The Richest Man on the Bus.

Post 752 ~~ Sunday, 4th September, 2011.

Hello my friends ~~ I hope everything in your lives is going
well and that you are all happy and content. I am doing fine.
It has been a lovely sunny day, and I had a visit from my
cousins, Phyl, Gordon and Phyl's sister Edna. They even
brought chicken and salad for our lunch, which was lovely as
I haven't had many salads lately. That time is coming as the
weather gets warmer.
A very Happy Father's Day to all the Aussie Dads.
I took a few photos from my garden so will show you these - -



Some daisies by my front gate.



A rhododendrom which nearly always has a flower.



A red camelia with large flowers

A pink variegated camelia covered in blooms.

It is amazing how these bushes grow and flower with very little care.
They need a bit of trimming back, which I cannot do myself.

"The Richest Man on the Bus" which was a Mountain Wings
item.
He is on my bus only occasionally, a worn man in crumpled
clothing with disheveled hair. His life looks different from the
rest of us. We are mostly middle income. His face is etched
with exhaustion and he carries virtually no belongings. We
drive ourselves to the parking lot. He appears along a busy
road seemingly out of nowhere. We sometimes wonder
where he slept the night before.

A few weeks ago he boarded the bus, took one of the side
facing seats and as he typically does and looked down at
the floor.

A few stops later a young woman boarded, a regular rider who
speaks good but not native English. She swipes her bus pass
only to find the machine will not accept it. The driver told her
she would have to deposit the $2.25 fare, "I just bought this
card," she said. "I paid the money."

The driver said she could take the card back to the sales office
and explain the problem. In the meantime she would have to
pay the fare for today. The woman became distressed and didn't
understand why she would have to pay the fare. The rest of us
just watched wondering how the problem would be solved.

Suddenly the crumpled clothed man rose from his seat, dropped
a jingle of coins into the coin box and sat back down, his eyes
returning to the floor. His act was so unobtrusive that the
distressed passenger didn't even realize what had happened.

"You're good," said the bus driver, "he paid for you." The bus
driver repeated it and pulled away from the curb. A hush fell
over the bus. The rest of us had watched the woman's
discomfort, he felt it.We wondered absently how the dilemma
would be resolved. He resolved it.

We lawyers, journalists, business people were headed down-
town to help fix the world. He fixed her world. We could have
paid the $2.25 and never missed it. It's easy to imagine that
was his fare home.

You never know when you'll be in the presence of greatness
or of grace. To the world my fellow passenger looked like a
man in need of solutons. I had looked at him and saw only
what he lacked.

By the time he stepped off the bus that morning, it was
obvious that he was a richer man than the rest of us. He had
enough to open his eyes and his heart to a stranger, enough
to give of what he had and trust life fir the rest.

I haven't seen him since that day. Some people believe angels
occasionally drop down and move among us. All I know is that
I have a new respect for the simple act of kindness. It keeps
the bus rolling and speeds us along the way.

~~Krista Ramsey; Cincinnati Enquirer. 2010.
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Now for some jokes -- an old one from my N.Z cousin Karyn.

A man and his wife walked into the dentist's office. The man
said to the dentist, "Doc I'm in one heck of a hurry. I have 2
buddies sitting out in my car waiting for us to play golf so
forget about the anaesthetic. I don't have time for the gums
to get numb. I just want you to pull the tooth and be done."

We have a 10 am tee time at the best golf course in town
and it's 9.30 already. I don't have time for the anaesthetic."

The dentist thought to himself, "My goodness, this is surely
a very brave man asking to have his tooth pulled without any
pain killers."

So the dentist asks him, "Which tooth is it?"

The man turned to his wife and said, "Open your mouth Honey,
and show him."
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Another from Karyn. Thank you Karyn for "The Halfwit."

A man owned a small farm in Ireland. The Irish Internal
Revenue determined he was not paying proper wages to his
staff and sent an investigator out to interview him.

"I need a list of your employees and how much you pay them"
demanded the investigator.

"Well," replied the farmer, "there's my farm hand who has been
with me for 3 years. I pay him $200 a week plus free room and
board. The cook has been here for 18 months and I pay her
$150 per week, plus free room and board."

"Then there's the halfwit. He works about 18 hours every day
and does about 90% of all the work around here. He makes
about $10 a week. He pays his own room and board, and I buy
him a bottle of whiskey every Saturday night. He also sleeps
with my wife occasionally."

"That's the guy I want to talk to . . .the halfwit.?

"That would be me," replied the farmer.
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One from my friend Barbara.Thank you for "Giving up Wine."

I was walking down the street when I was accosted by a
particularly dirty and shabby-looking homeless woman who
asked me for a couple of dollars for dinner. I took out my wallet
got out $10 and asked "If I give you this money, will you buy
wine with it instead of dinner?"

"No, I had to stop drinking years ago." the homeless woman said.

"Will you use it to go shopping instead of buying food?"

"No, I don't waste time shopping." the homeless woman said.
"I need to spend all my time trying to stay alive."

"Will you spend this on a beauty salon instead of food?"I asked.

"Are you NUTS?" replied the homeless woman. I haven't had
"my hair done in 20 years."

"Well", I said, "I'm not going to give you the money. Instead I
am going to take you out for dinner with my husband and me
tonight."

The homeless woman was shocked. "Won't your husband be
furious with you for doing that? I know I am dirty, and I
probably smell pretty disgusting."

I said, "That's Okay. It's important for him to see what a
woman looks like after she has given up shopping, drinking
wine, and hair appointments."
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A few shorter jokes from the papers - - -

Woman: "I'd like to order the steak and kiddley pie, please."
Waiter: You mean the steak and kidney pie."
Woman: "That's what I said diddle I?"
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The Sunday school teacher asked her class, "Can anyone
tell me where God lives?"
One little boy said, "In the bathroom."
"What makes you say that?" asked the teacher.
" Well," replied the boy, "every morning my dad thumps on
the bathroom door and shouts, "God are you still in there?"
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Murphy asked Paddy to guess how many rabbits were in the
bag. "If you get it right, you can have them both."
Paddy answered, "Three?"
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My five year old cousin recently told me she didn't like to stay
in the sun too long, because of the "extra violent" rays.
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Q. What are two things you can't have for breakfast?
A. Lunch and dinner.
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How do you stop a rhino from charging?
Take away his credit card.

A police officer stops a young blonde woman for speeding
and politely asks to see her license.
Huffily the blonde says, "I wish you people would make up
your mind. Just yesterday, you take away my license and then
today you expect me to show it to you.
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Quote of the day - - -

I don't mind coming to work, but the eight hour wait to go
home is damn awful.

Take great care of yourselves and each other. Find something
to smile about every day and be happy. My love and best
wishes to you all. Cheers, Merle.

Post 752 ~ ~ ~ Sunday, 4th September, 2011.
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