In life we think we make choices that determine our future. Is that true? One could have turned left or to the right. So much is due to the unforseen. The past is never a sign towards the future but only something to mull over in old age and even then it hardly ever surrenders wisdom or insight. That seems to only come about by a presence of mind while doing the dishes or polishing ones shoes or writing a few words.
I do remember feeling euphoric walking to Centraal Station in Amsterdam. I must have taken my suitcase and just bought the train ticket, walked up the flight of stairs to the platform taking me to Italy. It was the absolute right thing to have done. My job at the bank with the daily routine of balancing the books to zero each day had run its course. There is only so much you can do with a zero. It wasn’t easy. I had to make sure there wasn’t a cent in between. This is the essence of good book-keeping. The cost of a postage stamp could throw my day into turmoil and cost me hours of having to work after hours. No one could go home till the books were zero.
Even the director on the swivel chair had to stay back. All the branches had to give the daily figures to head office which would then print the all important statements and post them to the bank’s customers. I often used to offer the bank my own money if there was a discrepancy of just a few cents in order to be able to go home. No, that is not what banking is about. The books had to balance. You can see, dear readers, can’t you, how my career at a bank had to end? To think that at the very best I too could end up a director and swivel around a special chair. Is that what I had to look forward to? Of course to become a director could only come about by appointment. The director at my branch wasn’t too impressed, especially not when I laughed after he fell backwards with a cigar in his hands. It was doomed.
All my sense of importance wearing a finely pressed suit in the tram of Amsterdam had come to not much more than working on the Czechoslovakian Capstan lathe back in Australia, (bar the strange rituals). When my friend Bernard had secured a lovely chalet in the North of Italy I decided to chuck in the job and join him. This decision was made within a split second. The spontaneity of it was breathtaking. I loved it and still tend to act rather rashly which Helvi finds sometimes a bit hard to deal with. Of course, one could question how the bank would feel not even been notified of my choice to leave. I simply vanished.
They must have enquired at my address of the dying uncle. In any case, the book-keeping must have been done by the director till a replacement was found. I never collected my wages or holiday money as I felt it a just penance for not having given notice. The train trip to Bressanone started in rain but ended in glorious sunshine, a good omen. But of that…more to come!
(We will be in Ubud- Bali till the 23 of June. I hope to be able to post but am dependent on doing it on a tablet. I am not sure how that works. We shall see) !
Tags: Amsterdam, Bali, Bank, Bressanone, Czechoslovakia, Italy, Ubud
June 10, 2015 at 1:23 am |
Have good break, you two. Don’t worry about balancing the books to the last cent.
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June 10, 2015 at 1:57 am |
We will Yvonne, getting closer to Florence also. (or her sister Venetia)Thank you.
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June 10, 2015 at 1:43 am |
Hmm, a chalet in the North of Italy or a bank with a cigar-toting director? I know which one I’d choose too!
Have fun on your holiday!
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June 10, 2015 at 1:58 am |
Thank you Carrie,
Cigar toting is good expression, isn’t it? Can I use it next time?
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June 10, 2015 at 2:08 am
Have at it! 🙂
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June 10, 2015 at 8:58 am
You remember Joe Hockey, the self-satisfied treasurer, after last year’s budget. But it was the Australian public that fell off the chair.
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June 10, 2015 at 10:09 am
Yes, true. And it was the treasurer holding the cigar. I am not sure if he was toting the cigar.
This year’s budget is now fading as well. It is going to be a long hard winter of discontent. The pensioners are getting restless and are seething in public parks and collecting rocks for a good riot.
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June 10, 2015 at 9:08 am |
Love the wildflowers and the magnificent release of your decision.
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June 10, 2015 at 1:37 pm |
How are you Hilary? It was a good move. I could not see me balancing the books forever.
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June 10, 2015 at 3:00 pm
No, arriving at nought at the end of every day sounds very dispiriting. I’m just a tad out of breath (metaphorically) these days, otherwise fine.
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June 10, 2015 at 11:41 am |
Have a great vacation, travel safe.
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June 10, 2015 at 1:38 pm |
Yes, we will. Thank you. Milo is suspicious of our suitcases. Something is going on!
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June 10, 2015 at 2:04 pm |
Acting on instinct can be good.
Saves a lot of time thinking things out and, in the case of the bank,
was surely the only decision.
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June 10, 2015 at 10:09 pm |
A brilliant career it wasn’t.
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June 10, 2015 at 3:53 pm |
Those are beautiful flowers! Safe travels. 🙂
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June 11, 2015 at 12:09 am |
Thank you Jackie. Flowers are everywhere.
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June 11, 2015 at 4:54 am |
Banking is useful only in so far as it funds the ability to do much more enjoyable things. Swivelling in a chair doesn’t count. Get thee to Italy again, Gerard. Florence and Venice are only 2 hours apart by train. Do both!
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June 11, 2015 at 2:06 pm |
Happy travels to you and the mysterious H.
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June 13, 2015 at 8:22 am |
Thank you Big M. Hope this through as this is the first time I am writing on my tablet. I understand how Moses must have felt hurling the tablets down mount Sinai or was it Calvary.
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June 13, 2015 at 5:53 am |
Gerard, even though you threw in the key or the towel or what ever word it might be, I think, you chose well to leave as you did. That sort of job can turn one into an old man after a few short years. And cause you to be prematurely gray as well. 🙂
Have a lovely holiday and a safe trip. We’ll all be here when you return.
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June 13, 2015 at 8:35 am |
Thank youIvonne. This tablet has a mind of its own. Hope this finds you well.
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June 13, 2015 at 12:34 pm
Thank you, Gerard, I’m not great but I’m ok.
Don’t let the tablet get the upper hand. 🙂
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June 13, 2015 at 8:28 am |
Perhaps banking would have had a different face if more of them looked like you – a banker who gave money back …
Your spontaneity made me smile – for most of my life, I’ve been too reflective to act impulsively, but you make it sound not just exciting, but full of reward. I may have to think about being spontaneous …
Have a good time away and I hope you come to grips with your tablet.
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June 13, 2015 at 8:32 am |
Thank you Julia. I amwritingfrom lovely Bali on a tablet. Unbelievable achievement!
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June 13, 2015 at 10:05 am
Have a wonderful time. It sounds so exotic. And well done combining paradise and technology 🙂
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June 13, 2015 at 1:22 pm
On arrival our bath had rose petals floating on top and a giant bed had frangi pani flowers in the shape of a heart on the bedspread. A hint for honey mooners. Very sweet a reminder but we just fell asleepe
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June 15, 2015 at 11:49 pm |
Too distracted now about the floating rose petals and heart shaped frangipani welcome to think about the bank job. You’ve done well!
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June 16, 2015 at 12:32 am |
The bed was twice as wide as it was long, almost big enough to sub_let.
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June 18, 2015 at 9:45 pm |
Leap empty handed into the void! Great story -hope, doldrums, paradox, anally retentive bosses, stupidity, escape, guilt freedom! Shame you had to find zero so dispiriting it is a truly wonderful number with infinite possibilty when your allowed to be creative with it. But we can all see now how destructive banks financial creativity has brought us too! Your posts captivate and enthrall.😊
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