When I was in my teens and early 20's I wanted to be like Sid Vicious and be dead before my 40's of something really shocking to my parents - like a heroin overdose.

I'm now 47 and don't want to die until at least 70. I'm not sure why - but dying in my 60s sounds dull.

I'm not scared of dying - I've done most things I want to in life - in fact, I'd be content if someone told me this was my last day on earth.

I'm so over working a meaningless day job, teenagers and a whining wife. So I've decided, I'm going to buy me a VW Transporter and do it all up with LED lights with black synthetic material on the roof and walls complete with at least two IPads - one on the ceiling and the other one somewhere else. I want a really comfy bed, and lots of other modern sh1t - I'm talking pimp my ride, sandman 2010 style. I'm going to drive this beast all over the place like the grey nomad that I'm reluctantly turning into and piss off to Johannna or wherever for whatever.

I started looking up what I should buy. New or used. You can buy a cleanskin or you can buy one already done up. Being a bit of a cheap-scate I thought I'd look up buying a second hand one - one already done up. Sure, I'd just replace the creamed on mattress. But there were all these depressing ads along the lines of "for sale - unfinished project - selling due to stroke"

I don't know where this post is going.

Has anyone else got some random half baked ideas they want to share?

Yeah here's a half baked idea -

leave the teenagers and possibly the wife at home and go windsurfing in Maui

If that doesn't sound good, go to Mauritius

If neither of them sound like a good idea, give me the money and I will go and tell you how good it was.

(If you want something quicker, go to Lord Howe for a couple of weeks. Take the wife for that one though, as someone needs to go get you a hamburger and a coke when you come in for lunch)

buy a bright red racing car!

T4 and T5 vans - the best place to get some good ideas is the ebay.co.uk - there's a loads of modified ones on there.

Ten seconds on there came up with the following. There's some much better ones on there though for inspiration.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2000-VOLKSWAGEN-TRANSPORTER-T4-TDI-SWB-BLACK-/150600199347?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item231078acb3

cgi.ebay.co.uk/VOLKSWAGEN-TRANSPORTER-CARAVELLE-WHITE-T4-Surf-Day-van-/150600377105?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item23107b6311

You make a good point there. The price of oil is really high again.

Maybe I should be thinking about lurking around caravan parks or ovals in the outback to save some bucks. I could make friends with some oldies who have a fully decked out Transporter and are stuck there cause they either can't afford the diesel to get out, or are suffering from health complications and in need of some quick cash. When it comes to doing the deal I'd go in hard - but not enough to be featured on Today Tonight. It really sounds like a win win.

I'd have to check out their van thoroughly - racv checks and stuff - but if it all checks out I'd just chuck their creamed mattress, their boring slim dusty CD's, spray the inside with disinfectant or mortein and bobs your uncle.

oliver said...


I'm now 47 !
I'm going to buy me a VW Transporter and do it all up with LED lights with black synthetic material on the roof and walls complete with at least two IPads

Well Just do it!

You have one life, if myself or my betterhalf. wants to do something we just do it.

You have the goal, just make your plan and make it happen.

Maybe you are going through your, "I am neither young or old" stage

Buy a copy of Annie Hill's Voyaging on a Low Income.

She and her partner live off $60/week and have travelled to places you and I can only dream about. Whilst a lot of their destinations are a trifle too chilly for my liking, (Iceland and the Falklands) I would direct my boat toward warm and windy destinations.

You can pick up a very nice steel hulled 30 foot yacht for $60k, invest the rest in government bonds and set yourself free!

I know of a lecherous old kiwi bastard that travels the Antipodean coast with female crew selected from the backpacking community. This may not be to your liking but it does have a certain allure!

japie said...

Buy a copy of Annie Hill's Voyaging on a Low Income.

I had a look on Amazon for this book and it is $210
is this right japie

Gorgo said...
Buying a motorbike/van/boat/tattoo/thai contortionist expecting it to make you happy is doomed to failure. No matter what thing you have the continuing cycle of happy/contented/grumpy/angry will continue.

If you can develop the thought patterns and attitudes that let you be at peace with yourself then you can choose to do whatever you want and enjoy happiness doing it.

Yes and no... people can get stuck in an undesirable pattern, sometimes without even knowing it. If they have something to take them out of that pattern, things can markedly change.

So taking a van on a 1yr road trip is going to change you.

GypsyDrifter said...

japie said...

Buy a copy of Annie Hill's Voyaging on a Low Income.

I had a look on Amazon for this book and it is $210
is this right japie

No way. I bought two copies at different times. I did stuff the title up though, it is Voyaging on a small income. I did not pay more than $35. It is soft back with mostly black and white photos.

Brilliant read for the would be sailor. It makes you appreciate that you do not have to have a floating place to be happy on the water.

On a different tack altogether. For all of us there is this life, and then there is "for ever after". Yes, we do like to argue about what "for ever after" holds for us, but even if annihilation is your thingy, it's for ever. If re-incarnation is your thingy, it's for ever, and so on. Now, taking a little mathematical "licence" here, any number (age in years) over "for ever" (infinity) is 0 (zero). That is to say that your measly 3 score and 10, or there-abouts here on Earth counts for absolutely naught when compared to "for ever after".

Why not take this challenge: Find out what's really gonna be for the "for ever after" part of your life, coz it's going to be for an awful long time. All the more awful if you get it wrong. You never can tell, all you your present woes might just pale into complete insignificance.

oliver said...
I'm now 47 and don't want to die until at least 70. I'm not sure why - but dying in my 60s sounds dull.

I'm not scared of dying - I've done most things I want to in life - in fact, I'd be content if someone told me this was my last day on earth.

I think your mid life crisis is coming a bit early ollie.

Our bodies are designed to last us about 120 years but because of substance abuse (eating food from supermarkets among other things), our expectations have been shortened. Eighty years is regarded as a good innings.

Maybe you have just realised your own mortality.

You have given the smokes away and I sincerely hope you have stuck with that.

You are at an age where a change of lifestyle could make a huge difference on the rest of your life.

P.S. Just remember one thing. None of us gets out of life alive.

cisco said...
<snip>

Our bodies are designed to last us about 120 years but because of substance abuse (eating food from supermarkets among other things), our expectations have been shortened. Eighty years is regarded as a good innings.

<snip>

Hey Cisco, how do you arrive at this figure of 120 years? That would be an exceptional life span.

I am sure our life expectancy on average is far higher now than it has ever been.

If you believe in evolution, you could argue that our bodies are only designed to get to an age where they can reproduce. The rest is just a bonus.

dinsdale said...

On a different tack altogether. For all of us there is this life, and then there is "for ever after". Yes, we do like to argue about what "for ever after" holds for us, but even if annihilation is your thingy, it's for ever. If re-incarnation is your thingy, it's for ever, and so on. Now, taking a little mathematical "licence" here, any number (age in years) over "for ever" (infinity) is 0 (zero). That is to say that your measly 3 score and 10, or there-abouts here on Earth counts for absolutely naught when compared to "for ever after".

Why not take this challenge: Find out what's really gonna be for the "for ever after" part of your life, coz it's going to be for an awful long time. All the more awful if you get it wrong. You never can tell, all you your present woes might just pale into complete insignificance.

I remember Packer said he had been to the other side and there was nothing there

GalahOnTheBay said...

GreenPat said...

oliver said...

Death and dying

Mind if I change the title to 'Life and living'? Death and dying sounds so morbid.

Great minds (or equally not-so-great) think alike

And fools never differ. Thread title changed.

I don't think I'm depressed, not yet anyway.

I think the word melancholy describes my state of mind much better. I'm neither here nor there anymore.

What about Morbid and Melancholy as a new title for this thread?