Australia

We left for Australia and arrived two days later I love the idea of travelling forward in time but the 14 hours on the plane were not pleasant. Not bad, but still if one was claustrophobic the trip would have been hell. When we arrived, we had little trouble getting our car.

My son had advised me that when I rented a car, I should choose the most popular and cheapest model on the list. I did that and by the time we arrived at the rental agency, all of those cars had been rented out, so we were offered an upgrade for free, which we accepted. So we got a slightly bigger car, with more seats and more luggage room.

The tactic may not work every time, but the last four times we have done this, at popular, national car rental agencies we have received an upgrade. It has not worked when we went with local car rental companies.

The last time we were in Melbourne with my son, we did not have google maps and we had to rely on my ability to navigate, needless to say, we got lost and took three hours to find our way out of Melbourne and on the Hume Highway on our way to Mansfield. This time thanks to Apple and Google Maps we had no problems. This time we went through the backcountry for about an hour before we connected to the Hume highway. 

The scenery on the way reminded me of Kamloops area of BC. We stopped at a town called Yea for a pit stop and some food. Yea, like all small towns in Australia, has public toilets that are accessible and free for locals and tourists to use. I have never found a dirty public toilet in any of the small towns I visited in Australia. Canadian towns should take note.  

On the way to Yea, we drove along the Whittlesea road through a small town called Flowerdale which is in the foothills of The Great Dividing Range, and in the upper catchment of the Goulburn River system. We passed through some beautiful farmland and rolling hills as we travelled.

After resting in Yea, we drove on through more beautiful scenery as we moved into the high country past Mansfield to Sawmill Settlement.  Sawmill Settlement is a very small community of fewer than 90 people so everyone knew we were coming and as we entered the community there was a sign that welcomed us to the community.

We entered Sawmill Settlement to see and we stopped to read our warm welcome,  and then we drove to my daughter and her family home and arrived at about three o’clock after a very pleasant drive. 

I will talk about the rest of the trip and the fire situation that faced many of the areas we were in a subsequent post. Right now I am trying to get over my Jet lag.

Listen to the children

My grandson, who is 8 years old has a passion for skiing and his goal is to be in the Olympics in 2026. He is good at what he does and has no fear, as you can see from the picture below. He placed 18th in his country in his age group which included children from 15 to 8, so he has potential. As I watch him practice and strive for perfection I realized that as a senior I could learn from him. Children can teach us many things if we watch and embrace their ideas and techniques. Here are a few techniques that I learned from watching him that will help you take your game, or your life in retirement, to a whole new level:

1. Once a day playfully imagine that you're already living at that new level. He uses his imagination to see himself doing better, and he listens to others who give him instructions to become better. Finally, he practices what he imagines and what he has been given instruction for. He does this every day, either on the slopes, in the gym, or on the playground. When he fails he does not quit, he tries again and again until he gets it right. 

2. Frequently speak in gratitude as if you've already arrived. When my grandson did not win a recent competition because he was competing with children who were at least 6 years older, he just said, "That's OK, I will win it in two or three years." He sees himself as a winner and acts as if he has already arrived. However, he is still 8 years old and plays with his friends and plays other sports such as Aussie Rules Football, Cricket, swimming and Horseback riding

3. Here is something I wish he did, but he does not, I think that he should occasionally do something he never would have done at the old level. He knows he is good, but he does not brag or self-praise, he does like it when others praise him, and his mom and dad, do not pressure him but do reward him when he does well. When he does well, I sometimes will click a few times with my thumbs under my arms and do the chicken dance, but he never sees me do it.

We can learn from children if we allow them to lead us, one child who is motivating others is Greta Thunberg, who has started an international youth movement against climate change. The Swedish teenager first staged a "School Strike for Climate" in front of the Swedish Parliament in August last year. Her strike has inspired students from around the world, of all ages. As we move on with our lives, we need to listen and learn from the children.

Cucumbers

My thanks to my cousin Terry for the following

Cucumbers... I didn't know this...& to think all these years I've only been making salads with the cucumbers...

1.Cucumbers contain most of the vitamins you need every day, just one cucumber contains Vitamin B1, Vitamin B2, Vitamin B3, Vitamin B5, Vitamin B6, Folic Acid, Vitamin C, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium and Zinc.

2. Feeling tired in the afternoon, put down the caffeinated soda and pick up a cucumber. Cucumbers are a good source of B vitamins and Carbohydrates that can provide that quick pick-me-up that can last for hours.

3. Tired of your bathroom mirror fogging up after a shower? Try rubbing a cucumber slice along the mirror, it will eliminate the fog and provide a soothing, spa-like fragrance.

4. Are grubs and slugs ruining your planting beds? Place a few slices in a small pie tin and your garden will be free of pests all season long. The chemicals in the cucumber react with the aluminum to give off a scent undetectable to humans but drive garden pests crazy and make them flee the area.

5. Looking for a fast and easy way to remove cellulite before going out or to the pool? Try rubbing a slice or two of cucumbers along your problem area for a few minutes, the phytochemicals in the cucumber cause the collagen in your skin to tighten, firming up the outer layer and reducing the visibility of cellulite. Works great on wrinkles too!!!

6. Want to avoid a hangover or terrible headache? Eat a few cucumber slices before going to bed and wake up refreshed and headache-free. Cucumbers contain enough sugar, B vitamins and electrolytes to replenish essential nutrients the body lost, keeping everything in equilibrium, avoiding both a hangover and headache!!

7. Looking to fight off that afternoon or evening snacking binge? Cucumbers have been used for centuries and often used by European trappers, traders and explore for quick meals to thwart off starvation.

8. Have an important meeting or job interview and you realize that you don't have enough time to polish your shoes? Rub a freshly cut cucumber over the shoe, its chemicals will provide a quick and durable shine that not only looks great but also repels water.

9. Out of WD 40 and need to fix a squeaky hinge? Take a cucumber slice and rub it along the problematic hinge, and voila, the squeak is gone!

10.Stressed out and don't have time for massage, facial or visit to the spa? Cut up an entire cucumber and place it in a boiling pot of water, the chemicals and nutrients from the cucumber will react with the boiling water and be released in the steam, creating a soothing, relaxing aroma that has been shown the reduce stress in new mothers and college students during final exams.

11. Just finish a business lunch and realize you don't have gum or mints? Take a slice of a cucumber and press it to the roof of your mouth with your tongue for 30 seconds to eliminate bad breath, the phytochemicals will kill the bacteria in your mouth responsible for causing bad breath.

12. Looking for a 'green' way to clean your faucets, sinks or stainless steel? Take a slice of a cucumber and rub it on the surface you want to clean, not only will it removes years of tarnish and bring back the shine, but is won't leave streaks and won't harm your fingers or fingernails while you clean.

13. Using a pen and made a mistake? Take the outside of the cucumber and slowly use it to erase the pen writing, also works great on crayons and markers that the kids have used to decorate the walls!!

Pass this along to everybody you know who is looking for better and safer ways to solve life's everyday problems

Canadians’ retirement perceptions and behaviours 2

 The following is from a Morneau Shepell, newsletter. Morneau Shepell is the only human resources consulting and technology company that takes an integrated approach to employee well-being to meet health, benefits and retirement needs.

On July 27, 2018, a research study entitled Encouraging Retirement Planning through Behavioural Insights. The study identifies and presents thirty different initiatives and tactics in which pension and savings plan sponsors can apply behavioural insights to promote retirement planning and help their plan members overcome challenges people experience in creating personal financial plans for their retirement. The initiatives presented are organized around four primary challenges people face in their retirement planning:

•        Difficulty in starting.

•        Procrastination.

•        People can feel overwhelmed and quit the process.

•        Difficulty in obtaining good advice.

Some examples of the thirty initiatives recommended to deal with these challenges include:

•                   Integrating retirement planning into the onboarding process for new employees.

•                   Prompting people to make a retirement plan at times when they are likely to feel positive about their financial situation (e.g. after a raise, bonus or tax refund).

•                   Capitalizing on moments that people tend to think about the future (e.g. birthdays, when drawing from children’s registered education savings plans).

•                   Emphasizing the short-term benefits of retirement planning by creating a near-term incentive.

•                   Combating optimism bias by providing relevant benchmarks.

•                   Helping people build confidence and comfort talking about their finances by providing a structure for conversations.

Three of the thirty recommended initiatives were tested using a randomized control trial experiment, in which over 70,000 Ontario Public Service employees were provided with different newsletter messages prompting them to use an employer-sponsored online retirement income calculator.

The experiment found that messages that help people to imagine their social selves in retirement by evoking thoughts of time spent with friends and family can be highly effective in getting people to engage in retirement planning. The experiment also found that messages expressing that retirement planning can be simple and easy the process can be quite effective in moving people from an initial spark of interest into more concrete action.