General chat with Daisy

By Daisy

You bought the $20 million lotto ticket. At first, maybe you apportion some to give away to family, friends or charities.

Now, let’s say you now have $10 million you have kept to set yourself up nicely. So, what would you do?

What in your life would change?  What would stay the same? Coronavirus would limit some of your options. For instance, there’d be no first class flight to Europe. No house in Provence – not for a few years at least. 

So what then? A farm? A boat? A luxury mobile home? Buy out all your neighbours so you can live in peace and quiet? What selfish indulgences would you like?

And what would you have done with your first $10 million? The $10 million you shared, gave away? See, when you spend your winnings in your head, you at least get a little trip down Fantasy Lane for your money.
I’ll start. Off the top of my head: I’ll share my first $10 million with family, friends and donate toward the protection of native bushland, flora and fauna. I’d also donate toward Aboriginal education. 
Since coronavirus has stomped on my travel plans, I think I might buy a nice mobile home to drive around WA.

I’d buy more plants for our garden, and I’d put money aside for Woolif and me to have a gardener, housekeeper and, later on, a nurse so we can stay living where we do.
Ask me next week, and my answer might be different. 
What’s your imaginary spending spree? 



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Bobi

After I bought that apartment overlooking the harbour, there’s wouldn’t be much money left. I like a view of the harbour on a sunny day. My DD would inherit the apartment and therefore, by definition, not in need of funds so I would give a bucket load to a charity.
Unfortunately, I know a lot about some of them. I know I shouldn’t mention names because maybe things have changed over time but no money to the Royal Society for the Blind or the RSPCA. Some of these places attract a*****s.
I’ve always been partial to the Fred Hollows Foundation. They do a lot with a little. I wouldn’t bother spreading it around – all in one place to make a difference.
And as a follow on from our on going conversation, I would put enough money aside to provide 24 hour care for myself, and my dozen cats, in my dotage until the day I die.
I feel like I should do something clever but my imagination doesn’t work like that.
I have enough money to be comfortable. I grew up poor but we were never deprived. I then married a man who thought that he was better than he was so he stole and lied to pretend and big note himself. It was all for nothing because no one really cared.
Money is psychological more than physical. As long as I have a secure roof over my head, the internet, hot showers in the morning, tea and biscuits, and the dog has his dog food and vet bills paid (he’s a very expensive pupper), I’m good.

brain dead dave

It would be none of the alleged charities have hung on to bushfire donations. Hello $alvos, hello Red Cro$$.

Von

Twenty or ten million is so much more than I would need that I’d have to sit on it for six months or so until it became real to me.

daisy 🌼

Von, I am picturing you sitting on $20 million. Literally. Like Scrooge McDuck in his money room only on a very much higher tower. You are wearing pearls and a diamond tiara. 🤣

Bobi

Or sitting on one of those incredibly expensive chairs that you see advertised on tv. Who can afford one of those and why do they cost so much? The lining is probably stuffed with 10 dollar bills.

daisy 🌼

You’ll get ads for those chairs now, Bobi.
Maybe we’ll get lots more ads now that Mr McGoogle thinks we all won lotto.

Von

Ha ha, both of you.

I’ll take the pearls and the fancy chair, thanks. A tiara would not sit properly on the baseball cap that I wear in the summer.

Windsong

A jeweled baseball cap?

I mean, I’m pretty sure the Kardashians have one of those per daughter, so you could probably pull it off.

Von

*quizzical side eye*

Zhee

Well, 20 million would get you quite far in Germany. I would build a house and one for my mum as well, but only a bungalow and I would hire a very attractive trainer for her as she has to learn to walk again. 😉 That’s maybe 2 million gone.
I’d give money to my sister and set up funds for my nieces. My stepsister would get some money as well. My dad would get his dream vacation in Australia and New Zealand when the Rona is over. He is all set otherwise and I would just gift to him whatever he wants. And then gifts for my friends.
I’d build my perfect little cake shop. Then I would adopt a child, maybe two if it would be siblings so they can stay together.
So, I am sure there will be at least 10 million left, 5m into the bank for myself, 1m investments, 4 million just for charities.

daisy 🌼

That’s a good spend Zhee.

Bobi

I loved these books. I hated the movie.
They better not muck this one up or else it’s all over forever.

daisy 🌼

I recommend you all install a new “clean” woodheater. They really take the cold out of winter.

brain dead dave

Especially with Scotty stuck into it.

Windsong

Politics in this country is starting to get interesting again. State ALP politicians have started resigning en masse, and it really gives the feeling of rats jumping off the ship before it sinks. I am starting to feel for the QLD premier and the chief medical officer, but … and I know, maybe this isn’t the right thing to be voicing … but more and more, we keep hearing stories of people who have been completely let down by the total lockdown (there was a girl who was stuck in quarantine and couldn’t reach her father’s side as he was dying, and they wouldn’t even let her attend the funeral. Or the people who couldn’t cross the Tweed to open their business, so they had to fly to Sydney and then fly back up to Brisbane. There was a pregnant woman who lost one of her twins because she was waiting for a flight to a hospital, because they wouldn’t let her cross the border to get to a hospital in Brisbane), and I just think, if you’ve been in quarantine for a week and you’re not showing symptons, at what point is a lockdown actually doing unnecessary harm?

Meanwhile, wacky conservatives are having a go at Scotty from marketing over the federal government’s entire approach to the whole covid thing. The only thing missing from wacky conservatives attacking other wacky conservatives is popcorn while the rest of us watch.

daisy 🌼

Get your popcorn out Windsong. I can’t stand Morrison. I always get my popcorn out when your QLD chief MO is on TV. She is so meek; “It would be nice if you socially distance”. “It’s a good idea if you don’t go to that Mosh pit”. She is such a mouse. I think I enjoy watching her the most. The NSW premier is usually fun to watch too.
I kind of have a cartoon in me with Scotty and his bus, Dan with the map, Mark zooming in the opposite direction in his sport’s car and Clive with his bananas chasing Mark.
Glad is sitting cosily being bus driver Scotty in her navy blue woolen coat.
Yes WS, popcorn, coke and an ice-cream bomb.

Von

Please do the cartoon, Daisy, even if only for us.

daisy 🌼

My friend in Victoria is on my case to draw it.
ATM I can draw myself teaching a class of 9 year old children, a third of them scallywags. 😁

Windsong

I do feel for QLD’s chief medical officer. She always looks so uncomfortable. It’s like, she’s not a politician, she’s a nerd, and feels incredibly out-of-place in the public eye. I’m actually looking forward to seeing the NSW and QLD premiers actually fighting on the bridge connecting the two states. Let’s just settle it with a brawl.

But still, watching all these ultra-conservative types (all of which are Sky News watchers or commentators) who were praising and defending Morrison, so passionately, this time last year … and they now hate his guts because of covid (and how it’s a hoax, or whatever)? I’m not going to lie. I’m kind of finding this pretty hilarious, actually.

daisy 🌼

Uggghhh. Sky News. Paul Murray actually said something, “It’s not that bad. Only about 3000 people will die”, or something very close to that. And I said (because they can hear me), “You selfish, insensitive bastard”. I think the Sky News mob were poo-pooing the threat initially, then about two weeks later were saying, “Who could have predicted….?”.
Idiots. You didn’t need to predict. You only needed to look at China and Italy. Ninkempoops.

Bobi

I’m going to take this way too seriously for a minute because I dislike this mob of Libs/Nats intensely. Just call me Karen, and forgive my commas being in the wrong place.
I know all the stories are tragic and I don’t mean to be unsympathetic but there will always be a tragic story. And there are (literally) thousand of them. When you make one exception, then there is another, and then another, and another until you get a Minister making exceptions for an au pair and then it all looks a bit dodgy.
I’m sure that’s how the Sports Rort started.
Why, out of all the stories does ScoMo care about this particular one but, at the very same time, he doesn’t care about a non-white woman on Christmas Island who is regularly separated from her family for months on end because of her health concerns – for years. And that is a decision that is directly on him. Like, one to one. He put that family in that situation even though it was unnecessary. How Christian of him.
Unlike the pandemic which is a multifaceted and evolving problem and everyone is trying to make the best decisions in the face of the continuing unknown.
Don’t hold your breath, I’ll tell you why he has stepped in here. Opportunistic.
I’m not going to forget that if it came to a choice between the economy and my life, he will choose the economy. The man does not care if people die, but he cares about our funerals? fftt.
I feel for all the Premiers, most who will lose at the next election, and ScoMo is just … words fail me. A horrible man is the best I can come up with.
But I am loving the jokes.
They are calling the legislation in NSW the Blinky Bill 🤣🤣🤣🤣.
And i heard a passing mention of the Koala Tweet of Mercy 🤣🤣🤣.
I love a good pun and then I love politics, and good on Gladys for refusing to be blackmailed by a bonehead.
I know, I am mixing all my politics into one mishmash of noise. It’s all too much sometimes but let’s just have fun picking it apart.

Windsong

I absolutely hate them for what they’ve done to that family in Biloela. Absolutely hate them. But what can we do about it? Whenever I think about that, I’m just gripped by this awful hopelessness.

One of my nerdy friends flew home from England specifically to reach his mother before she passed. He was stuck in an airport in Dubai when that happened. He made it to Australia in time for the funeral … but he’s not an AFL player, so the state government didn’t grant him an exemption. I get how important the whole thing is, but I still think that parts of it could be handled better.

Von

Well said, Bobi. I feel conflicted over some of those not getting an exemption to cross a border because their circumstances are so sad. But, as you said, there are many with good reasons, to them, to get an exemption, but then where does it stop? It only takes one infected person to set off a pebble-in-a-lake result of many infected and some dying. The pandemic is not over and may not be for years. We are all tired of taking precautions, distancing, masking, but ignoring the problem is not going to make it magically go away.Life has changed. Full stop.

And how and why do these sad stories get to the media so often? A plethora of people feeling they didn’t get a fair hearing does not change anything. I think, surprising myself, that most of the pollies are doing the best they can in, for them, unprecedented situations. Not Scotty, though. Scotty looked all right at the beginning of the pandemic, but now his main concern is the economy. He and Josh are never ever going to get over not being able to have the much heralded budget be in the black. Bad luck, Scotty, the universe is against you, but never mind the many many people who have died.

Von

Thank goodness for Gogglebox to relieve some of the day’s stresses.

Baby Malek is gorgeous, and him standing by himself gave me a big smile. That he then pooped gave me a laugh. You’ve got to love babies.

Fijane

I’d be unlikely to win 20M as I never give money to the lotto machine, but if I had $10M unallocated for other things – mmmm? I like the suggestions earlier of securing an amount for home care later. I would use some to buy a house on a little more land, mainly to become the go-to place when all the kids have kids – I want to have the cool Grannie’s house, with lots of grassed area, big family meal tables, rumpus rooms for big rumbles etc!

I’d give more to the charities I support now, especially overseas. I have a bit of an aversion to donating within Australia because our safety nets are so good. I would rather my money went to someone without clean water, or immunisation, or a midwife.

I wouldn’t buy more gadgets eg a boat or fancy car etc, as it seems that they create more work than they are worth. I would rather have some money put away to hire those things if I want them.

I would love to give a scholarship for a worthy specific cause, but I suspect you need many more millions to do that as a perpetual thing.

I would keep some back. This year we had the opportunity to help someone have an operation earlier, which would have been pushed right back because of the covid queue. That’s the sort of freedom I want from a bit of a money buffer.

Bobi

I like the concept of a scholarship but $20 m would barely cover it and I feel like it would more than likely benefit those with wealth anyway. But along those lines, I donated to Dymocks. They had a fund raising to cover the cost of donating books to kids in Victoria. I like the thought. And although this one is just Victoria, maybe it should be expanded to other disadvantaged groups.
Just sharing, early on I visited my DiL and the grand kiddies with books as presents. They were delighted. She, not so much, and then I noticed that there was not a book in the house. Not one, not even a comic or a magazine.
How can that be? I don’t have an answer but still … I don’t know.
If every child, every year, was given a bundle of books, I feel that would pay big dividends in the long run.
Surely.
I grasping at straws here.

Fijane

It is like a world without words…so sad. Strange, though, how passionate they get about Book Week, but half the kids dress up as tv characters, not book ones.

Fijane

Sorry, that pic is huge!

daisy 🌼

No school assemblies and awards nights is a secret blessing.

brain dead dave

Times are tough on struggle street for head lice, too. Oh well, it’s their funeral.

Fijane

Our local school did book week, just the kids and teachers. But one of my YAs works at after-school care and it was hilarious to see him gearing up as superman after raiding our dress-up boxes!

I (and several other friends) are in deep mourning about the school graduation. I am gutted to not be there. And even now the rules have relaxed for term 4, our school refuses to shift the graduation back so that parents can be there. Not happy.

daisy 🌼

Bobi, during our “lockdown”, I used to take little bags of crafty things to the kids.

As for people asking for exemptions, I find them annoying. It snacks if, “But my needs are greater”. Is it my imagination that the people who have it the worst, are complaining the least? I have a friend in Geelong who, due to her circumstances, has been in complete isolation since March. Hasn’t seen a single person face to face since March. No grandkids, funerals, sick sisters, nothing, yet I haven’t heard one, “Are we there yet” from her. But, although in WA we should thank our lucky stars, there are so many whingers on Mark McGowan’s FB. Somebody needs to write a.song called, “Just hold your horses”.

Bobi

You’re allowed to go to a restaurant for lunch? That’s sounds like winning the lottery right there.

daisy 🌼

As are we, Bobi. No SD anymore. Packed like sardines.
But Woolif was safe.

daisy 🌼

It was packed inside.

brain dead dave

Hard to tell if Woolif’s jug is half full or half empty.

It’s only by a chance that SA has had it so lucky. Plenty of idiots who won’t social distance .We could do with a few paedophiles and serial kilers being Covid culled.

daisy 🌼

Woolif is more of a, “Who took my jug”, kind of guy. That’s my Pina colada…and I could barely drink 1/2.

Same here Dave, a lot of luck involved. SD rarely came into it.

brain dead dave

There were gorillas in red jackets prowling the Rolling Stones concert here in 2014, forbidding people to stand up and dance. No satisfaction.

daisy 🌼

It was packed in the restaurant.

daisy 🌼

Trolling the QLD chief HO was horrible. If anything, she was meek. I heard her say things like “Isn’t a good idea….”. She does look like June Cleaver’s mother, but she hasn’t given QLD any unreasonable directives.

Bobi

There are men out there who don’t like women in charge and just look for an opportunity.
And then, without being sexist (which I was just then), there are people who just look for an opportunity to bully.
And the, of course, there is QAnon (acknowledged friends to ScoMo) who are just a whole nother ball game.

Fijane

I was sad to hear this too. Only a few weeks ago, they were praising her to heaven.

Who’d be in authority this year? Just a poison chalice all around.

daisy 🌼

I love that the journalist is right now, using the press conference to ask when eyebrows will be able to be done. Holy moley. What an vital necessity. People are dying, people are losing livelihoods, but we need to make sure that all occurs with nicely groomed eyebrows. What a narcissistic society.

Fijane

So true, Daisy. Also ironic that when in shopping centres, rules are being enforced and followed in all shops, and then you wander past one of the eyebrow places in the middle, and the “plucker” is leaning over the “pluckee” with no mask, breathing directly on their face. I have seen this twice now, in different places.

I am all for common sense, but this is beyond reason and should be fined.

Von

That was funny, so over the top dorky and dad-jokey. I hope his point gets across.

I know he is not 26, but damn, I’d have believed 36 if I didn’t know better.

Fijane

So excited to have booked a week away in December. We had this place booked in March and was cancelled. It is lovely to have something to look forward to, but I am reserving a small bit of pessimism in case things go wrong again.

Bobi

Star Trek: The Next Generation has cycled all the way back to the beginning.
Colour me happy. Picard always was my favourite.

Bobi

But on that note of WIN is also cycling through Law & Order: SVU.
I don’t watch but even then I would have said this was highly inappropriate for 2 o’clock in the afternoon.
I wonder what they’re thinking?

daisy 🌼

Huge Law&Order fan here, even the repeats of repeats.

Bobi

It seems they are a bit pushed for original ideas.

Fijane

Or unwilling to take a financial risk? Reviving an old format is a risk in itself, though.

brain dead dave

Hooker And The Priest~ no one’s thought of that yet. Hosted by a real Monk. Get creative Ch 9.

Windsong

I used to like that show, but, eugh. Sophie Monk. There’s only so much I can take, you know.

daisy 🌼

Woolif and I are heading off to Siesta Park for the weekend. That’s a recommendation for Von, Max and the long lost Calorie Girl.
We were supposed to be going out whale watching on a boat on Sunday but wouldn’t you know it; all the beautiful weather under the sun we’ve had, and the weather is going to be too wet and windy for whale watching. Oh well.

Bobi

I am mulching before the weather turns.
I am single handedly keeping the owners of sugar cane mulch in silk socks.

Bobi

I decided to try my hand at washing the dogg in the shower for the first time.
Dignity lost on all fronts.
Neither of us thought that it was a good idea and I will not be trying that again.

brain dead dave

I was planning to wash my dog in the new kitchen sink this afternoon, hoping he can last ten minutes in there….and I’ve run out of treats, not wanting to go to infectious anarchy at Supermarket. I could use some popcorn to watch some thick protesters thumped and locked up in Melbourne.

Bobi

It seems that washing your doggo is the equivalent of the washing of the car.
It is now pouring here, not that I’m complaining because we really needed the rain and it did show me that I put all those plants in the wrong place.
However, it is still mandatory to go for a walk at the crack of dawn and the smell of wet fur is not very pleasant.

daisy 🌼

Washing our two is tough because their fur is so thick. Woolif has a master doggie blower but it’s still a huge job, especially in winter.

Von

You should get him a rain coat, Bobi, for his early morning toilet trips. It doesn’t take much to dry his paws and head and tail once you’re home.

If it’s raining, my dog has to wear his rain coat when he needs to go out in the back yard. He doesn’t like the coat, but grudgingly stands still, although sometimes doing the pee pee dance, while I put it on him. He’s under shelter until he hits the grass, but then has to do the interminable sniff around before finding the perfect spot.

daisy 🌼

This is why many-mist Western Australians don’t want our borders opened. This is normal here.
Breakfast in Dunsborough.

daisy 🌼

It’s packed.

Von

You’re gamer than I, Daisy, I haven’t eaten out yet. But then you’re in the country and I’m close to the city. There have only been a few people who have snuck out of quarantine or crossed our border without permission, but that few is too many for my comfort. It takes one infected person out and about to start the whole shit show again. The fat lady hasn’t sung yet.

I don’t think I’ll ever again get on public transport without wearing a mask, and sanitising my hands as soon as I get off. It just feels comfortable and safer now, you know?

daisy 🌼

Keep in mind, Von, a lot might be from Perth.
WA is a bit of a goldfish bowl, but it will only take one case.

The funny thing is, restrictions inside places and social distancing have been forsaken without any official advice to do so. People in WA are relying on hard borders for their safety, yet I still read so many people moaning, “Open up”.

Fijane

Here would be similar to that pic, but with the tables more spaced out. Been out several times, but all places have used the requirements.

Bobi

Missing travelling? Here’s a map.
You’re welcome

daisy 🌼

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣❤️❤️❤️🚝

Fijane

Funny.

That’s quite a similar layout to the plans DD has just got through council.

Zhee

Wow, what a craptastic year so far. And already sorry for the rant here. As I am only a Millenial, I haven’t spent too many years yet on this planet, this so far is definitely the worst and most confusing year I have experienced. My Oma died in January (she literally drowned due to her lungs filled with fluids), Coronavirus came and it’s not fun to be confined with your ex for 2 months. I couldn’t do my exams (still waiting for a date), couldn’t move back to Germany. Now I have an apartment and it is on the edge if I can move in 2 weeks or not because France is fucked and the people here care about nothing. Over 13k new infections within 24h yesterday (highest number ever here), still they throw parties and gatherings as if there is no pandemic at all. Oh, also my mum got cancer again and cannot walk anymore. So now I only stay a couple of months in my apartment and move into the house my sister and I bought. With my mum. And take care of her. I hope this won’t end in an ultimate clusterfuck. She can be difficult at times. 😉

daisy 🌼

Yep, it seems the crap has hit all of our fans over the last couple of years. I can only hope things can get better. Sorry that it’s so bad for you, Zhee.

Bobi

What a rotten year for you, Zhee.
I hope things get better for you.
And I don’t get people who are in denial because they have “rights”.
I have rights too and mine is to live In a world where selfish people don’t want to kill me.
What is so hard about everyone wearing a mask and not getting maggoted? It’s not a great deal to ask, is it?
We are thinking of you. ❤️

daisy 🌼

Bobi, I found this, and although I am not one for posts with sentimental or fluffy words, I liked this.

Bobi

✅✅✅✅✅

Bobi

One of the ignoble prizes this year went to a study that claimed that the bolder the eyebrows, the more narcissistic the owner.
I blame eyebrows.

Windsong

I just want to point out, some of us were born with gigantic inflated eyebrows, and I’m not thrilled about it either.

Plus, I did one of those, “how evil are you?” internet quizzes, and scored very low on the narcissism and ego markers.

Bobi

Just a little bit of jealousy here.

Fijane

Zhee, you and your family really have had it this year. With a few more years under my belt (almost literally) I hope it will encourage you to know that that is what life is like. Bad years come and go, as do great ones, and ordinary ones. One of the differences is that usually a bad year is just yours and your loved ones, not everyone at once.

This year has been hard, but for some it has had good things. Babies have been born (much-anticipated one in our family coming soon), people have fallen in love, parents have rediscovered the joy of their kids instead of sending them off to care, newlyweds have had a year of focusing on their new marriage without the distractions of the world, the environment has enjoyed a much-needed respite from aeroplane fumes, car fumes and general pollution. And many more. By pretending to “write off” this year, I don’t want to diss the good things that have happened to many in 2020. How sad it would be to have had a baby this year, and have everyone groan when you say they were born in 2020.

I am sure you will face the challenges in your world with courage, and at the same time take comfort and joy in the good things that are there as well. And the good years will be back, even if they are hard to see at the moment.

daisy 🌼

Good post, Fijane.

Zhee

I know, sometimes it just is a total shitshow and I have always been struggling with depression and anxiety, so 2020 is the ultimate horror year. I have a bad feeling regarding 2021. Trump winning another term, that’s just the last thing the world needs but it will happen.

Bobi

I, too, am horrified at the concept of another four years of Trump but I am equally horrified at the possible reaction of Republican voters if he doesn’t.
Forgive me in advance because, generally, I am a much nicer person than this but perhaps we could have Trump elected and then he has a stoke due to all the excitement? Seems like the best outcome from a bad s**tshow.

Windsong

The one problem with Trump dying is that Pence becomes the officer-in-chief, and while he’s less insane than Trump, he’s probably smarter — and more dangerous — because he’s also a wacky religious fundamentalist. Which would be a whole bunch of other problems.

Trump is their great right messiah, and that’s the hill so many of them are going to die on. They were silly enough to vote for him once. If they still think he’s doing a good job after the last four years, then they’re beyond hope, and they’ll probably vote for him again. I hope like hell it doesn’t happen, but we’d be silly not to acknowledge the possibility.

Zhee
Bobi

Apparently young Matty J has been a bit of a hero.
I am up to that stage where we can forget his season when he was the Bachelor and we are reminded of every other time we liked him.