These Old Bastards...

G’day.

Thanks for buying this book. If you’re reading it without buying, then do us a favour and stump up the cash – it’s for a good cause.

The cause is Gill’s Old Bastards, or G*O*Bs – the Brisbane branch of the Australasian Order Of Old Bastards. I’ll tell you more about the AOOB in a bit, but what’s important here is that all the profits from the sale of this book will go to charity. Charities that fight cancer, and that help sick kids.

G*O*Bs take our name from my late wife Gill, who lost her fight with cancer in 2006. (It’s pronounced Jill by the way, so we’re jobs, not ‘gobs’.) Her passing was the spur for a few of us to get together to try to make a positive difference in our community. We’ve adopted the motto ‘For Good Times, And Doing Some Good’.

The membership of G*O*Bs keeps growing, but I really want to thank Colleen, Gav, and most especially PK, who are right at the heart of making those Good things happen.

The stuff in this book comes from all over the place. A lot of it is stuff that’s happened to me, or near enough for me to see. A lot of the stories came to me first hand from the people involved. A few are from the ‘it happened to the friend of a friend’ category but I reckon they’re worth repeating anyway. I can’t put my hand on my heart and swear it’s all 100% true, but I’m not claiming to write history either.

A fair chunk of the stuff in this book came out a few years back under the title “A Bunch Of Old Bastards”. I’ve tweaked some of that, added more bits, and tried to give you a bit more value for your book-buying buck.

The book is dedicated firstly to Gill. But it couldn’t have happened without a bunch of other old bastards either – whether they knew they were contributing or not. A bloody big ‘thank you’ to all of them!

A special ‘thank you’ goes to Meredith, who’s embraced and supported G*O*Bs with willingness and enthusiasm that inspire and delight me. I’ve been astonishingly lucky to be married to two such wonderful women – no, I don’t understand it either, but I’m grateful!

Renoir