Someone once wrote to truly observe Australia, it helps to be at least a thousand kilometres away from Sydney. As I live more than once, I have made sure of enjoying the pleasure of living in Adelaide for a few months and Brisbane for almost 4 years. When I was asked yesterday by my friend, Robert, living in Boonah how I was I said: I feel like a bird in a cage, but Sydney is the New York of Down Under. Robert and I have a lot in common we both have a unquenchable fire burning within us that is hard to contain. We both want to make a difference. Our fear about failing to voice opinions on issues that matter are real...to carry the voice of a drowned escapees from a dirty riverbed in Czechoslovakia to Sydney to my home in High Tatra Mountains to India (where Robert is heading soon) and make us mourn that political bullies' power and that grieve for victims' families. 

Our fear about failing to stand up to bullies everywhere is as real as the heart attack suffered recently by Tony, another guy I crossed paths in the sunny Queensland. Even if you are young and living on the sunny Gold Coast stress can get to you. Do me a favor, after you read this. Go outside and look at the stars and count them. (It is still dark where I am sitting) Don't forget to smile. Philip Pullman: You Ask The Questions Did you ever suffer a thwarted passion, like your fictional characters? And what are the defining qualities of a truly great shed? · Sailing [Independent]