When I read......................

when I read the blogs of the few people that I find I can relate to, I realise just how little I know about life and actually how illiterate I really am. I read in blogs about the trials and tribulations of others, about their political leaning and their everyday experiences and I am in awe.

On one blog a complete life is about to be restarted and turned upside down, another a great journey is about to be taken by an educated person, at mid twenties, who believes men are repulsive and to be demeaned. I would love to be able to convince her otherwise, but it appears that she has been indoctrinated by her minimal experience, and the actions of a few people around her. Fortunately she hasn`t yet fallen into the trap of believing that men are just there to provide for her (althought they may have done so in the past) and reduced her interest in them to reflect this.. Do I hear "Wa*ker! just like all the rest" from her lips should she read this! But then why would she? I never get any reply from her to any comments I leave, two to date.

I retired at fifty two years of age and am about to celebrate (is that the right word) the ten year period since (What is the celebration of ten years after retirement called?? is it "bone, incontinence or Pee? I`m never quite sure. I do know that a golden one is fifty when it comes to marriage :o)) ). The chances of me surviving that length of time were considerably reduced as surveys tell us that not too many of those who retire early survive over the first ten years? I guess that I am lucky, or about to die!!! Te he W.G.A.S. :o) ........ask me again at the time!!

I guess that I have what I would call employed myself in various enterprises and interests and generally kept busy but not to the extent that I would like to have done. As the years go on I lose out even more as I lack interest and ability to do something meaningfull. Only I can change that and I will make an effort in the near future! There I go again putting any action off, way into the future.

Ok I have had my jolts in life that bring me back into the fold and make me realise that life is for living. At sixteen I climbed out of a stuck lift at my school which had stopped with about a twelve inch gap left at the top of the doors so that I could manage to climb out, I forced open the doors, squeezed out and jumped to the floor on the landing. As my feet touched solid ground, the lift proceeded to carry on up, at full speed. I still have dreams about this, not the fact that I could have been cut in half but as I landed I overbalanced and nearly fell backwards, five floors, down the shaft.

At twentyfive and with a young family I ran out of air on a sixty metre dive, before ABLJs and I had to swim back to the surface arriving unconcious and bleeding profusly from an exploded eardrum. Fourty years of age saw me sustaining a "blown perifery" on a training jump (parachute failure) and crashing heavily after fighting all the way to the ground where I lay unconcious but uninjured as worried instructors ran with "the trolley" to scrape me up. I had only taken the jump to celebrate my being fourty and see if I still had the "Cajhones"to repeat what I had done with the military in my youth. (name and address witheld) of my youth that is.......:o))

Then whilst Paragliding at fifty I experienced a " frontal tuck" at approximately one hundred feet, as I approached a landing site and plummeted to the ground with a frightening forward motion , not to mention my downward speed, once again at the last minute I managed to get the canopy to partly fill and survived again without any injury (except to my pride) and the worry of how the hell I was going to explain to my long suffering wife how I had gotten all the grass stains, I hadn`t up untill that time, told her that I was learning to paraglide :o((

The list goes on and I could fill this blog (if I haven`t already??? Yawn!!!) with the details, but I like to think that my purpose for writing some of them down is to assist me in really believing that life is good and that I have been lucky to retain the precious gift and that I should now get off my not too large, at the moment, posterior and do something more productive, something that will give me more satisfation than at present, and drive me on, not too safely ( because that would be booring), into advanced old age.

With the onset of summer, the boating season and of course the dissapearance of S.A.D I will Bloom (if that`s the word) but I would like to try something else this year, something that I could master and maybe use for the generation of a small revenue (not that I need it of course!!!)........... (liar!!! more money to spend on the boat would always be welcome) answers on a postcard please. Please note that, the first person to suggest that I write a book after my efforts here will be "discumbobulated". Yea, Yea!! I am still trying to do that too, butI am stuck at the sixth Chapter of about three attempts at different sorts.

I guess that I am just a great starter and never a good finisher and OK maybe she is right perhaps I am as she may say, like most men. I do hope not!!!!!!!!!.......................:o((