Tuesday 4th March

Yeah, gidday!

Had the 1st of my 3-monthly catch-ups with my Haemotologist today. She was very happy with everything. She thought I looked fit and healthy and younger with hair back! Wants to see me again in another 3 months, then 6-monthly. All sounds good to me! I noticed when weighing myself there that my weight is back again to about what it used to be before I got sick last year.

Sad to hear that Mike Henderson's lovely Dad, Jack, passed away in his sleep a couple of mornings ago. He has had a long battle with cancer of several types. I will be playing for the funeral on Saturday, along with Brent Chambers.

On Friday, my lovely niece Zoe goes down the aisle (actually, she'll walk up to the bandstand in Albert Park) to marry the delightful Will Wallace (a direct descendent of the "Braveheart" William Wallace). It will be a nice catch up with a number of family members, both new and old.

..........

A pastor concluded that his church was getting into very serious
financial troubles. While checking the church storeroom, he discovered
several cartons of new bibles that had never been opened and distributed.

So at his Sunday sermon, he asked for three volunteers from the
congregation who would be willing to sell the bibles door-to-door for
$10 each to raise the desperately needed money for the church.

Fred, Paul and Sam all raised their hands to volunteer for the task.

The minister knew that Fred and Paul earned their living as salesmen and
were likely capable of selling some bibles. But he had serious
doubts about Sam who was a local farmer, who had always kept to
himself because he was embarrassed by his speech impediment. Poor
Louis stuttered badly. But, NOT WANTING TO discourage Sam, the
minister decided to let him try anyway.

He sent the three of them away with the back seat of their cars stacked
with bibles. He asked them to meet with him and report the results of
their door-to-door selling efforts the following Sunday.

Anxious to find out how successful they were, the minister immediately
asked Fred, "Well, Fred, how did you make out selling our bibles last
week?"

Proudly handing the reverend an envelope, Fred replied, "Using my sales
prowess, I was able to sell 20 bibles, and here's the $200 I collected
on behalf of the church."

"Fine job, Fred!" The minister said, vigorously shaking his hand. "You
are indeed a fine salesman and the Church is indebted to you."

Turning to Paul, "And Paul, how many bibles did you sell for the Church
last week?"

Paul, smiling and sticking out his chest, confidently replied, "I am a
professional salesman. I sold 28 bibles on behalf of the church, and
here's $280 I collected."

The minister responded, "That's absolutely splendid, Paul. You are
truly a professional salesman and the church is indebted to you."

Apprehensively, the minister turned to Sam and said, "And Sam, did
you manage to sell any bibles last week?" Sam silently offered the
minister a large envelope.

The minister opened it and counted the contents. "What is this?"
the minister exclaimed. "Sam, there's $3200 in here! Are you
suggesting that you sold 320 bibles for the church, door to door, in
just one week?"

Sam just nodded. That's impossible!" both Fred and Paul said in
unison. "We are professional salesmen, yet you claim to have sold 10
times as many bibles as we could."

"Yes, this does seem unlikely," the minister! agreed. "I think you'd
better explain how you managed to accomplish this, Sam."

Sam shrugged. "I-I-I re-re-really do-do-don't kn-kn-know f-f-f-for
sh-sh-sh-sure," he stammered.

Impatiently, Paul interrupted. "For crying out loud, Sam, just tell
us what you said to them when they answered the door!"

"A-a-a-all I-I-I s-s-said wa-wa-was," Sam replied, "W-w-w-w-would
y-y-y-you l-l-l-l-l-like t-t-to b-b-b-buy th-th-th-this b-b-b-b-bible
F-f-for t-t-ten b-b-b-bucks ---o-o-o-or--- wo-wo-would yo-you
j-j-j-just l-like m-m-me t-t-to st-st-stand h-h-he re and
r-r-r-r-r-read it t-to y-y-you??"