One day Bill Gates went to a restaurant. He thoroughly enjoyed his meal. When it was time to pay for it, he left a $10 dollar tip for the waiter.

The waiter, confused, asked "you're one of the richest men in the world and you only leave me a $10 tip. Your son came in last week and he left me $100"

Without thinking Bill replied "he's the son of one of the richest men in the world, i'm the son of a woodcutter"

I never thought blood cancer was possible as blood cells are always refreshing themselves.

I don’t know much about blood cancer other than what I just Googled this morning.

It’s apparently known by people in the profession as Hematological Malignancies and once it’s in the blood it can also affect bone marrow and Lymph Nodes (whatever they are – haven’t had time to Google them yet).

I’m not a professional in this field, but it sounds serious as the blood and bone marrow are part of the immune system (I remember this from GCSE Biology). And once your imune system goes.....

Imagine going to the doctors and them telling you that blood cancer is what you have. Don’t know about you, but it would crush me to learn of such a thing.

It was another quiet Thursday evening as the graveyard shift for Tahir began. It wasn't raining, there was no England game on, there was no fuel tanker driver strike, but still the petrol station was unusually quiet.

Half awake half asleep, Tahir was startled when a bunch of keys was slammed down on the counter.

"Ha-ha - you should have seen the look on your face. You shat yourself." Maz couldn’t contain his laughter.

Tahir laughed too. Although his heart had almost jumped out of him, he still saw the funny side.

"You got me good Maz. But you shouldn't do that you know. You might frighten someone to death one day. How would you like it?" Tahir said, trying not show the shake in his voice too much.

On the weekend I went to help my African friend paint his flat before his wife moves in with him.

As soon as I mentioned it at home, my son wanted to come along and help.

So we got the spare paint from and rollers and brushes from the garage, and set off. I could tell my son was excited, he had a hint of a smile. He was trying not to show it, but I knew....

We got to the flat, had coffee, watched the back end of a Sunday morning show discussing assisted suicide, discussed the topic for a minute over a coffee and began working.

My friend covered the floor with dustsheets while me and my son put masking tape around the light switches, plug sockets, smoke alarm and entry phone.

A wise man once said to me:

"As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth,
so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind.
To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again.
To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives."
 

So this got me thinking....

If I want my kids to be a certain way, I need to get them to think that that is the "norm"

"Let me know when it's all ready and on the road, I want to take it to college one day." I thought it's a bit of a push, but if you don't ask - you don't get.

"You know who actually IS serious about wanting to borrow it - Darren. He actually thinks I'll trust him with it. I mean, I know it's only a Calibra, but it's the limited edition Turbo version" Zab had all the nice things. Latest cars, latest clothes, latest phones. I sometimes wondered how he paid for them all. He only worked alongside me as a pizza delivery bloke. Even if he worked all the hours under the sun, he still can't have a disposable income large enough to his life choices.

"Come on Zab. I was being serious too. You won't trust Darren, but you'll trust me right?"

“Why do people go to the zoo? What can possibly be entertaining or educational about going to the zoo? Why don’t we just go shopping instead?” I kept thinking to myself as we drove down the motorway towards the Zoo.

So we got there and saw the Lions and the Zebras. Then had an ice cream (99 with flake and strawberry sauce). My son had the one in a tub that has a bubble gum in the bottom. My daughter was in a buggy and too small to have an ice cream all to herself, so I gave her some of mine (even though I don’t normally like sharing). We went on to see the creepy crawly things like snakes and spiders.

Joke 1
Marriages are made in heaven.
But then again, so is thunder and lightning.

Joke 2
If you want your wife to listen and pay strict attention to every word you say - talk in your sleep.

Joke 3
Marriage is grand -- and divorce is at least a 100 grand

Joke 4
Married life is very frustrating.
In the first year of marriage, the man speaks and the woman listens.
In the second year, the woman speaks and the man listens.
From the third year, they both speak and the neighbors listen.

Joke 5
When a man opens the door of his car for his wife, you can be sure of one thing:
Either the car is new or the wife is.

The last two weeks:

Wake up just after 4am. Read Fajr. Eat toast with scrambled egg, beans and coffee. Shower. Get to work at about 6. Work until about 5. Get home in time for Zahur. Iron clothes for tomorrow. Eat three rotis with whatever is cooked. Play with kids. Read Asr. Play with kids until their bedtime. Kill a bit of time, do dishes, pack lunch for tomorrow. Read Maghrib. Try to get a bit of sleep / kill more time. Read Isha and be in bed for 11.15 - 11.30 and start all over again at 4am the next day.

I'm sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo tired.

From next week:

.......