I could produce a litany of complaints here... about how i feel fat and useless, how i've done something to my left shoulder and right calf (really, the extra 2.5kg, really???) and I feel flat at home bla bla bla... but let's look at the good stuff today...

• a lady at work recognised my perfume and said "It takes one to know one"

• CS called and at least there was some closure

• I had lunch with Joe under the big gum tree in the garden, stuffed stupid again, but the talk was a real recharge

• I was introduced to an almost-new Lexus and while impressive, I still love my little car best

• I was given a gift of three golden globes of onions, that rolled into my arms

• I have my laptop back. The keyboard and screen feel enormous and so very comfortable.
  

Although I'm not at all in a Christmas mood, I saw a card for Ben, for his first ever Christmas and I couldn't resist. Today Andrew said: "the only thing worse than Christmas with family, is Christmas without them"

a goodnight from Paz:

But today I won't make one more Cliché
And write this poem to you.
No, no more clichés.

This poem is dedicated to those women
Whose beauty is in their charm,
In their intelligence,
In their character,
Not on their fabricated looks.

This poem is to you women,
That like a Shahrazade wake up
Everyday with a new story to tell,
A story that sings for change
That hopes for battles:
Battles for the love of the united flesh
Battles for passions aroused by a new day
Battle for the neglected rights
Or just battles to survive one more night.

Yes, to you women in a world of pain
To you, bright star in this ever-spending universe
To you, fighter of a thousand-and-one fights
To you, friend of my heart.

From now on, my head won't look down to a magazine
Rather, it will contemplate the night
And its bright stars,
And so, no more clichés.