Celebrating Positives (offset of the Gripes Thread)

[nomadpete]

Looks like we'll miss you.

 

Driving to Brisvegas  in June.

 

Tonight, got a couple of fires going, music and cheap wine & better cheese.

 

Maybe catch up next tine.

 

 

[Jerry_Atrick]

Mmmmm.. Cheese... Will be sampling the local stuff while out in Aus... It has some competition. 

[onetrack]

I must say I'm very fortunate to have never taken up smoking or drinking in excessive amounts, from even pre-teen years. I can remember finding a packet of Turf cigarettes on the road whilst riding my bike when I was about 10 - tried one, and after coughing and spluttering for a while, thought, "Why the hell would anyone want to do this??" I threw the rest of the packet away.

I guess having bad asthma for many years as a child, made me very wary about doing anything adverse, that would affect my breathing ability or lung capacity.

 

The same went for alcohol. Neither of my parents drank much alcohol at all. They would buy a bottle of Rose or Vermouth and have a little with meals. I never saw them in the bars of pubs, knocking back constant glasses of beer, wine or spirits. My teenage mates were never big on booze, and when I went to parties where beer was offered, I decided I hated the taste of it. So I became a very moderate wine and spirits drinker. A bottle of Whisky lasts me 12 to 18 months, and even longer in recent times.

 

I used have a few glasses every month, of mostly white wine, in the 70's and 80's, but mostly when dining out. I was never a big party-goer anyway, I was always working, trying to build up a business, and operating and repairing machines and dealing with clients. Funnily enough, I worked in industries (earthmoving/trucking/mining) where heavy boozing was just a daily habit. A "carton a day" was common amongst compatriots.

Even in the Army, I drank very little, while at least half of the other blokes in the Army were borderline alcoholics, and the lager culture ruled in the military.

 

The more I learn as I get older, is just how much many diseases and body organ failures, are linked back to excessive alcohol consumption and smoking. I have never seen a centenarian who was a heavy drinker, but I've watched a lot of business and work associates, and a few friends, die too young, with alcohol or smoking-related complaints.

And of course, quite a few died in alcohol-related car accidents, often self-inflicted. But my elder brother was killed by a drunk in a 5 ton Ford truck when I was 15, and he was 25 and newly married, so I guess that affected me for life, too.

 

Good on you Jerry, for going almost alcohol-free, it has major advantages as you age. I found that as I aged, the adverse effects of alcohol on the day after drinking a few, became harder to shake off.

[red750]

Like you, OT, I was turned off alcohol and smokes at an early age. My grandfather was responsible. When I was a youngster, my family shared the farmhouse with my paternal grandparents. I can clearly recall my grandfather on the back verandah of the farmhouse giving me a puff of a roll-your-own and making me sick, and at another time giving me a sip of scotch, which I hated.We left the farm when I was seven, so it was before that age. I was never tempted again. My father didn't drink or smoke either. When he went to a hotel, he would drink sarsaparilla.

[Marty_d]

My eldest son is 18 today.

Couldn't be prouder of the fine young man he's become. 😊

[facthunter]

That's good.  18 is not very old but he's got through some difficult bits by now, no  doubt.  Nev

[willedoo]

One thing I love about my place is when showers sweep in from the ocean side at night. If they're slow moving and you are out on the verandah, you can hear the noise as they move in across the valley raining down on the canefields. Sometimes you can hear it coming for a full five minutes before it hits the tin roof.

[willedoo]

It did it tonight, that's why I posted that short story.

[Jerry_Atrick]

Well, positives are things are slowly moving forward. 

 

Currently preparing for Wednesday's flight to Melbourne. I realise it has been 8 years since I have been to Aus. Ship! Time flies. Not going to tell you which day in case you alert immigration 🤣

 

Although I could be out for as much as a month, I will be travelling light - hoping to get away with carry on only. I don't think I will, so it will probably be a small backpack. 

 

Also, on the reno front, things are picking up. I am not sure if I mentioned the need to rewire a floor of the house. Not a terribly big job, but more cost. That was found when they pulled a fuse board out to replace with one up to current regs. The spaghetti behind it, including a circuit that bypassed it altogether made some of my early coding deliverables took well written. 

 

We have found a tradie who is working through stuff. He has done these doors we had to put in for building regs; but the building inspector allowed us to not procure fireproof doors or even install them to be a barrier against fire spreading as the listed (heritage) building officer would be dead set against them even being installed. And that is the regulatory environment we are up against. Now, the downstairs loo and bootroom, that I made major progress on until work really heated up are done, and the formal living room is under way. If this fella keeps it up, I think we will be done by mid August and ti will be on the market. And he is doing a good job, too. 

 

And on the work front, an opportunity to climb the greasy corporate ladder opened up. I was invited to apply, but because of my plans, declined. I was supporting the application of a colleague, but it looks like he won;t get it either, and it will be an outsider. Which is fantastic, because that person will be both of our manager. Things are transforming at work where it will slim down in the not too distant future. I have already been implementing a succession plan where today, apart from being the doyen of our delivery function, my reports are coming right up the curve and even a contractor has been earmarked to be a sucessor. So, a new person in that almost exec role will want to stamp his or her authority and make changes - and as I don't feel I owe that person anything, the conversation will be something like "don't let anyone go on my account." Employment laws will mean they will have to make me redundant - and that will mean enough to accelerate this reno and put it on the market and take a little while to sell. 

 

Even if the latter (which I have been trying to engineer for about 12 months now) doesn't work, I am hoping by the end of the year, it will be all done and dusted.