quarterinch's blog post - for a friend

Years ago I had some deep financial troubles and i discovered that true friends are an absolute goldmine. My mum was Irish Catholic from Manhatten and she used to say she would give you her arsehole and shit through her ribs, just so long as she was appreciated. I have always tried to live up to that, for someone down on their luck, I've always tried to do something for them to cheer them up; We have friends whose daughter got married a few years ago and they asked me to sand and polish their floors as this was my profession for 30 odd years, so I said yes and they had timber floors right through their new house - 190 square metres of it.
One thing I havent said is that they live 2000 kms away in North Queensland. The weather is pretty much what I would expect Florida to be like _ 30 - 45deg celsius and up to 85% humidity and very uncomfortable to work in, but the mangos, paw paws etc just fall off the trees.
I just spent two weeks up there, they paid me for my diesel and the materials as well as motel accommodation up and back. In all, I saved them almost $6,000 over the cost of a local bloke and god it felt good, driving home after having done a good turn for someone, a friend.