Life's Philosophy and How Time Flies!

Today is 1 August 2011. It's now just over three years since I finished my contract with the Higher Colleges of Technology at Al Ain and headed back to Central Australia via Durban, Cape Town and Stellenbosch in South Africa.

I occasionally reflect on one of my favourite quotes by either William Shakespeare or Louis Safian (I forget which), "Time goes you say, oh no, Alas, time stays, we go."

As the years pass, I'm increasingly aware that at some time I will go. I'm not sure where, but I'll undoubtedly "go". Most likely, and if my wishes are followed, I'll finish up as a few kilograms of scattered ash floating about somewhere in my beloved Northern Territory.

This brings me to the many things I still want to do before I go. There are only two very important things on my bucket list. One is too private to tell the world and perhaps too naughty, but the other is to have a beer with my grandson Tory when he turns 18. If I'm still here in nine years, I'll probably be able to stagger down to the local hotel and lift a beer to my lips. But if I leave my first bucket item too long, I may never be able to carry it out as it takes a bit more energy than lifting a schooner to one's lips.

Today at least, I'm still here and everything seems to be going well. So there are some other things I want to do before I'm too old to do them, or before I go. They include to:

1. caravan extensively around this huge country called Australia to see in detail those places through which I have passed fleetingly, and to linger in those places to which I have not travelled
2. learn more about the universe in which we live, the billions of others that surround us, and the physics involved in keeping this magnificent show rolling along
3. meet more wonderful people and socialise more often
4. improve my golf to the stage where others say, "He's an excellent golfer." (I may have to live a LOT longer for this to materialise)
5. help keep Australia free, democratic and progressive in honour of all those men and women who died that we might live in a good country; to keep out those who would turn Australia into an ignorant and backward country under a totalitarian regime
6. continue living a good humanist life not doing unnecessary harm to anything

There are others, but these seem the most pressing today. After a 30 year search I've already found the solution to the meaning and purpose of life, so I can relax a little now and focus on more material and mundane things.


It's indeed a great life for most of us and we need to make the most of every moment.


How about you? What remains on your Bucket List? What do you want to do before your life certificate expires? 

Robin