Honest cabbie wins Philippine presidential citation

And what happened after? -- he got over the madness?

yeah he calmed down quite quickly i think it was just the shock factor and the energy of the moment that did it for him i remember after at the funeral when everyone was stood around after the priest had said his bit our hero jumped up and started dancing around singing (hmm i cant remember what the words were exactly) something silly like 'now shes died and laid to rest lets make sure we do our best'...and repeated this over and over..see this event made a massive impression on him for the rest of his life which ended up with his desire to find 'the truth' about life and spiritual phenomena....

I remember on a recent trip to northern New South Wales, where the heat was opressive, I took a long bike ride to the beach.
The beach I found was completely deserted, far from any city or town, on the outskirts of a national park. I left my bike near the road and walked for a while through scrub and bracken to reach it. I was met with a steep fall from the overgrown heights to the wide beach below and I stood for a while looking out at the sand and further to the sea.

The sand was white and clean, built up in large drifts in places, the water was grey and rough, whipped into small peaks by the wind, precursor to the massive storm we would have later. The wind itself was loud, you could scream into it and barely hear the sound of your own voice.

I jumped and slid down the wall of sand to the beach and headed out to the water's edge. The wind, stong as it was, was not overpowering nor too cold and the water was warm and breaking softly over my feet as I sat myself down and gazed out upon the wide ocean.

I sat alone on that beach for hours. I sang operas to the sea where noone could hear me. I played with the beautiful shells washed up at the high tide line.

Having a whole beach to yourself is one of the most magical experiences this life can offer.

wow thats really cool fortune
what a beautiful story

oh and speaking of beauty check this art out
http://www.snopes.com/photos/arts/sidewalk.asp
now thats seriously good artwork...

oh and fortune have you ever travelled outside oz?

That's a beautiful anecdote, fortune, and I agree completely. Have you ever returned to that beach?

(Those pictures are incredible. Whoever drew them should go into art, rather than these people shiting on beds and getting awards for it.)

(you know drom i think you have a natural flair for humour when you express things that way )
what do they call that prize for stuff like that sort of art?..the turner prize is it?

Beautiful pictures, Col Man! No I have not yet travelled further afield than Western Australia. It's a little harder to get yourself anywhere else when your home is an island continent, but I've got plenty of time yet. I have long term plans of an extended stay in France within the next few years (which shows you how 'long term' my plans get )

Drom, I never did get back to that particular stretch of beach, but Melbourne is a port city, and I will be going to stay on the peninsular for a few days very soon. I promise you I will be taking some nice long moonlit strolls by the water.

ok well yeah i can imagine how it is if u live on a huge chunk o land like oz is..theres plenty enough to see there...still variety is the spice of life they say...if u get chance id recommend a visit to argentina..they just recently started up flights from oz to arg via nz....i was looking to maybe flying to oz from argentina as it quicker once im there than going the other way (via thailand or singapore or whaever...
but then again if u r happy where you are then its all the same wherever u go ie its all the same sky the same stars the same sea.the same earth we stand on...i mean sure theres bio diversity and people difference and buildings and cultures and all that but hell if you can have an experience like your beach scene and appreciate the awesomeness of it all then maybe you dont need to go any further... the enjoyment of life comes from loving and appreciating the moment... what you got and where you are...the simple joy of just being alive..
but i hope u get to france anyway

Wonderful, Fortune, both about the peninsular and France; do many people visit the pensinsular? Have you any ideas of where ideally you would be staying in France? You'll love it, I bet. I've been trying for some time to find out the name of this wonderful place that I stopped, back in July. I asked to stop there at about 5 am, and the atlantic views were amazing. Having no paper, I wrote down the name of the place on my hand, but it rubbed off with sleep. How long have you been wanting to get over there?

Do you really think so? Thanks . I've been down since the lesbians attacked my work...

The Turner Prize it is indeed. The last person who won it was some guy who pretended to be a little girl. Whoopdidoo.

Col Man: Oh there's lots to see in Oz. It's really a magical country, some of the oldest in the world, some that's been around since the continents broke apart. But I am also fascinated by human history. France will just be the first stop.

Drom, the peninsular is quite well inhabited and crowded with tourists in the summer, but around now it should be relatively tourist free. It's actually the south eastern extension of Melbourne so you can travel all the way to the tip without ever having to go without the comfort of amenities, there's even a nice ferry ride across to the other side, with dolphin watching at the right time of year (I confess I don't actually know when that is).

I have not decided in which part of France I shall stay, or even if I will stay. The idea of just wandering around has a great appeal. I've been wanting to get over there since, oh, forever! I have a nice long list of places that I want to go, but at the moment a good friend of mine is expressing an avid desire to live in France for a while (and not to travel alone) so that ties in nicely.

oh yes i do drom.
i do...
oh no no no...
dont lets these monsters get you down/spoil your day..
there is always someone who will try to bring you down
prejudice hates understanding..thats just how it is

if you get down them monsters win i think montanas signature is 'the best revenge is living a good life' and thats so true and like BBB said to me after her erm little hiccup here she said ''i feel like i dont want to come back i feel rejected and put down like i never want to post again but people have said if i dont come back then the person who got me hiccuped would win...''
which was another great point
so really never take this negativity on board..

oh nononononono.......

your a wonderful and amazing person drom..out of all the people ive met (and ive met a lot of people) you stand out as being a very special person and a lot of people say this to you here on a2k... ive seen it...you have loads of admirers....
really get this....
and what i see is all these people like 'the lesbians' are simply negative beings projecting this onto you.they are so jealous of you and your talent.. so dont belive them.
f.c.u.k. them..... its not real...
its their hell.... if you take it on it becomes yours too..
you know the best people in this world have to take the negative b4 they get to the positive...........
thats what i mean by reality.... thats what it is to me... its what you make it... literally...... its a malleable thing.... heaven for some..... hell for others and its all in our minds..... all of it.....
never believe you are no good or boring or anything like that.....
its simply not true...your perfect as you are...your you and there nobody else the same....
truth is what you make it.......

phew that was a lot to come out
i hope this sounds ok to you it just came out
ok

fortune, i feel the same way about visiting oz as you do about france,,,,
i really believe its a magical place and im dying to come there
i will be there in the next few years.maybe even 2006.and im going to go everywhere i think ill spend 3-6 months there at least

oh and fortune my advice is travel around go from place to place see everything everywhere!!!
when your in france too your a heartbeat away from spain germany oh all the european countries..so much to see here so much difference too....

Col Man . I plan to travel as much as I can. I've been told of a type of rail pass that you can get in Europe that allows you to go just about anywhere for a certain period of time, can't remember what it's called at the present time.

Drom, like Col Man said, don't let 'em getcha down. You are most obviously intelligent and talented. Envy is the curse of the weak minded, but it's their problem not yours.

fortune its called inter-rail pass
and heres the official website just 4u
http://www.interrailnet.com/

Thanks Col Man! That's a really handy link.

Wondering would be great, Fortune. Those Interrail passes can take you all over Europe for a month's unlimited travel, but you can get passes linked to just one zone-- in your case, France, Lux., Netherlands and Belgium. However, I think that you have to be a Euro resident to get them; so I guess you'll either have to use Eurrail, Eurodomino, or a French-only pass.

Thanks, you guys. I appreciate your thoughts, you know that I value you both lots .