And so it passes

People seem to have spent the last year saying "Where has this year gone?", and here we are on New Years' Eve.

On this day last year I blogged about the price of petrol complaining that it had gone up from $1.18 to $1.33...I note that this year it appears to have been an even greater leap to $1.39. Being blamed on the Northern cold snap. I remain unconvinced now, as I did then, "that local petrol stations can act so responsively to international fluctuations"

In January 2010 the unsexy country of Haiti had an awful earthquake, there was awful flooding in Pakistan and of course there was the usual drivel from the meanest amongst us in this 'lucky country' that we should give to our own. I asked then, as I ask now "n the end that human/religious principle... do to others what you want to have done to you....

might cause us to ask what we would like others to do for us if we were subject to earthquake, flood or fire."

Today, indeed, to the north some of us this day will have the awful catastrophe of flood, while in SA it is a 'catastrophic' fire day.

I suspect that the meanies will find an excuse to not give to those either

During February I managed to blog from Adelaide Airport, Singapore Airport, Bangkok, the Phi Phi Islands, Phuket and then again in Singapore. Good trip.

In March we had a State Election...the first of a number of elections, making us a bit testy and bored with the process. I wondered if God had an opinion on who should win (other than, of course, simply agreeing with me).

ANZAC Day 2010 came in a year when there seemed to have been death after death of our servicemen ( and indeed of countless others) in theatres of war. I noted that the ''great" thing about the Great War was that a number of young poets, many like Wilfred Owen killed in action, challenged the glorification of war naming it rather as what old men require of young men. A shocking thing for the Empire.

One of a number of theatre/music highlights of the year was the visit of Ute Lemper, it is always amazing to see performers who are world class. W& J who were also there didn't think it was very good. Sarah and I thought she was amazing. Also Patricia Piccinini's "Big Mother" in the Art Gallery of SA is an amazing sculpture which was well worth the visit.

There was a running debate in all sorts of fora (not over by any means) about the place and relationship of science, art and religion.I don't for the life of me see why these things are mutually exclusive.

There were of course lots of religious stories. Some show that the church can be just ridiculous (see here). And some like the saga of the Murray Diocese which show it is just really, really sad (here ) Our own Bishop works a little too hard and struggles with us as people. I hope he has a productive time away from the Diocese for a few months.

And...we survived. Yes after a rather bloody transition, Australia woke up to find it had not only a woman Prime Minister. But also a 'ranga'

And of course, amongst other things in August, I couldn't resist the temptation to blog about the irrationality of petrol prices again.

I began to feel in the latter part of the year that blogging was getting to be a bit of hard work. So I do apologise to those of you who come back and keep on reading. I am taken aback that you are all over the world, and in all sorts of places and positions.

The cold winter almost killed me this year . Which might explain why I started to endlessly glog about flowers and tomatoes (here and here and here). I think I had lost a little too much weight. Some days I just couldn't get warm. This is not the case since Christmas when I have put on a 'couple' of kilos.

My mother would have been 90 in November. I was going to go and visit her grave but in the end I didn't get there. But we all remember her fondly, as indeed we do our father.

And so the year has gone. A lot of talk about same-sex marriage, and a different-sex marriage in our family have given us much pause for thought about that august institution. I still consider myself to be 'married' even though my wife and I no longer live together. I still wear my ring, and don't consider I am at liberty to enter into another marriage relationship. Should the time come when this situation has to change then I will have to do something more than just go to the Family Law Court which, after all, cannot dispense with my religious vows.

The refugee issue continues to haunt our island nation. It is profoundly confronting. But like most things there are good news stories too!

Happy New Year to us all!