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Spur of the moment decisions

A life-changing lesson I learnt in 1970 was that spur of the moment decisions make life interesting and rewarding.

It was Christmas Eve. I had been living in Canberra for three months, having migrated there from Brisbane at the age of 20, together with thousands of other people of similar age in response to a major recruitment drive to entice people from all over Australia to join the Commonwealth Public Service.

About lunch time my boss asked why I wasn’t going home for Christmas. The idea hadn’t crossed my mind as I had only arrived in October. He pointed out that by taking a couple of days leave I could have the week off from Christmas to New Year. His suggestion started me thinking, “I could hitch-hike to Hervey Bay today and then fly back on New Years Day.”

Without giving myself time to rationalise the wisdom of the idea any further, I got on the phone to ANSETT or TAA (the two domestic airlines at the time) and enquired about the cost of a flight from Maryborough to Canberra. It was $38.60, so I made the booking and by 4pm I was standing on Northbourne Avenue with my thumb out.

Hitch-hiking was a fairly acceptable practice in those days. My first lift came along within half an hour and I can’t recall having to wait much longer than that for any of the subsequent lifts. I think there were about six altogether. I can still remember some of the more colourful characters I met on this little adventure. Perhaps the most entertaining encounter happened at about 2am in Newcastle. An FC Holden station wagon (about 1958-60 model), with four young guys who looked like they had just come from the Woodstock music festival, pulled up beside me. One was wearing a Bob Dylan style hat.

They told me how they had just bought the car for fifty bucks and included in the deal was a four gallon drum of sump oil. We stopped every few hundred kms to top up the engine with a coke bottle full of this “black syrup”.  This regular servicing kept the machine going and they got me all the way to the outskirts of Brisbane around mid morning the next day.

By about 10pm Christmas Day, I arrived at Hervey Bay where my family were having their annual holiday. The emotional impact of my unexpected arrival made the whole exercise worthwhile.

Four weeks later, I commenced National Service with recruit training in Wagga. The following Christmas Day I was in Vietnam, so I was pleased that I had made that particular spur of the moment decision on this occasion. Looking back I can see that it prepared me for some of the more adventurous chapters of life which were to follow.

FATHER – SON RELATIONSHIPS

There are few things I find more uplifting than observing great quality father-son relationships.

I recently attended the memorial service for an old friend. Part of the eulogy, which was compiled by his daughter, included the following words which she recalled from her father’s reflections on his childhood experiences with his own father.

Continue reading FATHER – SON RELATIONSHIPS

THE BEST GARBAGE COLLECTOR

Occasionally during a brief encounter I have with someone whom I’ll probably never see again, I hear a statement that I want to hold on to.
Last week my wife and I attended a function to launch a new line of products for my daughter’s fashion business. At one stage during the proceedings, I walked outside to get some fresh air and got into a conversation with a young guy who had been involved in preparing a group of girls to model the clothes and perform a dance routine. In the middle of the conversation he said, “I LOVE WHAT I DO”, referring to his career in dancing and teaching dancing. Continue reading THE BEST GARBAGE COLLECTOR

Potential of Mentoring

Last week I resigned from my position in the Queensland State Government to end a 29 year career in various positions. At the age of nearly 65, I decided to make the move to pursue some dreams which have been growing in me for some time. There is one in particular I’ll share as a blog post, as it has some relation to previous items. Continue reading Potential of Mentoring

THE CHINS AND DIPS CLUB

27 December 2014 – today I woke up with an idea to start a youth club called “The Chins and Dips Club”. It has evolved out of an accumulation of thoughts I’ve been entertaining over the past year.

In my previous blog (November 2014) I mentioned a personal dream to be involved in raising up an army of mentors who have a heart to see troubled youth rise above their circumstances and embrace big dreams.

The thoughts I woke up with this morning are about a strategy to implement that dream. Continue reading THE CHINS AND DIPS CLUB

Give and it will be given to you

Last year I signed up with an organisation which recruits and trains mentors to support young people from multicultural backgrounds, some of whom came to Australia as unaccompanied minors.

I made a commitment to be linked with a young man from Afghanistan for a year, with the plan of investing some positive influence and encouragement into his life. What I didn’t realise at the time was how much I would receive from the arrangement. Continue reading Give and it will be given to you

Passion for Health

I strongly value three areas of health, each of which impact significantly on the others.

The areas I’m talking about are PHYSICAL, MENTAL, and SPIRITUAL. (I was going to call this item PMS Health, but obviously that wouldn’t attract the appropriate audience.)

I like to keep everything as simple as possible, so I’ll only write a few points on my approach to each of these. Continue reading Passion for Health

Why not you?

I don’t usually watch a lot of television, but there is one show that I try to catch each week if I can. “The Australian Story” has been a very successful series for many years. I can think of a few possible reasons for this:

1. Most episodes are about an Australian who has achieved success in some area of life after encountering significant challenges and adversities.
2. They always have a strong inspirational and motivational value.
3. They encourage viewers to dream bigger and aim higher.

There was one particular episode I saw two or three years ago which had a lasting impact on me. I’m a bit hazy on the details but I’ll give you a brief overview of it as my memory permits (but don’t hold me to the accuracy of the content). Continue reading Why not you?

Memorable Years

In 2006 I received a phone call from a bloke in Sydney, who was compiling a book about the army unit I was with in Vietnam. He had been given my name by a mutual acquaintance and asked me if I would write an account of my time in National Service and Vietnam for his book. I really enjoyed the exercise of revisiting my memories of the time. Continue reading Memorable Years