27 | September | 2012 | I choose how I will spend the rest of my life

“Some day, when I’m awfully low,
When the world is cold,
I will feel a glow just thinking of you
And the way you look tonight.”

It’s on all the news media today, Legendary singer Andy Williams has died at the age of 84. I first came across this singer way back in the late 1960s when we were living in Montreal. Each week, with my two small children, I settled down to watch “The Andy Williams Show”. Williams has been described as one of the gentlemen of the music world, the last great crooner and has been credited with helping the Osmonds become known, in particular helping the two youngest Osmonds, Donnie and Marie become household names.

He had many hits but my favourite is “The Way You Look Tonight”. Click here to listen to him singing this on YouTube.

There has been many obits written about the man. My comment to add to these is ‘Sail safely across your Moon River Mr Williams. And thank you for all the happy hours and great memories.”

And what else is making the news?

The UK Daily Telegraph Newspaper tells us that a Hong Kong property magnate and father Cecil Chao Sze-tsung offers $HK 500 million to anyone who can ‘woo’ his lesbian daughter. “I don’t care whether he is rich or poor” said Mr Chao “The important thing is that he is generous and kind-hearted”. The queue forms here! and
Interpol is on the lookout for a 15-year-old girl who has absconded with her maths teacher. The pair (he is more than twice her age) was last seen boarding a ferry to Calais earlier this week. No reward has been offered by this family but a heartfelt plea from her parents for her to come home.
In New Zealand – an avalanche has been reported on the Remarkables Ski Field near Queenstown in the south Island. Details are sketchy at present as the report was only received some 1.5 hours ago.
A 68-year-old woman who police allege was part of a multi-million dollar drug syndicate has pleaded guilty to cannabis and money laundering charges.
The internet mogul Kim Dotcom has been all over the news here for the past few days. Today the Prime Minister apologised to him for what he has described as “basic errors” by the Government Communications and Security Bureau. Apparently the GCSB has no mandate and in fact, is expressly forbidden to spy on NZ citizens and Mr Dotcom has permanent residency status here. The US is attempting to have Mr Dotcom extradited to answer a long list of piracy accusations against he and others.
From the Calgary Herald we learn that a Victoria, BC teenager who has raised more than $C 1 million for children’s charities requires surgery for a medical condition that is causing her spine to deteriorate. The surgery available in Canada is likely to leave her paralyzed but the Province refuses to pay for her a second opinion from the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota where experimental surgery is being undertaken. Hard decisions have to be made.

Aren’t we lucky to live in an age when we can read newspapers from around the world and marvel at how crazy this world is?

“Reality leaves a lot to the imagination.”
John Lennon 1940-1980