This morning, I saved a turtle. I really thought that might give me some positive karma because the divinities know, I need it. I won’t go over the last six months of crap – I know others have things much worse, but spare me, I must have been a really bad person last life. Perhaps I’ll get to all that soon.

Anyway, after today’s endless farce (actually farces), I hit the wall. Gave up. As someone who normally reads every day, even if only 5 minutes before crashing, or a couple of hours if the opportunity arises, it has been January since I opened a book. So this afternoon, down at the beach shack – my fave place for a cigar as I have mentioned before, I took myself downstairs it the outside, pulled out the couch and fired up an Epi 1. Been here about three weeks and this was my first chance.

Was going to pull out some you-beaut whisky or rum but I thought, no, a gin. It was very much a gin afternoon.

I've been fortunate to have seen a large chunk of the world and I say without hesitation or without any belief that this can be contested, the weather in south-east Queensland/northern NSW in April/May is the best in the world, anywhere, anytime. Put simply, I know this because it cannot be better. Of course, as soon as I think that, although I have said it for years, the gods giggle and…