Questions Game

Yes

Do you read a newspaper every day?

Yes, every morning.

What do you prefer, nwespapers or watching TV for news?

I hate news...I prefer to be informed only about the things I want to be - so I use the internet...Do not want to hear anymore depressing things. Yes, that is a Pollyanna view but I have about had it with the bad news.


What is your most favorite thing to do in the world?

Spending quality time with my son fishing as I don't see him that often.

What is your favourite hobby?

I like reading.

What is your favorite sports?

Ice skating.

What is your favorite season and why?

Autumn. Usually very long, with no rain and balmy temperatures, the ideal holiday weather in Australia.

Do you like travelling in the country side, far away from the big cities, and camp under the stars?

Yep! But also, in case you were wondering, I've discovered that I really have a love for winter that I'd all but forgotten about. I haven't really experienced one for seven years...I forgot how much I enjoy the snow and ice and the crisp, cold air- especially when the stars are out. My daughter asked me the other day, "Aren't you ready for winter to be over? I am." I said, 'No way - I want at least another month or six weeks of snow."

Is there anything you can think of that you enjoy or have enjoyed so much in your life that you think it has ended way too soon?

I enjoyed 38 exciting years as an investigator which abruptly ended when I reached compulsory retirement age, I could have gone on another 25 years.

Are you planning any future travel?

I'm going down to North Carolina over Easter (which is on my birthday this year-I love it!) to see friends before probably moving back to the UK at the end of June. It's the perfect time to go to NC - everything's coming back to life - in bloom- it'll be lovely.

Not to be intrusive, but if you still enjoyed working, why didn't you defer your retirement? (edited to say- I just reread the compulsory part). So you can't work even if you want to? Yikes...I didn't realize that was a part of retirement. I thought there was more choice involved than that.

Or for anyone else answering this question - do you have a job that you love well enough that you would defer retirement to continue working?

To expand a little more Aidan, the compulsory retirement clause is now illegal, and no employer can force an employee to quit working at a certain age. Unfortunately this was not the case when I was forced to retire. Mind you, I have enjoyed my retirment and still do, which has involved lots of travel.

Would you agree with me travelling broadens the mind?

No. I think it narrows the mind. It distracts one with the rigmarole of the operation from things which do broaden the mind such as literature, TV and the antics within one's social milieu.

And you have to pack a suitcase which is one of the most humiliating experiences it is possible to undergo.

And then when you have packed it according to the provisions of the list you have been composing for two weeks you actually have to pick the bloody thing up and carry it through another of those humiliating experiences which are the sine qua nons of travel. When you get there you get fleeced, possibly catch something nasty and you can only hope to gawp at the surface of things which must be how you usually see things at home and explains why you're so bored there and get the urge to move. Then you have to carry the suitcase back and open it and that is even more humiliating than packing it.

Isn't it wonderful to be able to spend all day on the couch reading some beautiful book with a Test Match on, or Longleat, and the rest of the Dancing With Nutcases soap opera and then go for a nightcap at the local to discuss the ways of the world and have a leer at the cleavage?

How can you pay out good money to deny yourself such things?

Yeah well, test matches, beer, cleavage- I find it easy to deny myself those things...except for beer on occasion...especially if it's a really hot day and it's about 5:00 in the afternoon and I don't have to do laundry or help anyone with homework or anything that night.

Does it really take you two weeks to pack a suitcase? (This is for anyone)
or: What do you think is the average time it takes the average person to pack a suitcase?

*(If my laundry is clean - it takes me about one hour to pack for a two week trip- and that includes toiletries, passport, camera, etc... I can pack up my whole HOUSE in two weeks- probably less than that- in fact I have sold and packed up a two story house in less than a month before).

I once packed a suitcase in one minute flat. As did my best mate. The sergeant came in and said that there were two spare places on a rust bucket out of there if we were quick. I saw somebody take three months over it as he pondered each item and worried and fretted he had forgotten something.

So that's 3 months and two minutes divided by three which averages roughly at around 30 days.

Do you think Rebecca rather missed the point?

No, I don't think she did. I think she responded to the point of your post that she found most interesting....it says something about a person that they might take two weeks to pack a suitcase for a vacation...something very interesting to her- because she's the type of person who's always interested to learn and think about different people and the ways in which they do things that are different from how she does them, because she's always thinking she might learn something that hadn't occurred to her before.

Are you more interested in people who are just like you or who are really kind of different from you?

All kinds, because there are corners in the clones that are different, and similarities in the aliens. I used to take 2 weeks to pack but forgot what was in the case, or needed something from the bottom, so now it's 2 hours.

Do you travel light or heavy?

From experience always light.

Do you think the Olympic Games in China will be a success this year?

I hope the foreign journos turn up lots of juicy stories about things that are wrong with the country; I don't honestly care about the actual games.

Where is the question Clary?

Do you think she has ceased to post on this thread?