No time for a gentle rain. No time for my watch and chain. No time for revolving doors (The Guess Who)

Photo by John Fornander on Unsplash

Wie geht's?

One of those weeks, I'm afraid - full on - it zipped past me, whipped out a hand and cuffed me on the old noggin and left me flailing and sprawling in the dust - cream crackered.

A series of days filled with stuff that I needed to do for others; I can always tell because I always realise at some point that I haven't blogged for a spell. Nor have I responded to many personal emails.

Me time is what I'm talking about. Got got got got no time. For me.

Didn't help that I slept on after this morning's alarm (always set for 4.30am Monday to Friday) which meant a pressured start to my day instead of 30 mins to do this blog. Doh!!

Ah well. Meh. So a few days slip by. 

The good news - blogging does eventually re-enter my consciousness and hey presto - this post.

You will be relieved to know, oh blogosphere, that I have resolved to write something more sagacious next time this blog rolls around.

Love and peace - El Wozza

Baby, you can drive my car. Yes, I'm gonna be a star (The Beatles)

Wie geht's?

Big week in transport news - the new Purdmobile (a.k.a. a Mazda CX5) has arrived! 

I hadn't quite realised how much I missed driving my CX5 until I got back into one on Tuesday.

Quite frankly, it was a real relief. I'd been driving rentals or Jacky's car and I felt tentative while doing so. Which I only realised when I received my new version.

After an initial weird feeling, I felt much safer again. This is the car that helped save my life so in hindsight it was natural that I'd feel great being back in familiar surroundings.

Yes folks! I love my new car (pretty silver colour too btw).

Love and peace - Wozza

Don't pass me by; don't make me cry (The Beatles)

Photo by A n v e s h on Unsplash

Wie geht's?

Me?

It's been six weeks since my NDE and people can still surprise me by asking how I'm doing. 

Well, I'm still getting over the seatbelt crush on my sternum. It still twings when I get in and out of a car, when I tighten the belt on my trousers, and when I put on my seatbelt I know why I still feel it.

Aside from that, and my nose injury which continues to remind me of July 5, I'm really feeling fine physically. Mentally as well. No PTSD. Although I still get a flash from time to time of the moment of impact.

Behaviourally, the NDE has had clear repercussions for my driving. It's not like I was speedy pre crash, but I did get impatient with drivers going slower than me and I'd get agitated and itchy to pass them. Now that I stick rigidly to all speed limits and cars mount up behind me and eventually pass me by, sometimes in risky moves, I am much more patient and philosophic about the craziness of driving. 

New Zealand drivers on State Highway 2 from Takapau to Hastings are dumb as a bag of hammers. Just to be one car length ahead of me they will risk their safety (and mine). Invariably, ahead of us will be a truck (there's always another truck on the highway) or someone else driving to the speed limit. The gain is arriving at a destination a second or two ahead of me.

There's nowt so queer as folk.

Thanks for asking.

Love and peace - Wozza

His name was Trigger and he pulled the fastest milk cart in the west!

Wie geht's?

Pets! They burrow into your heart - lodge there for a while and then depart (ripping your heart apart as they go).

We had to say goodbye to Trigger (pictured above) this week - the little pony we bought for Asher a few years ago. His quality of life had deteriorated (feet issues) and so we had to make a hard decision.

Not for the first time. Sadly the life cycle for dogs and cats and horses is a relatively short one compared to human beings.

I could have this wrong but dogs and horses are the hardest (you never really own a cat) because they give love unconditionally and they are so dependent on humans in domesticated situations.

So - the lesson here? Love them while they are with you and love them enough to say goodbye when the time comes.

That's all well and good, but it still hurts like crazy!

Love and peace - Wozza

How long is one's life?

Wie geht's?

In the Sutra of 42 Sections, the Buddha asked his disciples, "How long is one's life?" One of the monks replied, "A few years", someone else said, "A few days". Another said, "A single day", and another answered, "Between meals!" Finally, the Buddha said, "Life is one breath away".

Love and peace - Wozza

Close your eyes, have no fear, the monster's gone, he's on the run and your daddy's here (John Lennon)

Wie geht's?

Some true facts for you: July 26, 2022 has come and gone. July 26, 1928 was Graham Purdy's birthdate. He would have been 94 this week. It's now been 13 years since he passed away. I think about him every day.

Some opinions for you: I enjoy re-reading a specific post from this blog each year. The post itself is 12 years old! Here it is again, in case you've missed it (slightly modified for 2022):

This post is dedicated to Graham Purdy (26 July 1928 - 21 September 2009) because without Graham's world there would be no Wozza's world.   Funny how time passes. It's been an unbelievable 42 years since John Lennon was murdered. It's been 39 years since my mother passed away. It's now been a year without dad and those moments remain raw wounds. Rather than settle into a depressed mood, though, I'd prefer to be upbeat. As Groucho Marx said,

"I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn't arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I'm going to be happy in it."

So I'd rather commemorate Sept 21 with a celebration of a great life via some pictures of father and son(s) and grandad (or as he signed himself - Deedoo II) for our children. First though - some context:

This was Graham's world as four generations of Purdy are captured here by dad's clever organisation and automatic shutter release in the 1960s. Left to right - William Nugent Purdy (his grandfather), Graham Nugent Purdy himself, Christina Amelia Purdy (his mother), Warren Nugent Purdy (his first son), Harry Purdy [a.k.a. Deedoo] (his father), Dulcie Mary Purdy (his wife), Ross Graham Purdy (his second son). We are pictured on the steps at his parents' house in Reimers Ave, Auckland (a.k.a Rochdene).

Dad with 'the boys'. This was taken, also by automatic shutter release, on a holiday in Tutakaka east of Whangarei (which is north of Auckland).

GNP and WNP. We often stopped off for lunch in Hamilton Gardens (Purdys love routine - we were taught by a master), at a great spot by the Waikato River. Clearly we were well organised - picnic lunch with thermos of tea.

As a teenager I often attended family holidays to Te Rangiita (Taupo). This was taken on one of our last fishing trips together as a family. Pretty soon I would outgrow them and start some family routines of my own with Jacky.

Deedoo II and the gee-kids (L to R: Adam; Samantha; Jade; Keegan) in the nineties at Mickey D's in Auckland.

One of the last father/son photos I have. Thirty years apart - we were so very different, yet so very alike.

Dad loved the Marx brothers so here's a parting thought from Groucho:

The first thing which I can record concerning myself is, that I was born. These are wonderful words. This life, to which neither time nor eternity can bring diminution - this everlasting living soul, began. My mind loses itself in these depths.

The unexamined life is not worth living (Socrates)

Wie geht's? 

A Near Death Experience (NDE) is bound to have certain affects.

Although I have not had any sensation of being outside of my body, or any visions of angels, or feelings of transcendence, I still feel changed in some sense as a consequence of that serious car accident.

As it happened, after the Tuesday accident I got back into my life quite quickly: Thursday, I went to a scheduled hospital appointment; Friday I returned to work; and Sunday I flew to Brisbane with family for a long planned for reunion in Noosa.

Fearless is a 1993 movie starring Jeff Bridges as a person who survives a plane crash. He develops an extreme preoccupation with a new perspective on life as a result. 

According to the article I read on Wikipedia, this is consistent with certain changes associated with those who have had an NDE, such as  a greater appreciation for life, higher self-esteem, greater compassion for others, less concern for acquiring material wealth, a heightened sense of purpose and self-understanding, desire to learn, elevated spirituality, greater ecological sensitivity and planetary concern, a feeling of being more intuitive.

I can identify with two aspects of these (higher self-esteem and a feeling of being more intuitive) but in my case it feels more like a reiteration and enhancement of my existing perspective on life.

Without being too egotistical about things, I really do appreciate the life I live, and I've never been that concerned with material wealth. At various times, I've written about my sense of purpose and awareness around what motivates me, as well as a continuing desire to learn and challenge myself. 

Weirdly though, in the last three weeks, I have felt higher self-esteem and a new kind of confidence in myself and my special set of skills as a consequence of the NDE (that swerve at the right time). It's difficult to quantify, but it's been a definite feeling.

The other, more tangible thing, is that I am a lot more mindful of my driving now. As a poster I used to have says 'Win The Rat Race - You're Still A Rat!' So passing maneuvers and what the idiots ahead of me and behind me are doing are much more front and centre in my thinking.

Again - a reiteration of Be Here Now, really.

Love and deep peace of the flowing air to you - Wozza