Two photos explained

Two new photos of middle aged men appeared on this website today. That of Buster Mottram was of a man who was middle aged even when young both in appearance and attitude and so I exclude him. The one in black and white was, I am sure you all know, of the German Philosopher Nietzsche. What has he got to do with buying shares do you ask?

Nothing. But his connection is with gazing into an abyss. From “Good and Evil” in 1886 comes one of his most famous aphorisms: “He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you.” Folks often forget the first part and I shall pass on it tonight. But I take the second part to mean, as Asil Nadir so famously put it “don’t let the bastards get you down.” That is to say if you spend too much time dwelling upon what is wrong and getting you down and who is doing it, you cannot escape from that and are thus unable to form a rational judgment about your true position. Of course my interpretation may be wrong – I was never much cop at philosophy. If I am right perhaps you see the relevance in terms of buy/sell decisions on shares after a sustained bear run on the market.

The second photo is of me, taken this morning by myself. If you have never been fat (or, like Evil Knievil, have never cared about being fat) you will not understand how amazing it feels to be less fat, or in my case with a Body Mass Index which is defined as NOT overweight. I wrote in another place earlier today about how folks on dating sites always use the most flattering photo they can find. This website is not a dating site but why on earth should I use an older fatter picture when I have worked so hard to shift the pounds? And so gradually across the internet my content is being populated with the new photo.

My weight is now back to where it was when I was 17, I am lighter than I was when presenting SMTM and am pretty determined to keep it that way. I am heading for being 6 stone lighter than I was at my peak. My waist size is down from a peak 44 inches to 32 and those 32 inch jeans are now starting to feel comfortably loose. I aim to invest in a pair of 30 inch jeans within 10 days. So far the only comment comes from a portly, bearded, Canadian (heterosexual) in London who says that I “look good.” Well it’s a start, no doubt the Swedish birds on the beach will start to notice soon too. It is a shame that they are all 90+. Sorry if I sound obsessive about this (I am) or vain (I have been accused of that) but I am proud of my achievement and can take any flak that comes in as a result of talking about it.