Why do I blog? Well, apart from the obvious reply "Why not?", it gives me a creative outlet for my thoughts, ideas and passions. It keeps the grey matter going and prevents Old Timer's Disease, quite apart from being some sort of diary I can look through months and years later and ask myself the questions, "Did I really write this? Was I really THAT stupid?"
One additional side benefit is that I can keep tabs on my friends and acquaintances to see if they're still alive. Watching that sidebar I can tell that Thamer Mofarrij, the nephew of my late boss in Saudi Arabia, has just read "Another morning in Paradise" (an alluring subject for a Muslim); that my friend from Thursday Island who now lives in Cooktown gave my blog a nod and not just a wink; that an old friend in Austria checked in to see if I was still alive; that a certain "Gerüstebauer" in Switzerland is still dreaming of Australia; that a certain Trump-voter in Fairfield, Connecticut, wanted to know more about that "LORD JIM" moment even though he never had one himself; and that one of my ex-employees in Greece sometimes feels as lost as I do. And I'm happy to know that Werner Seifert in Germany who spent several years on Bougainville and never heard of Lord Jim, will now rush out (well, given his age, maybe not 'rush') to buy himself the book by Joseph Conrad.
And, of course, the list keeps updating itself but I think you get the idea, so if you want to send me a signal that you're still alive (although maybe no longer upright and perhaps on an intravenous drip and wired up to a flat-lining heart rate monitor), simply go to my blog to say 'Hi!'
I'll be so glad you did!
