Wise old men

Okay - I haven't been the most joyful person recently, but I think I have had a few pretty good excuses... However, I have decided to forget my worries today in honour of my brother's 25th birthday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NEIL!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hmm - a quarter century eh! Hope you have a good day. Tried to send you a boomerang as a present but it kept coming back ;). I'll buy you a drink when I see you in Oz.

So - just been passing the time doing everyday stuff here really. It's not been great weather here, but then it is winter and it is still warmer than Glasgow (literally - we checked out the weather map). Still - the third big storm in the last few weeks is supposed to hit us hard about midnight tonight. Generally speaking it has just meant that it's been raining and a quite windy in Sydney. Further up the coast however, they have not been so fortunate. Homes flooded, people killed when roads are washed away, massive ships beached. So, I can't really complain about not being able to use the pool at the moment...

The rain did stay off for most of the Dalai Lama's talk last Saturday though. I managed to catch him on his last day in Oz and he is a truely inspirational man. His talk was mainly about compassion and he gave reasons why compassion was important whatever your beliefs - Buddhist, Christian, athiest, etc. It's a human issue, not a religious issue.

He is such an intelligent, compassionate man and I don't think there is anyone in this world who would not be touched my his contagious joy and zeal for life. He is certainly welcome round to dinner any time! (Lesley - you would be welcome too but you have to believe me that he isn't a singer, doesn't have a puppet and that Buddhism isn't a cult.)

Other than that we have mainly been pottering about. Off to see Ocean's 13 tonight as it's the cheap night at the cinema. Oh yes - and I am finding some time in my busy schedule to update uncyclopedia with facts about famous British artists...