Fifty dollars, is fifty dollars!

The other day I gave a talk to the Hobart City Council School for Seniors on my work as a calligrapher and in particular the three Apology documents I created for the Australian Government.

They were an amazing group of intelligent and fun loving people, it was a hoot!

There would have been about 70 to 80 folk in attendance who had to get into the city by 10am. Good for them! The morning took on the format of some housekeeping for the group, introductions, then I was to speak for about two hours taking the group up to their regular lunch time meal. The joint was buzzing as everyone was really happy to see their friends again - a weekly occurrence.

TWO HOURS I thought - oh heck!  Mind you, under normal circumstances I can hold court pretty much for as long as people want to listen but I was caught a little on the hop as I had only paid for 1 hour parking and thought I'd have to run out in the middle of the lecture to feed the meter.  So I decided on the spur of the moment to run the morning as an interactive lecture where we chatted back and forth about all things calligraphy and with the aid of the PowerPoint presentations I had pretties to show.

But, before we got started a lass (possibly 80 years old) got up and shared a joke, a weekly event and here it is:

Morris and his wife Esther went to the state fair every year, And every year Morris would say, 'Esther,I'd like to ride in that helicopter.' ; Esther always replied, 'I know Morris, but that helicopter ride is fifty dollars, And fifty dollars is fifty dollars'
One year Esther and Morris went to the fair, and Morris said, 'Esther, I'm 85 years old. If I don't ride that helicopter, I might never get another chance.' To this, Esther replied, 'Morris that helicopter ride is fifty dollars, and fifty dollars is fifty dollars.'
The pilot overheard the couple and said, 'Folks I'll make you a deal. I'll take the both of you for a ride. If you can stay quiet for the entire ride and don't say a word I won't charge you a penny! But if you say one word it's fifty dollars.'
Morris and Esther agreed and up they went. The pilot did all kinds of fancy maneuvers, but not a word was heard. He did his daredevil tricks over and over again, But still not a word.
When they landed, the pilot turned to Morris and said, 'By golly, I did everything I could to get you to yell out, but you didn't. I'm impressed!'
Morris replied, 'Well, to tell you the truth, I almost said something when Esther fell out, But you know, fifty dollars is fifty dollars!

Laugh I nearly cried.  This was the most amazing, wonderful group I have had the pleasure to have spoken with. We tossed around all things calligraphy, manuscripts, books, vellum, gilding and they packed heaps of questions into the event.

I forgot to pay the parking meter and I didn't get booked after three hours in a one hour park. How lucky was I.  I came home refreshed and full of life. 


 

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