Making a success of yourself

When you get to the ripe old age of 40 many people start to take stock of their lives and ask the question - have I made a good fist of things so far - am I a success? - Its a really good question - when are you succesful?

If the Rolls is parked on the front lawn or you tell your time on a Rolex does that mean you've made it in life? Clearly having no spare cash can be a pretty miserable thing but cash alone is no indication of success -To me its one of perception, more importantly your own perception.

If you get up in the morning and don't dread whats in front of you and look forward to what you have when you return home, if you can find enjoyment from the most simple of things and know there are people who will always stand by you not for what you are or have but for what you mean to them - then to me you have already made a success of yourself.

Having a bit of a hippy philosophy on life when in my youth but now saddled with the same mortgage and responibilities as everyone else- its sometimes easy to lose sight of this but for me enjoying yourself with your friends and family is what 'success ' is really all about.

Heaviness ended- tune in shortly to find out why we will never contact Aliens in our lifetime

Need a hand sonny?

When do you become "old"?

30? 40? 50? - I've noticed lately I get wound up very easily when people leave lights on upstairs that cost about 1p for 20 hours to run - in short I'm turnining into my father.

When did this happen? - I'm not sure because for as long as I can remember I've felt about 16 in my head. This theory however has been disproved many times over by my own teenage kids who regularly insist I untuck my teeshirt before I go out or get outraged when I turn MTV off to watch Corrie.

Theres obviously a common denominator in all these proceedings and thats your own kids. Do they get embarrassed when they realise you quite like some of their music and start singiing in front of their friends when not in total posession of all the correct lyrics? Does the mess in their bedroom start to become a battleground even though they are right that you never really have to go there yourself?

Your only as old as you feel and thats true - but you feel a lot older when you become the establishment to someone younger than yourself when you still think you are the young, free and easy guy of your youth. I feel an attack of poetry coming on

Into my heart an air that chills from yon far mountain blows
What were those blue remembered hills, what farms , what steeples those?
That is the land of lost content, I see it shining plain
The happy Highways that I walked and cannot go again.

Someone pass the lager.

Just a thought

This is going to be a section for thoughts of the week - whether related to topical issues of the day or just commentary on the interests and hobbies of those who wish to contribute ( and as I have only given very limited authoring rights and until I can trust Leanne not to fill up the pages with Spice world and Corrie talk, this could end up mostly rugby and video game culture)

As most of this weekend has been taken up in setting up these pages and links I'm going to spare everyone my immediate thoughts but we are definitely talking Yeti - The great Indian v Chinese takeaway debate - When can we get global warming in S Wales please and other such highly charged and emotive issues over the coming months.

Hopefully should be fun....