La Dolce Vita (edited). The Piazza Navona, Roma. It’s the morning after the night before. I stop in one of the many street cafes that line the Piazza and pause, to take stock, rest my weary feet and reflect on the week gone past. The hubub of the milling crowds flocking to the square, staring at the mimics, reminds one that this is a slow day, a deliberate day, a day of standing still and thinking. As I gesture to the waiter for a drink, the plinking sound of plucked strings ...

Most of you at some time will have come across the legend of the wandering Jew. Who was he? Or she? When Jesus bade Peter to follow him, he asked Jesus what should John do? Jesus replied, 'If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?' Middle aged theologians concluded that John did not in fact die and was wandering the earth still, waiting for the second coming. This rumour gave way to more speculations and rumours, perhaps it wasn't John. What about Malchus, whose a...

Dear all, I offer this as a form of prayer. Indeed it is really for Simon. I wanted to offer a prayer but did not know how exactly. I just wanted him to know that many people appreciate his unstinting and unswerving efforts for peace. God bless you Simon. Make of it what you will, it is all true, though I joined the dots myself obviously. For Simon...... @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ 'I see a shoe. There is still an ankle in it. It is ...

Ferabo, 'You have something that John, I, and so many others have lost--your youth!! ' Oi! Speak for yourself! I'm still young! Well except for the nostril and ear hairs - I mean what's the bloody survival advantage of that? Why after the age of 30 does your nostril hair decide that it wants to see the world and start sprouting from the cavities? And why do the words lumbago and arthritis and prostrate suddenly take on a very real meaning? Why is it that suddenly one begins to bel...

Skitty, You know I've been packing boxes getting ready to return to the land of my fathers, the land of song, Wales. While doing this I stumbled accross an old, occasional diary I kept from when I was about your age. It's fascinating, almost like a time capsule, as though I'm talking to myself across the weight and wealth of years that have since passed. When I was your age, the cold war was a very real worry. The arms race was escalating, social order was falling apart, the dead lai...

Dear all, The San people are a direct link to the past for all mankind. They have lived as hunter gatherers in the Kalahari for an estimated 30,000 years. They hunt the eland antelope, a large and dangerous beast. A small group of men, five or so, set out on the hunt. First they scare up a herd of eland, and identify the strongest, fittest male with the largest horns. Working silently using only hand signals, they slowly split off the male from the rest of the herd. The larg...