Assorted flimflam

[Filterlab]

Is breathing political then?

[Chris Frost]

Yep - air pollution - politics. It's everywhere.

[Iain Sinclair]

I have got through (just!) the expensive bit of educating my children and financially things are OK, though I lost several nights' sleep a few years back when my wife lost her job and we struggled to make ends meet.

I think it's a lot to do with whether you're a worrier by nature or not. For example, in the 1980s there was a lot of paranoia around about the possibility of a nuclear holocaust, and some people got seriously worried about that. For me, that's too big an issue to worry about; if it happens, it happens, and unless you're some sort of survivalist expert the chances are you're not going to survive it.

As another example, some people believe everything they read in the Daily Mail and similar trashy papers about how a certain foodstuff will give you cancer (only to tell you next week it'll actually prevent cancer). I can only imagine such people enjoy worrying!

As my mother used to say 'you die if you worry, you die if you don't, so why worry?'

[Marco]

Marco, if you can avoid breathing, eating, drinking, using energy and anything else more complex then you can successfully dodge politics. God help you if you drive.

LOL, Chris. I just go with the flow and deal accordingly with whatever I need to deal with, and worry not about what doesn't affect or concern me.

Fortunately we have no debts of any nature and my wife and I have a very good joint income between us from a variety of sources; furthermore we have made provisions for the future, too, so all-in-all we can pretty much 'ride any storm' thrown at us.

Yes both of us drive, and our cars are bought and paid for. I have a flexible lease agreement for the use of an 'executive class' car, which I use occasionally for business when I have to drive long distances to meet clients but that's only rarely necessary now. I don't even look at the how much fuel costs - I just fill up the tank and drive until it runs out, then fill it up again... Of course I would like it to be cheaper, but hey ho, it is what it is. I don't get worked up about it. Life's too short

Therefore as far as politics is concerned I couldn't give a monkey's what party is in power. The fact is the difference it would likely make to my lifestyle is minimal

Marco.

P.S Good post, Iain. I am (thankfully) not a worrier. I've never been like that. I'm an extremely positive-minded and confident person. I sympathise with those who are not, though.

[Iain Sinclair]

P.S Good post, Ian. I am (thankfully) not a worrier. I've never been like that. I'm an extremely positive-minded and confident person. I sympathise with those who are not, though.

As Dr Johnson eloquently put it:

'How small of all that human hearts endure,
That part which laws or kings can cause or cure!
Still to ourselves, in every place consigned,
Our own felicity we make or find.'

[Filterlab]

...As my mother used to say 'you die if you worry, you die if you don't, so why worry?'

My gran used to say exactly the same thing, and now I try to worry as little as possible about everything.

Money (or rather a lack of it) is something that I worry about a lot. I needn't, but I don't want to be hard up again.

[Marco]

Yep, and on that note, chaps, this thread has gone WAY WAY off topic. I'll sort it out later when (or if) I've sobered up, as I'm currently enjoying a glass or three of some nice wine

Marco.

[Iain Sinclair]

My gran used to say exactly the same thing, and now I try to worry as little as possible about everything.

Money (or rather a lack of it) is something that I worry about a lot. I needn't, but I don't want to be hard up again.

I did my money-worrying bit about 5 years ago; I recall lying awake doing sums in my head trying to estimate whether we'd exceed the overdraft limit before the next month's salary arrived. Daft really, in retrospect. I should either have got an evening job or had a few more ales before bedtime.

I don't especially want to be poor, but actually as a single bloke I was quite happy living on the dole with almost no possessions. There can be something quite liberating about owning less 'stuff'.