What a week. Paris. Jonah. Richie. And that's not including Russia entering the war against Isis, the continuing refugee crisis and Aussie deportations. And now a helicopter crash with seven dead. It would be easy to be bleak about the week and the world.

Because of my job I spent three solid days living and breathing Paris. I knew I had been affected at a deep level when I burst into tears watching the crowd at Wembley singing the Marsellaise. Then I got an email during the week from a mate I used to work with in France.  He lives just outside of Paris these days. The email had the title Sad News. I thought oh god no. Who's been killed?

I opened it up very gingerly and it said “It is with much regret, tinged with extreme happiness, that I can announce that at the age of 53 I am about to become a grandfather for the first time. Therefore I now have to accept that I am officially an old bastard”.  What a relief. What followed was a very funny email about his daughter's pregnancy. A particularly funny bit was his anger that Rosie had only left home two years ago and he was expecting a few more carefree years before he got dragged into raising the next nappy-soiling generation. There was not one mention of the terror attack even though it happened just kilometres from his house. Perspective.

When Jonah died it was very sad. I went and found his book in my library. The first page I turned to was about his first speaking engagement in Masterton. Phil Kingsley Jones wrote that bit. He told Jonah to tell a joke to loosen up the crowd and he gave him some of his best ones. So Jonah stands up in Masterton, all nervous, and decides to tell his own joke.  So he goes, “There are two cows in a paddock. One says MOO. The other turns round and says, “I was just going to say that”. Kingsley Jones says oh my god that's the worst joke I've ever heard. But what did the crowd do? The crowd goes nuts. It was so Jonah. It was so funny. I loved it. Someone said to me this week that most kidney transplants give you an extra 10 years. Jonah got 11 out of his. We should celebrate that he made the most out of it.

And then Richie quit. I streamed it. Richie sits down and pays tribute to Jonah. It took a minute. Just 60 seconds and it was pitch perfect. Then he quits and says he's going to fly helicopters. Excellent. That's loads more fun than getting your nuts crushed in a scrum in the Northern Hemisphere winter. The whole press conference was hilarious. Hansen was particularly funny. It was great.

My point in these snapshots is that amongst all the death and carnage and change this week humans kept living and laughing. So, stuff you terrorists. And stuff you Grim Reaper. I'm going to keep living life with a smile on my face. Because as we all know, life is too short not to.