Haveachat with Les Shipp

by Les Shipp

This is why I had to work so hard with mathematics as this presents problems that only have answers in black and white.

  There are times when thinking in black and white is detrimental and I found that out when I was working as a volunteer telephone councillor and councillor trainer for seventeen years. There were so many problems that didn’t have a straight forward answer and as a councillor you had to avoid giving one. In your own mind or your own life the answer might have been black and white but it wasn’t your problem and your job was to help your client find a way they could deal with it themselves.

  I have just bought a laptop and it doesn’t want to be co-operative. I have used a computer with windows seven for some time but this devil of a machine is windows eight. Oh to be a black and white thinker for once. It has frustrated me every inch of the way. Being slightly computer challenged I took my computer into the computer doctor in Gympie to set it up for me with a wireless connection. It was there for four days and when I eventually arrived home with it I thought great, now I will be able to write my stories to my heart’s content and have them all neatly printed out for my next writing day. I was very excited about it, so you can imagine my disappointment when very little worked. Either the pc doctor didn’t do a very good job or I am more stupid than I thought I was. It’s a bit like when a friend gives you a recipe of her favourite dish and she has left out one of the most important ingredients.

  However I won’t give up and sometime in the future I will come to terms with the problem I have with this pigheaded machine. I have started a computer course at the U 3 A in Tewantin and so far so good on their machine with its window seven. My computer had better watch its step because a black and white thinker is on his way.

  DRIVING A HARD BARGAIN.

  This is what gives some people an adrenalin rush as they pit their wits against another. It’s not something I enjoy and have often paid a lot more money for an item than I would have liked just to avoid the contest. Would I bargain now? As I grow older and much surer of myself, plus have less income, of course I would. I remember embarrassing my wife the first time I fronted up at the ticket office at the picture show, and announced that I was now a pensioner and would there be a concession. I have become quite good at it since. A dollar here and a dollar there is always helpful. In the last two houses we bought, I have bargained and had ten thousand off each one. But I can’t crow about this as I was bargained out of nineteen thousand in the last house we sold. You can’t win them all but I think I really had a win there in the long run as we gained a much happier place to live.

  If I need a job to be done I investigate the possibilities on offer and people who would be suitable to do the job. I always look for the best and most efficient way of the job being done, plus the calibre of the workers. Then I look at the pricing. After this I get a quote and maybe more than one. If I am satisfied with the results I receive, I inform the company to go ahead watching all the time to make sure what I have expected is indeed done. So far I haven’t been let down using this method, and it saves me the angst of bargaining. As you can tell by what I have just said, I would be a most unsuitable person to be driving a hard bargain, and it would cause me undue stress that I can well do without.

  I did drive a hard bargain back in 1989 but it was with myself. I had undergone major open heart surgery where they removed part of the muscle from inside my heart. I was very disappointed when in the recovery ward I watched the patients who had bypass surgery and they were up and going almost straight away. This didn’t happen to me and I asked the surgeon about my results. He said my recovery would take time as the heart had to repair itself. I was in a lot of pain and had trouble breathing.

  Back at home I felt like death warmed up and on my next visit to the doctor he told me that I would have to accept that I was now an invalid and would probably be like this for the remainder of my life. This made me very angry. I felt I should have had a better deal after going through so much pain. I wasn’t ready to accept his verdict as I would rather be dead than a helpless invalid. I started on a walking programme which was pathetic to start with but I gained momentum. I felt my heart was fighting my efforts and in a burst of anger one day I drove a hard bargain with it. Within myself I bargained with my heart. My bargain was, I will look after you if you just behave yourself and let me get on with life. The hard bargain still stands twenty-five years later and the operation was only supposed to last ten years at most.

  It might have been my one effort at bargaining but I came out the winner.

  NINETIES.

  William grew into a strong healthy young man who was always on the go. He was one of the better oarsman at the rowing club and an A grade tennis player. He rowed and played tennis competitively. He was also a bridge player and in the evenings he played violin in the local orchestra.

  At university he completed his medical degree and went on to become a surgeon at a leading hospital. After he had received his degree he married the love of his life, an attractive young woman who was as athletic as he. She graduated as a doctor shortly after he did. They had a wonderful life together without a care in the world. In between their work commitments they fitted in as much of their favourite sports as they could. The arrival of a son and then a daughter slowed their activities down a little for a while but as the children grew they were soon introduced to their parent’s favourite sports.

  William and his wife Jenny loved their life and their two bright children. The whole family were always up for a new challenge. Jenny and the children adored William as he was such an outgoing person full of fun. As busy as he was with his practice he always had time to listen to any worries Jenny might have had with her patients and helping the children through the rigors of university. He was also a member of the Rotary club and often helped out with their activities.

  When the children grew up and went on to set up their own lives, William and Jenny slowed down a little but not much. They kept up their sports although a little slower than before. They were highly respected members of the community and gave their time freely to those in need. The children often came to them for advice when a dilemma occurred and they were happy to help them out.

  In their sixties Jenny decided to retire from her practice and concentrate on her community involvements. William felt he still had a lot to give as a surgeon and decided he wasn’t ready to retire yet. He worked on through his sixties and on into his seventies. It was then he noticed the odd moment of forgetfulness but as it didn’t affect his work he put it down to overload. As he approached his eighties he came to the decision that as he had slowed down it was time to call it quits. He was then popular as a consultant until in his eighties he found he was forgetting little things like dates and information that Jenny had given him. This bothered him as his brain had always been so sharp. When he reached his nineties his memory deteriorated to the point he gave up all outside activities.

  Jenny noticed that he often just sat out on the balcony looking out into space. She decided it was time to consult a doctor to find the reason for the worrying change in him. Yes it was Alzheimer’s and very advanced. Jenny and the children were devastated when he reached the stage of not knowing who they were. They poured the years of love and attention he had given them back to him and made sure he had every care.

  For William the beginning of his condition was horrible for him as although he didn’t know what was wrong he was aware that something bad was happening. He spent the last days of his nineties he had left in memories of long ago and with the love and care of his family he was able to slip away peacefully at the end.

  STRANGE BEDFELLOWS.

  I would like to tell you about some strange bedfellows that came into my life in the animal world. The first one was in the form of a tiny silky terrier dog that came into our lives as a very small bundle of fluff. She was so small the only place for her to be safe was at the end of our bed. The cat we had at the time terrorised her. Wendy as she was called came to regard herself, not as a d
og but one of the family. She never grew very big but as she matured she became a force to be reckoned with in regard to the cat and anyone who invaded her human’s space. We were unable to leave her behind when we went out because she would create havoc so she went with us everywhere, even sitting on top of the pram when we journeyed into the city.

  On one trip she was in residence on the end of our bed in a motel, and in the morning there was a knock on the door. It was our breakfast arriving and the lady didn’t wait for an answer but came straight in. I flew out from under the covers and landed on Wendy to prevent the attack. I often wondered afterwards what the lady thought I was up to as I lay half naked across the bed with a loud noise coming from under the blanket. She didn’t wait around to find out. Wendy was with us for thirteen years so there is a lot more to tell.

  The next strange bedfellow came in the form of a turkey gobbler. We had purchased a trio of turkeys but unfortunately a fox ate the two hens. The gobbler on his own went strange and eventually took up residence in the hen house where he proceeded to sit on the eggs to hatch them. This wasn’t on as far as the hens were concerned so gobbler