Strokes, Tri’s, taxes and jokes

Someone I went to school with has recently suffered a stroke.  Our best wishes to Ken H and family at this difficult time.  Knowing him and his lovely wife Ann, they will rebuild their lives taking this in their stride.  Ken - get better soon my friend.

 The theme of this blog as a result is “carpe diem” (seize the day).  For us oldies, the corollary is “seize the initiative – screw the taxman”.  Let’s screw first and talk afterwards in a manner of speaking. Yes, I know we have to plan for the future, yes I know that there are tax efficient structures that require you to do this and that, but you know what?  The value of living now and enjoying people, places and events while you can is inestimable.   Carpe Diem.  Pah! I speet (spit) on your tax! Collect what you can.  Do your best!

In the spirit “seize the day”, I was lucky enough to be part of “the Velvet Cannons” and complete the 10K portion of the Noosa Tri.  The overall winner did had a time 1 hour 48 minutes which is truly magnificent.  I did the run in 58 minutes so my pace was hardly electric, but that’s not the point for this blog.  The elite athletes deserve respect, however for me the mass of people of all ages, sizes and shapes were the point of the Tri, now the second largest in the world (after 4 years).  I think we truly saw the human spirit at its best.  For example, a number of the swimmers were carrying a bit of weight, but they still did the 1.5 km swim.  That’s a long hard swim folks. The last swimmer was out of time, so the organizers let the bike leg start before she came in so that the team could finish with a time.  Good on yer Noosa Council and thank you. Carpe Diem! Sod the taxman.

This last month we’ve had good friends and family to stay – they all had to travel for long distances to just for little old us.  The effect on us has been electric - seeing life through different eyes, eating out, walks, runs and fine weather.  Just as an example, the Good Lord put on a light show just for us over the city – I found out that Buddy W’s photo taken on his camera was better than the shot I carefully assembled in my digital Canon 600 something or other.  The view was spectacular.  Enjoy!

A 2007 study found that the average Australian walks about 900 miles a year. Another study found that the average Australian drinks 22 gallons of beer a year. That means the average Australian gets about 41 miles per gallon.  Bloody good value that! My red wine mileage per gallon is down a bit on that.

Tommy Cooper Corner

Two heroin addicts injected themselves with curry powder by mistake - both are in intensive care...One has a dodgy tikka and the other one is in a korma.  Police arrested two youths in England – one was drinking battery acid and the other was eating fireworks.  They charged one and let the other one off! Boom! Boom! Don’t you just love life?