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Bollywood Bongos

Bollywood Bongos

31/01/2012 12:41:16 PM

This article was first published inThe Northern Daily Leader under the heading, 'Not The Next Keith Urban' published on 21 January 2012.

During a holiday to India some years ago, a power failure knocked out the lights and music at the restaurant at which my wife and I were eating. The restaurant owner came over with a set of bongo drums and asked me if I could play the drums and would I mind providing some entertainment for the other restaurant patrons? For a moment I felt like telling him that of course I could play, grabbing the drums and setting off on an uncontrolled, utterly clueless bongo drum jam session. I wondered if he would be too polite to come up to me and tell me that I clearly had no idea how to play the drums, or perhaps he would think it was some new Australian-style bongo drum technique of which he had never previously heard?

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A perfect 10

A perfect 10

31/01/2012 12:32:47 PM

This article was first published inThe Northern Daily Leader under the heading, 'A perfect 10' published on 24 December 2011.

It’s a shame there isn’t a World Championship of Fainting, as I’m confident I could win gold for Australia. My most recent example, prompted by a stomach complaint, would certainly have come as close to perfection as Nadia Comaneci’s 10 out of 10 on the uneven bars at the 1976 Summer Olympics. It was a fairly spectacular effort, with all the hallmarks of a great faint – sweating, shivering, mumbling and kryptonite-like weakness.

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In a 'roundabout' way

In a 'roundabout' way

31/01/2012 12:09:33 PM

This article was first published inThe Northern Daily Leader under the heading, 'The Robot Says Stop' published on 10 December 2011.

I was thinking about the different names for traffic lights as I was stuck on red at Tamworth’s newest set of traffic lights (at the intersection of Bridge Street and Belmore Street). As I waited for green, I wondered why we had swapped a perfectly good roundabout for a set of traffic lights.

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Fleeting 1st lesson in finance

Fleeting 1st lesson in finance

31/01/2012 11:35:34 AM

This article was first published inThe Northern Daily Leader under the heading, 'A kiss from Julia Roberts' on the 26th of November 2011.

Starting early is important not only in education, but also in saving and investing. The earlier you start saving up for something, be it a new car, a nice pair of shoes or your retirement, the more chance you have of reaching your goal. Now we all already know this, so why is it so hard to do? It’s simply a trade-off between immediate and delayed consumption. We all want it now! Having to wait a week, six months or forty years before we get to spend our savings is no good, we want it all now.

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A boy and his toys

A boy and his toys

14/11/2011 12:18:35 PM

This article was first published inThe Northern Daily Leader under the heading, 'Ken and Barbie won't make you rich'?

It wasn’t until many years later that I finally figured out what I really should have been buying with my fifty pounds – shares in BHP Billiton. If I had the foresight to spend my fifty pounds on BHP shares each year, I would now be sitting on a tidy investment worth just over $23,000. A little deposit perhaps towards the fast red sports car that somebody wants for their fortieth birthday. I guess the toys never change, they just get bigger and more expensive.

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