Having been a rusted-on Liberal voter since I day I swore my allegiance to the Queen, the local branch of the Liberal Party wished me a Happy Birthday and thanked me for supporting Liberal values and good public policy in NSW.
Not to be outdone, my socialist friend up the lane reminded me to get back to work, which I did by surreptitiously watching BHP's share price on my mobile phone while having lunch and a few chardies at the golf club. It must've worked because BHP broke a dizzying weeklong losing-streak, from $64.58 last Wednesday to $59.25 yesterday, by today going up 95 cents to $60.20. That's still well below BHP's all-time high of $68.77, but there's always "Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow".
On the way home, we dropped in at the Botanical Gardens to inspect the two trees I had planted decades ago in memory of my late father and my best friend Noel Butler. Unfortunately, the old trees hadn't survive the 2019/2020 bushfires but have since then been replaced.
And if that wasn't enough, Padma had baked me a traditional German cheese cake and there was also a birthday present waiting for me when we returned home: a beautiful PARKER pen given to me by our long-time friends across the river, Elaine and Neil. Some days are diamonds ...
