1. The
Greatest Loser In The World
John Turmel is
officially known as The Greatest Loser In The World, and he’s
managed to get the Guinness Book Of World Records to back him up on
this claim, which he is quite proud of. In fact, just this week he
sent them an update to his current Guinness Records entry. And at
the end of this article I’ve included a copy of the email he’s
just sent them [you don’t need to read it, just count the losses!]
But in contrast
to the above claim, John Turmel also claims to be the biggest Poker
winner in the world, though this claim hasn’t made the Guinness
Book Of World Records just yet.
And if you take
winning and losing out of John Turmel’s vocabulary, all you
are left with is LETS. Because John would have to be the most vocal
supporter of LETS in the world. And he uses every electoral fight
he’s in to promote LETS as the best way to abolish interest
worldwide. In fact, he’s the founder of UNILETS http://www.cyberclass.net/turmel,
which is an international LETS system designed to do exactly what
he proposes.
And this is the
guy that answered an email which I wrote to him when I was in a very
silly mood (it happens sometimes), asking for the privilege of a meeting
with him. This is the email …
Hi John,
Hows about meeting
for a cuppa? Or better still, an icy cold glass of beer (Fosters
preferably)? I'll be in Kitchener-Waterloo from Feb 1-7 and I'm
told that Brantford is within pissing distance.
One of my hosts
on 'My 400 Day LETS Odyssey' showed me a photo of you without your
trade mark 'hard hat', and I couldn't persuade him to part with
it for all the trade dollars on the planet. But I guess Rob Follett
(Falmouth) is just a great mate to have. In fact, one of the nicest
blokes I've ever met.
If I'm barking
up the wrong tree and you don't live anywhere near Brantford, then
I may as well be up shit creek without a paddle, because I'll have
Buckley’s chance of finding ya.
Here's hoping
we'll get a chance for a yak.
See ya later,
James Taris
www.LETS-Linkup.com
www.JamesTaris.com
P.S. Aussie
lingo embellishment added for your entertainment.
So a few nights
later, John Turmel and his partner, Helen, visited us for dinner.
And he was such a nice guy. Nothing like the rude and obnoxious guy
everyone thinks he is. And as an added bonus, I got to see him without
his hard hat!
Later that night
we went to a Tom Kennedy seminar. I was the introductory speaker for
the evening, sharing a short 20 minute account of my early experiences
in joining LETS and the huge benefits I gained from that association.
Tom followed with his passionate stance against usury, or interest.
Then, at very short notice, John Turmel was asked to be the final
speaker, which he did with the vivre and panash of a veteran entertainer.
So the audience
was treated to a rare event featuring the LETSaholic, Mr. Usury-Free
and The Engineer.
Then Helen invited
us to her home for the coming Saturday night, so I got another dose
of John Turmel. As we rang the doorbell, we could hear some music
coming from within. It was John playing his piano accordion. And after
dinner, he entertained us by playing a few songs, including Crocodile
Rock and Hotel California, which he did very capably. He’s a
very accomplished musician with many, many years of public performances
to his name. And we even got to hear him recite a couple of his famous
poems, extolling the virtues of using LETS currency over federal currency.
This was my opportunity
to share part of my play, The Glory Of Athens, with my new friends,
so I performed the inspirational monologues of Homer and Odysseus,
which left them a little in awe. In fact, John was so impressed, he
even asked me to repeat the final part of my Odysseus monologue, which
is exceptionally motivational.
But the highlight
for me was when John Turmel handed me an autographed copy of his yellow
self-published book, ‘The Adventures of John “The Engineer”
Turmel featuring Turmel’s Poker Power Tools’.
So winner or loser,
John Turmel is definitely on a mission. The LETS mission. And according
to John, there aint nobody in the whole wide world that’s not
gonna hear about it.
_____________________________________________________
TURMEL’S
EMAIL TO GUINNESS BOOK OF WORLD RECORDS
Feb 2 2004
Correspondence
Editor,
Guinness Book of World Records,
338 Euston Road, London, NW1 3BD, UK
Tel/Fax: 44(0) 171 891 4567/4501
Email: webmaster@guinnessworlds.com
I would like to
bring you up to date on the changes in my Guinness Records for ...
"most
elections contested" and "most elections lost."
2004-02-01
JOHN TURMEL'S CANADIAN ELECTIONS
#
|
Level
|
Riding |
Year |
Date |
| 1 |
Federal |
Ottawa
West |
1979 |
May.
22 |
| 2
|
Federal
|
Ottawa
Centre |
1980 |
Feb. 20 |
| 3
|
Federal
|
Frontenac
|
1980 |
Mar.
24 |
| 4
|
Federal
|
Hamilton
West |
1980 |
Sept.
8 |
| 5
|
Municipal
|
Ottawa
|
1980 |
Nov.
10 |
| 6
|
Provincial
|
Carleton
|
1980 |
Nov.
20 |
| 7
|
Provincial
|
Ottawa
Centre |
1981 |
Mar.
19 |
| 8
|
Federal
|
London
West |
1981 |
Apr.
12 |
| 9
|
Federal |
Levis |
1981 |
May
4 |
| 10
|
Federal
|
Spadina
|
1981 |
Aug. 17 |
| 11
|
Provincial
|
Hamilton
West |
1982 |
June
17 |
| 12
|
Federal
|
Broadview-Greenwood
|
1982 |
Oct.
12 |
| 13
|
Provincial
|
York
South |
1982 |
Nov.
4 |
| 14
|
Municipal
|
Gloucester
Alderman |
1982 |
Nov.
8 |
| 15
|
Federal
|
Central
Nova |
1983 |
Aug.
29 |
| 16
|
Provincial
|
Stormont-Dundas-Glengarry
|
1983 |
Dec.
15 |
| 17
|
Federal
|
Beaches
|
1984 |
Sept.
4 |
| 18
|
Provincial
|
Ottawa
Centre |
1984 |
Dec.
13 |
| 19
|
Provincial |
Ottawa Centre |
1985 |
May
2 |
| 20
|
Municipal
|
Nepean
|
1985 |
Nov.
12 |
| 21
|
Provincial
|
York
East |
1986 |
Apr.
17 |
| 22
|
Provincial
|
Cochrane
North |
1986 |
Aug.
14 |
| 23
|
Federal
|
St.
Maurice |
1986 |
Sep.
29 |
| 24
|
Federal
|
Hamilton
Mountain |
1987 |
July
20 |
| 25
|
Provincial
|
Ottawa
Centre |
1987 |
Sep.
10 |
| 26
|
Provincial
|
London
North |
1988 |
Mar.
31 |
| 27
|
Provincial
|
Welland-Thorold
|
1988 |
Nov.
3 |
| 28
|
Municipal
|
Ottawa
mayor |
1988 |
Nov.
14 |
| 29
|
Federal
|
Ottawa
Centre |
1988 |
Nov.
21 |
| 30
|
Federal
|
Oshawa
Centre |
1990 |
Aug.
13 |
| 31
|
Provincial
|
Ottawa
Centre |
1990 |
Sep.
6 |
| 32
|
Provincial
|
York
North |
1990 |
Dec.
10 |
| 33 |
Municipal |
Ottawa
Regional Chair |
1991 |
Nov.
12 |
| 34
|
Federal
|
Frontenac
|
1993 |
Oct.
23 |
35
|
Provincial
|
Essex
South |
1993 |
Dec.
2 |
| 36
|
Provincial
|
Victoria-Haliburton
|
1994 |
Mar.
17 |
| 37
|
Municipal
|
Ottawa
Regional Chair |
1994 |
Nov.
14 |
| 38
|
Federal
|
Ottawa
Vanier |
1995 |
Feb.
13 |
| 39
|
Provincial
|
Ottawa
Centre |
1995 |
Jun.
8 |
| 40
|
Federal
|
Etobicoke
North |
1996 |
Mar.
25 |
| 41
|
Federal
|
Hamilton
East |
1996 |
Jun.
17 |
| 42
|
Federal
|
Ottawa
West-Nepean |
1997 |
Jun.
2 |
| 43
|
Provincial
|
Ottawa
West |
1997 |
Sep.
4 |
| 44
|
Municipal
|
Ottawa
Regional Chair |
1997 |
Nov.
10 |
| 45
|
Federal
|
Sherbrooke
|
1998 |
Sep.
14 |
| 46
|
Federal
|
Windsor-St.Clair
|
1999 |
Apr.
12 |
| 47
|
Provincial
|
Ottawa
West-Nepean |
1999 |
Jun.
3 |
| 48
|
Federal
|
Hull-Aylmer
|
1999 |
Nov.
15 |
| 49
|
Provincial
|
Ancaster-Dundas
|
2000 |
Sep.
7 |
| 50
|
Federal
|
Kings-Hants
|
2000 |
Sep.
11 |
| 51
|
Municipal
|
Ottawa
Mayor |
2000 |
Nov.
13 |
| 52
|
Federal
|
Ottawa
|
2000 |
Nov.
27 |
| 53
|
Provincial
|
Parry
Sound |
2001 |
Mar.
22 |
| 54
|
Provincial
|
Dufferin-Peel-Wellington-Grey
|
2002 |
May
2 |
| 55
|
Provincial
|
Brant
|
2003 |
Oct.
2 |
| 56
|
Municipal
|
Ottawa
Mayor |
2003 |
Nov.
10 |
Photo by:
Marjan Borsjes
2. Everything
Turns Out For The Best
I nearly called this article,
Shit Happens, and this is why …
Due to a lack of finances,
I’ve had to cancel my trips to Argentina, Chile, Peru and Bolivia.
When I began my world tour,
I knew that my visits to South America and Morocco would have to be
at an additional cost, because I couldn’t fit them into my already
bulging round-the-world flight ticket.
And it didn’t help
that I had no means of getting a bank balance from my bank in Melbourne,
Australia. So, knowing that soon I would have to make some rather
sizeable airfare payments, I managed to contact my bank by email and
get internet access to my account.
Well, that’s when
all hell broke loose, because I had barely enough money to buy myself
a bus ticket, let alone travel though 4 countries in another continent.
I hadn’t realized
how quickly my funds would be drained with the added expense of Morocco,
a couple of visits back to Holland (where my computer was finally
repaired), and ongoing payments to my ISP, domain name registrations
and web hosting.
But this little nightmare
went a bit further. My trip to Madison, USA, was scheduled to begin
from February 7, but because my next destinations were supposed to
be South America, I’d have nowhere to go and nobody waiting
to host me until my visit to Hawaii in April.
And even though my host
in Kitchener, Canada, assured me that I could be hosted for a few
more weeks, I didn’t have the money required to get to Madison
from Toronto and back again. So Madison had to be cancelled too!
In fact, as I still haven’t
got a recent confirmation from my host in Hawaii, then maybe that
won’t eventuate either. So I’ll have traveled to 11 countries
in my first 200 days of my 400 Day LETS Odyssey, and only to one more
in my last 200! Luckily, as an Australian citizen, I can stay in Canada
for up to 6 months without a visa, otherwise that would’ve been
another headache.
But I believe that everything
turns out for the best, because like everyone else on this planet,
I have total control with how things turn out in my life.
I’ve already given
6 performances of The Glory Of Athens in Canada, and while I’m
here I plan to give dozens more to schools, businesses and organisations.
But at last I’ll have enough time to promote my play properly,
and thus get larger audiences.
I’ve also been invited
to go to Ottawa and Montreal with Tom ‘Usury-Free’ Kennedy,
from Ottawa LETS, to give presentations to LETS members in those areas
too.
And I’ll
be developing a couple of web sites as well. One will be www.YouCanBeFamousToo.com
which will promote people from all over the world in whatever they
do. And the other will be to produce a business web site for my Kitchener
LETS host in exchange for hosting me. I’ve also been told that
there could be some house painting involved as well. So it looks like
I’ll still be busy, and productive, even though I won’t
be traveling as much.
But I do hope that my trip
to Hawaii still eventuates. And just today I sent an email to the
Greek Community in Los Angeles, USA, hoping to perform my play for
them in exchange for a trip to Disneyland and Hollywood, so that’s
a strong possibility too.
And as I look
out of the window now, the streets are still covered with several
feet of snow, but the sun is out and it has just stopped drizzling.
The first rain I’ve seen in 5 weeks. So it’s a beautiful
day, and the future looks bright ahead. And it would be a gross misrepresentation
to call this article, Shit Happens.
This
article is taken from the ebook,
400-Day LETS Odyssey
About
the book
|
James
Taris web sites
JamesTaris.com
LETS-Linkup.com
Rich-Bastards.com
Honey-BeeBooks.com
TheGloryOfAthens.com
TravelWithoutMoney.com
ChineseArt-ChineseArt.com
ShanghaiPhotoGuide.com
ShockProofMaterial.com
2pups.com
