A reasonable income – never rich, but reasonably happy…
You may think this is an unusual statement from a perfectly sane person! But think about it for a minute – we live where we want to live. We have the time to enjoy our lives. We have the time to enjoy people we meet. We have the time to do our own thing and we have the time to make a living doing what we love.
How many people could say that about their lives? Nothing is perfect, but f*ck it, we are as close as God will let any human being to be. We play music that brings happiness to people which gives us positive energy, and we act the clown with it. Of course we all have different life issues (like everyone else!), but we
just happen to make them smaller by pulling together and simply making it happen, while others are pondering. We live life and want to share it with the people that happen to come into our “humble asylum” called Charlie´s. 
All this shit about recession/credit crunches etc. nearly got me down until I realised that the door of Charlie´s is where the recession ends. The reason for this is simple – because the recession only applies to people who borrowed too much anyway, and the greedy, and always to impress more a*sholes like themselves, and we simply don’t want that type of individual at Charlie´s to begin with! We want down to earth, fun loving people who have a sense of fun, with their feet on the
ground and their a*ses in the air!! 
How many people with an hour to live would say “I wish I had made more money in this life” and how many people would say “I wish I had loved more and spent more time with the people I loved”?
I rest my case, your honour.
Well spoken, Murphy. As long as you have a roof over your head, a job that earns you just enough to live nicely, but without being rich, but you are HAPPY with yourself and the world around and in reasonably good health etc….. those are the most important things.
Comment by Barbarella — September 30, 2008 @ 10:26
We all need to deal with sorrow and hardship, The only man who is happy 24 hours a day is the village Idiot! – Darby O Gill 1958
I agree with what you are saying Murphy, I think a recession is just nature’s way of shaking people up a bit, after all the stock market is dictated by human emotion not just numbers and robots. The main emotion at the minute is fear and in fairness it has been since 9/11, i Don’t think we will ever know how hard that attack hit the business sector of America, after all there were at least 6 businesses on every floor of each tower and its only human nature to forget to back up every file and account data base so who knows how much valuable info was lost in the blaze?
My biggest fear for the island is that people become so overwhelmed with keeping money tight to thier chests that they will start holidaying in the likes of Dingle, Bundoran, Wicklow etc instead of coming to the canary islands
But i Don’t really think that can happen as the Canary islands were twice as busy in the 1980s when recession was in full swing and i think with the last 3 rainy summers nobody will take the chance again of staying at home, after all if you put away just 25euro a week you have 1200euro at the end of the year and everybody needs a little sunshine.
Hopefully people will stop spending 4000 going to Hawaii and the Carribean and just hop on a plane to good old ‘500euro for a week’ Lanzarote!
This recession will shut down a lot of bars and clubs but only because those places were low quality in the first place
Good swimmers will not sink
Comment by Rory — September 30, 2008 @ 15:01
There is one more man happy 24/7, Rory. Shane McGowan!! Ask him about recession!
Comment by Murphy — October 1, 2008 @ 22:47
How right you are, cuz! My five brothers, one sister and myself had an historic meeting yesterday, the 5th anniversary of our father’s death. We spent up to an hour and a half discussing what might happen if/when our beloved mother, Mary, becomes ill/disabled/etc. The outcome of our discussion is not relevant – my point, and what I’m so grateful for, is that the seven of us could get together, agree a Chair – the middle child, Eoin, bless him! – and talk together so frankly, openly and honestly!
It wasn’t easy – we touched on mental well-being, alcoholism, (mine – both!), Alzheimer’s Disease, our Grandmother’s long-time dying, the inability of anyone else to commit to being a potential carer – aside from me,- and much more.
I’ve spent many a 2 hours or more at meetings in my working life, but I can honestly say this was the most productive meeting ever. The seven of us sat down around a table – every one equal and each voice equal. There was no money in it for anyone – (except the person with money to spare offerred it to the family if needed) – there were no winners, no loosers and despite being emotionally drained, it was one of my best day’s work ever!
We’ve agreed to meet again in 3 months, around Christmas time and report, review and assess.
What strikes me most about this meeting is the brave sharing of our fears of what may happen to our Mother, as in her dying, or perhaps her elongated and difficult years ahead.
She’s an amazing womam – just 77 years old, bless her, but with the energy of a Munster Rugby player! They’d be so lucky!
What I’ve learned from this experience is that some things may be be hard but the outcome may be very worthwhile!
Comment by Gay — October 7, 2008 @ 00:33