it at school, loved it through an apprenticeship and I've been very lucky to have made a career for as long as I have. But I've seen people much more driven and ambitious than me. I don't like having to clock in and out and have to do the bits I don't like. Even when I worked for myself I wasn't really working for myself, I was working for my clients.
So I'd set up these companies and charities to run without much input from me. Hire people who know what they're doing. I'd just turn up and sit around when I get bored at home. But the freedom to be able to choose to do that is what appeals. I want a day, a week, a month to do absolutely nothing? The choice is there.
I'd travel too, with DP. Try nice hotels. Try hotels that aren't so nice but we'd agonise about booking. Try luxury holidays, try holidays where we just decide the next place to move on to on a whim. Try airBnB, or renting places out for weeks or months at a time. I'm sure to own a Hollywood mansion or New York City penthouse apartment would be mind blowing, but then you're tied to those places. I'd rent or lease to try different places.
I've read people get bored, blow windfalls, it makes them more depressed. But I've never been a bitter person. I don't need to work to feel fulfilled. A win is basically a cheat code for life isn't it? You could enjoy your life with your partner, make your kids, friends, family's lives easier. Make strangers lives easier.
And we could finally get a new kitchen.