It has been a hectic couple of days.

With the stock market crashing I decided to take my staff to see The Big Short on Friday night. It was an excellent Michael Lewis book but I was curious to see how it could be turned into a movie. Amelia, Bergin and Catherine joined Ryan, Sarah, Aditi Grover and myself, so we took up a row at the Dendy at Circular Quay. Sirius FM was shouting.

The film was replete with CDO’s, Credit Default Swaps and Real Estate Mortgage Bonds and I’m sure the average movie goer would not have a clue what it was about. Margot Robbie, in the bath explaining shorting, was profoundly arresting (I have a weakness for Margot Robbie. She could sell me any piece of Wall St crap, especially if we were both sitting in the bath) but sadly for the punters, she was uninformative as she had no idea what shorting is. It brought back so many memories of 2008 and 2009 when the world was collapsing around me and I got all the clients through without anyone losing a cent. Don’t know how I did it in hindsight. I know I wasn’t in the bath with Margot drinking champagne and getting a back rub, while she gave me stock tips. Unfortunately! I was younger then and investing is a young man’s business. Saw John Parker in the foyer, after the film. He is an old client who was exposing his grandson to the wilds of Wall St. We had some laughs reminiscing about our investing experiences.

Got back to Manly late in the evening to find I’d left my car and house keys in the office. Car had to stay in the Manly council car park for the evening.

Saturday was another double at Manly. Balmoral still too dirty to swim. Launched into the grey dawn at 6am. Getting very tired. Marg Carney drove me to town after breakfast to pick up my keys from the office. No way could I do the Saturday gym. Too tired. Slept for most of the afternoon. My left ear is bleeding from the Aldara. Pillow covered in blood this morning when I awoke. I think its starting to effect my sleeping as I’m getting really tired again like I was with the gut bugs.

Sunday was the 2400m Ben Remfrey handicap race at BBC. I was tired half way though the endless circuit of the bay but kept going. Ended up second on handicap – I almost won. I haven’t won a trophy in years. Then walked home to Manly along the harbour foreshore. 14km on a hot day guiding a group from BBC women who are going on a girl’s bushwalk in Tasmania. Unfortunately, no time for breakfast. Did it on an empty stomach. Carried 10kgs. Excellent workout for my leg. Doing the Jatbula Track and all the training involved was an inspired decision in hindsight. Walking with a heavy backpack is one of the best ways to recover from tibial plateau fracture surgery. Gee I was hungry at the end. The machine says I’m too fat so maybe it’s good for me.

So Tuesday is the 12 month anniversary of breaking my leg. What a year. I am Parsifal’s Magpie. I shall yet make merry (as long as my ear doesn’t fall off. Then I’ll be a deaf Magpie)