RETIREMENT

Is there such a thing as ‘retirement’?  Is ‘ceasing to work’ a good life thing?  Do I turn off my ‘lifetime of work’ brain?  How much bad golf can I endure?  Will my new 24 / 7 family life spring up communication unknowns?  Am I too old to contribute?  How long can I both physically and mentally do stuff?  What if I become a burden?  Can I nurse my wife if need be? Will the dog outlive me?

All valid questions as we prepare for a certain and miserable death with years of imagined physical and mental hardships all endured before the final second.  Oh woe is me!

But, and fortunately before death, there is life and even more life.  Life comes first!!  Every moment is precious.  Death is just the microsecond finale of life lived.

There are several great sayings, ‘live for the moment’, ‘planning stops remorse’ and ‘fill every hour with sixty minutes worth of distance run’. 

So, simple, create a staged contingency plan whilst enjoying every moment of actual breathing by doing stuff.  Don’t turn off the work brain as it won’t anyway, get golf lessons, be nice to the dog and stand up straight whilst taking a deep breath and go forth.    Good moments disappear unless we savour them. 

Retire or stop work? Not a chance.

Being able to contribute through ‘work’ is life affirming and stops us becoming age invisible.  Buy a car without tinted windows as it’s not a cocoon or a coffin.   Enjoy the world.

We will all just fall of the perch at sometime hopefully a long way away and in perfect health. 

The Trump Vance war

America is creating global meltdown through a trade war.

Global exchanges are in turmoil as Trump threatens Tariffs starting tomorrow.  What/if scenarios are being played at stock markets everywhere.  Indeed, American companies have already dropped millions [reported as 1.8%].  There is global unrest over the unpredictability of Trump and his obvious isolationist policies which will trigger global retaliation further hurting the American people. How can one person be allowed to create havoc in a democracy?  Obvious answer is that America has become a dictatorship aligned to communism and other world despots.  Vance and Musk are second tier puppets mimicking their overlord. 

Trump pointing his finger at Zelenskyy whilst yelling over him shows another Trump trait of attempted physical intimidation trying to gain rant ascendency.  This is pathetic and shows he has not advanced beyond a 10 year old learning respect whilst debating.

TRUMP / VANCE DYSFUNCTION

ADDENDUM TO PREVIOUS ARTICLE BELOW

It got worse.  The Trump / Vance duo of lying stupidity were flexing their 10 year old brains trying to yell down a world leader who was and is doing everything to save his country.  A leader who has actually done something and deserves international recognition, unlike Trump / Vance.  In the face of a million dead through an illegal invasion, the Trump / Vance morons berated Zelenskyy for not wearing a suit yet neither berated Musk for his fashion choices.  Go figure!   This is play pen behaviour and beyond moronic and clearly proves the Trump /Vance morons have redefined narcissism, pronoia and deserve the title, ‘common as muck’.  The ego led disrespect they showed Zelenskyy was a huge blow to being human.

Trump / Vance have obviously taken the communist oath of allegiance working with Putin to aid Russia to illegally invade Ukraine and steal their country. This is gutless and obscene.  It forces the world to view Americans as turncoats dedicated to rising communist isolationism.  And, this is apart from showing any actual intelligence amply demonstrated by constantly shooting the messenger and yelling over the top of others.  This is 10 year old stuff!  Take Trump blaming the police for the capital riots whilst pardoning the dropkicks already sentenced through the courts for proven heinous acts.  I suppose one has to protect one’s supporters evn if they are low life.

America has been a stalwart of democracy since WW2 but has now devolved to ‘less’, ‘much less’.  Pity.  Actual actions no longer match egos.

The EU, along with the rest of the real world, has let this happen because it was easy  with Americans constantly telling us how good they were.  Trump / Vance have exploded that myth.

Russia, North Korea and China are beside themselves with joy and happiness because the Trump / Vance egomanics have kicked over the play pit bucket with multiple juvenile hissy fits moving towards isolationism also fabricated by ‘tariffs’ which have never been successful because governments have been forced to cash support affected industries and prices go up because stuff is dearer to buy.

Where are the big people, the adults who actually understand?

As long as world leaders pontificate at length, obfuscate and offer ‘we must’ statements, dripping with Machiavellian traits [interpersonal manipulation, an indifference to morality, a lack of empathy and a calculated focus on self interest] we are in trouble.

Trump /Vance have devolved to this level and need help to extricate themselves before they start WW3.

A place to be ….

The single most important life enhancer we have as a human being is to create our own personal nurturing space more commonly known as ‘the bolt hole’.  This could be a 20 bedroom mansion or a caravan somewhere nice - doesn’t matter!!  Indeed, it owns us and we own it because we are attuned to that spot.  It’s ours, somewhere safe to foster and encapsulate deep relaxation and thought.

Why a place to be?  The human condition demands a place to think, fathom the unfathomable and to accept where we are and where we want to be.

We emerge from our chrysalis state out of said bolt hole and metamorphosis into our future where thinking and planning come to fruition and we embrace life.  Stand up straight, take a deep breath and go out and play!  Wow.

But, like all of life, beware the usurper with a personal agenda to disrupt our metamorphosis for their own nefarious ends.  Horrible people obviously without a place to be.  Ignore them with a smile whilst taking that deep breath.

We all need a place to be and it’s not under a bridge!

Turning 8 ‘a tangle of boys’

 

Wow, not 7 anymore, now I am 8 and obviously grown up.  Grown up enough to have heckled Dad for months to drive myself and a around 8 others to Luna Park where fairy floss and hot dogs could be consumed all at once before rides which hopefully would not tempt the contents of my stomach to deliver the second coming.

It all started well until Dad’s company car died and he was presented with a Hillman Minx as a temporary replacement.  The Minx was half the size.  No longer could we fit 5 kids across the back bench seat with Dad and another 4 smelly boys in the front. No seat belts – no issue.

But in the spirit of collective insanity 8 boys were delivered to our home by not-so-keen fathers after seeing the magnificent Minx.

We all fitted.  The back seat became a veritable tangle of 6 boys all practicing for the national ‘passing of wind’ competition.  An experience to remember.  Needless to say Dad’s window was always down as he inched his nostrils towards clean air freedom and he had another 3 boys with him in the front determined also to keep the ‘passing of wind’ practice alive or, dead.  Something must have died in the car, surely.

Still we got to Luna Park and spilled out of the Minx only to be confronted by, ‘heaven’.  Hot dogs, fairy floss and coke all to be consumed at once and at speed in the hope for more of the same.   Then the ghost boat ride which frightened the crap out of us but never never admitted it followed by the spinning room where the floor disappeared whilst we were glued to the wall and then the Big Dipper.  Stomach, not too bad but tender.  Next, the moving floor required balance and lots of personal movement.  This spelt trouble but bravado won through. Sort of.

Dad, in his infinite wisdom, could see the complexion change of 9 boys from sort of suntanned to ghostly pale and he knew it had nothing to do with the ghost train.  Oops. The inside of the borrowed Minx was in trouble.  Funny how 9 smelly boys went quiet-ish.

I remember Dad asking us, with smirk, if we wanted anything more to eat and we just looked at him in disbelief.  Couldn’t he see we were slowly dying?

After a brief colour returning respite sitting on the footpath outside Luna Park we bundled back into the mighty Minx for the ride home.  The out of control very loud tangle had turned into a messy but quiet jumble looking forward to standing on solid not moving ground.  

What a day!  Turning 8 with a bang and that memory has survived 69 years.  Wahoo.

Trump, a lost little boy

 

Why has Trump now become a Putin puppet and mouthpiece?

It’s so obvious it’s ridiculous.  Just 3 examples in the last few days …

Putin wants to get rid of Zelenskyy  [as is his habit of ‘removing’ strong opposition].  But this time it’s Trump doing Putin’s bidding trying to remove Zelenskyy by lying about his approval rating of 4% when it’s actually 57%.  Active disinformation to create unrest in someone else’s sovereign nation. This is designed to incite rebellion and is just plain sedition and carries a gaol term.  Why?

Putin desperately wants to be seen as the victim so as to avoid sanctions on Russia.  To achieve that, Trump now agrees with Putin that Ukraine started the invasion / war despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.  Trump is obviously a liar in full knowledge of the facts and is attempting to support Russia’s illegal invasion.  Why?

Putin and Trump want to control everything as any despot does. Therefore Zelenskyy was deliberately excluded from ‘talks’ between Trump and Putin regarding his country, Ukraine.  This is beyond stupid.  Trump has become a ‘boot licker’ to Putin.  Why?  Ego’s abound.

Key question .. ‘Why has the USA as a past pillar of democracy now embraced communism by supporting a pariah communist state controlled by someone whose political opposition just disappears or is landed in gaol without valid charge?’  Trump is now supporting Russia’s invasion of a sovereign state.  Why, apart from ego wanting to be seen as equal to Putin, are his motives?

How about a million dead as a direct result of the invasion and a country in ruins which will cost billions and decades to remedy quite apart from say nuclear fallout from recent attacks on Chernobyl.  Putin has threatened to drop his mega bomb in the English channel which will take out England, France, Norway, Denmark and every country with a water frontage.  This is unhinged as obviously Russia would be immediately decimated by NATO leaving China to assume ‘the world’ free and clear.  Where’s Trump?  A little boy lost trying to blame anyone else, spreading disinformation and playing golf.  ‘Not me, never lost an election, do you want a pardon, I didn’t mean it, where’s my MAGA cap?’

 Unfortunately this is not a joke.