"Shingles on my roof, shingles on my body"

 

Tom Neale sitting on his bed on Suwarrov Island,
looking not the least bit worried about shingles

 

Despite having suffered from it for over three weeks, I keep forgetting what it's called without the help of my little home-made mnemonic "Shingles on my roof, shingles on my body". Am I suffering from an early onset of dementia as well?

(Yes, I know, they're called tiles, really, but "Tiles on my roof ..." only rhymes with something I haven't got - yet. If I did, I would have trouble sitting down, whereas my shingles only give me trouble lying down.)

To distract myself from all this misery, I've read Tom Neale's "An Island to Oneself" again - and so can you by clicking here. On re-reading it online, I noticed that it has quite a few typos in it which are not of my own making as I copied the text of the book from somewhere else on the internet.

I simply couldn't be bothered fixing them as I'm suffering too much from ... ahem, "Shingles on my roof ..."

 

I hope the canoe is included in the sale

 

 

Almost three years ago, a very good friend - perhaps the only good friend with whom I had experienced an almost instant meeting of the minds, and with whom I had endless discussions about books, politics, philosophy, world affairs, in fact, just about anything because he knew something about everything - finally reached the end of his 87-year-long life - click here.

For several years already, he had been heading towards the end - no, not life itself, but something else: the end of any likelihood of change in his life - and in our discussions he had allowed himself long moments in which he had paused to ask the question: what else have I done wrong?

Almost three years later, the property that he had kept in such immaculate shape for fifty years, despite a persistent urge to do something else and see more of the world while there was still time, is now for sale - see here.

 

293-295 Old Nelligen Road, Nelligen, NSW 2536

 

The property will be auctioned this coming Saturday. Whatever the price, it will never pay for all the hard work over a long lifetime that my friend put in to make "Sproxtons" what it is today. I hope the canoe is included in the sale. I gave it to him many years ago in exchange for one of the many favours he did for me. It was far too small a present to such a good friend.

 

P.S. Update on 7/12/24: The auction is cancelled, presumably through lack of interest, and it's now for sale through other "Expressions of Interest".

P.P.S. Update on 11/12/24: By all means, express your interest, but only if you're interested to pay $3,000,000 to $3,300,000 (Adam Porteous's pre-auction price guide had been between $2,800,000 and $3,000.000).

 

The only person who is with us our entire life is ourselves

 

 

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. This video clip will!