I had my first taste of beer today in a long, long time. For those of you who don’t know, I run a very busy Irish bar in Bondi. Strange you might think, for one so abstemious to operate forty or fifty hours a week in the capacity of a publican. But that’s what I do nonetheless. A representative came in from a beer company and had a new “Pale Ale” he was offering for sale. He had a sample with him, so I tried it – kind of as simple as that. The beer was crisp and tarty, with a high sour aftertaste that hit the top of your throat. There were hints of hoppy, yeasty fermentation, yet the beer quickly culled this with a sharp dryness that made you think you needed to drink more. There was a fine balance between heavy and light and it got me thinking about my life and career….

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I’ve been thinking a little bit about the cold hard cash that turns the brains of this world. I’m not going to launch into some tree hugging, leftist idealism about the nature of happiness but I must state that we all need a little bit of money. Everyone needs money. Barter can’t work for a planet that functions as massively as our little blob of blue and green. It’s just not possible. Let’s also face the reality that we are all at some level, intoxicated by the idea of having a limitless purse. What would you do if you won the lottery? If you had fifty million lying around, what would you buy? Well, if you had $200,000 sitting looking at you, what would you get into your possession? Two hundred grand is a nice sum. You could buy a house, not a big one or a mansion in the suburbs, but a house nonetheless. For around two hundred grand you could buy this picturesque 3 bedroom semi detached house in the lovely town of Mallow in Co. Cork. You would have to live in Cork, but that’s another matter completely. [Read more…]