The Zipper Club

I had heard the stories several times, how a guy retires and within 12 months all kinds of disaster have befallen him. I didn’t discount these stories, but I never thought that I would be a part of the record. Nah, I’ll be right! An ostrich for sure.

As most of you know, I retired fully from work on April 1^st 2021 and on May 1^st 2021 Jo and I began our trip around Australia. The ‘little bump in the road’ that Jo mentioned in the previous post was this…

I shouldn’t have been too surprised; I had an angina event in December 2007 and had been on medication all that time without anything too severe getting in the way of normal life. Nevertheless, when it did happen it was disruptive to say the least. So why write this? Well, there are some lessons here that are available for those of a mind to note them. Also, Jo and I like writing and we probably should explain the hiatus in Jo’s blog posts.

May I gain the courage to change the things I can

The serenity to accept the things I cannot change

And the wisdom to know the difference

Starting with ‘changing the things I can’. Well, I could have changed a lot of things and there’s every likelihood that the trauma of the past months could have been avoided. Trouble was, it was all much too subtle. I had the fitness and activity level pretty-much on the positive side of the risk register. But the food intake? Nah!

It’s not that I didn’t like good, wholesome food. But I liked peanut butter sandwiches on soft, white bread slathered with butter a whole lot more.  And icy cold coke is really, really refreshing. And KFC, and Macccas, and pizzas… Well, you get the picture.

I never gave a thought for the fat and rubbish I was expecting my body to cope with. So, over the years I simply clogged the plumbing – as simple as that!

But it wasn’t only the clogged plumbing. You see, I really liked the sweet stuff as well. Coca-Cola, chocolate, apple pies and oh my, ice cream. My body couldn’t cope with the excess. It simply couldn’t deal with all that sugar – enter Type 2 Diabetes!

Years ago, as I ran a hundred kilometres a week, played maybe fifteen games of competitive squash and all that other good stuff, I burned up that sugar like a furnace. But then work took over. Instead of running I stressed behind the desk, I didn’t have time for squash, I was too busy working sixty to sixty-five hours a week and often longer.

Oh I did notice what was happening but what could I do? I had commitments and responsibilities; and I was doing really important stuff! It would have taken more courage to change than I could muster. So I kept all the bad habits and got rid of all the good.

Trouble is that Maccas, KFC and pizzas are really in your face, they’re on every corner and on every second advert. And they taste great, they’re cheap and convenient and really social.

Oh, did I mention… They’ll kill you – slowly but surely – they will kill you!

Well there is an action plan. Plan to call the ambulance, plan a near-death experience and just in case you’re not lucky enough to have that near-death experience, pre-plan your funeral, that’ll take a load off those you love most. Thirty percent of heart-attack victims never make it to hospital – thirty percent!

So please use me as a good bad example. Trust me, you do not want to go where I went.

Find the courage to change your life while you still can.

On a brighter note, I’m well on the way to a full recovery, it’s now five weeks since the operation and although it will be several weeks yet before we get on the road, I expect to be back in a more robust body than before.

We want …

So we can do much more of this…

This has truly been a profound experience for Jo and me and I hope you will continue to join us as we get back on the road and we navigate the good the bad and the ugly. 

Hey… it’s all character building.