1) I would like to have been bright enough to realise the importance of homework.
2) Instead I wasn’t and had to do things the hard way.
3) Now I’m some sort of Engineer but with a Degree that doesn’t match what I do.
4) I was born in West Germany and this shows it was a fairly long time ago.
5) It was a time of black and white photography and before the Cuban missile crisis
6) The 16 megapixel colour pictures of today will be the black and white photos of the future
7) I plan to be around for the future
8) I live in Australia now and this is my Home
9) I do miss some things about where I spent most of my life: the UK. I sort of miss the rain, snotty noses for three months of the year and the particular ‘English’ green-ness of the grass.
10) I do not miss the UK traffic as I hate wasting my life twiddling my thumbs in traffic jams.
11) I twiddle my thumbs in appalling Sydney traffic now.
12) Perversely, “Traffic” is my job and earms me a reasonable crust.
13) I feel compelled to point out number 11 above existed before I arrived here.
14) I was a divorcee but now am happily married to Klara.
15) Even if I had been bright enough to achieve number 1 my heart calls me to farming.
16) There is no money in farming unless you own thousands of acres.
17) Thousands of acres cost lots.
18) Refer to 14, above, for my financial situation.
19) Notwithstanding 14, 15 and 16 I would like to be a Farmer not an Engineer.
20) Some of my character traits actually predispose me to Farming – both good traits and bad
21) I have two children in their mid-twenties
22) They have inherited some of my good traits and definitely some of my bad.
23) The good ones will help make them resilient and self reliant.
24) The bad traits will still have silver linings and I guess this makes me a happy optimist.
25) You can read this as either "optimist" or "sociopath-in-denial" (but do I care?).
26) I am not really a moody person.
27) My Wife, Klara, tolerates my moods.
28) She is without a doubt the quite the best to happen to me for many years and the reason for 8).
29) I have two brothers and a sister: all younger
30) Despite their protestations we have strong Welsh genetic roots and an odd predilection for sheep.
31) I am a logical atheist...
32) ...however, not one crazed enough to knock door-to-door on Saturdays....
33) ...but am crazed enough to dislike any sort of religious fundamentalism with a zeal bordering on the religious....
34) ...even though I’m an atheist who realises the futility of engaging in logical argument with rabid believers
35) ...but I do so anyway to keep my hand in.
36) I am a hopeless swimmer, really. Legs kick like a cockroach and with about as much propulsion.
37) Along with my Wife we are Divemasters in scuba diving circles.
38) She isn’t competitive at all but can beat me in any swimming race.
39) I’m not at all competitive but try my utter hardest to not be lapped.
40) We always fight over who gets to drive (unless it is driving out of Sydney on a Friday afternoon).
41) She has a number of rowing World Masters Titles to her name and say’s I’m more competitive that her!
42) I have a few paltry running medals and know she’s way more testosterone-driven than I.
43) When my Wife isn’t listening I talk to the trees in our orchard (and the Garlic in the middle paddock).
44) They answer back in their own way (I guess that means I 'talk' fluent Macadamia AND Garlic)
45) Even if there was medication to cure number 43 I wouldn’t take it.
46) There hasn't been a need for me to visit a doctor for over 5 years.
47) My Wife has, but she says an almost ruptured appendix leading to an emergency appendectomy doesn’t count.
48) We don’t keep count….
49) It’s really quite hard to find 50 things you should know about me in 20 minutes of list making.
50) I can count to 50.
51) Or maybe not as Klara's just said some of these don't count!
