August 6 - a day in history when the bomb was dropped on Japan, and my ex's birthday.

I have just spent 4 days in Melbourne, attending an ACROD conference on disability, the industry in which I work. One of the speakers was Li Cunxin, a world famous ballet dancer. He spoke to us for an hour and at the end of it there wasnt a dry eye amongst the 500 people there. He talked of how he achieved so much and what inspired him to always try harder, his defection to the USA and the pain that the loss of family contact caused him. He talked about the utter poverty that Westerners could not even imagine that he experienced as a child. If you read only one book, read his book called "Mao's Last Dancer" written by himself. He was one of the best speakers I have heard in a long time.

After that, everything else seems a bit of an anti climax, but I managed to catch a train and a bus (2 hrs) to visit my 83 year old uncle in the Yarra Valley. It is a beautiful piece of Australia and it was great to see my uncle. Another 2 hour trip back to the hotel and that was the whole day gone.

Plane food has got worse- to the point its almost inedible these days. Next time I will take my own snacks.

When I arrived home, my old 16 year staffy, Agro, was pleased to see me. She gets upset and ignores me when the suitcase comes out and gets packed. I came home and placed the suitcase on the floor to unpack. The photo shows what she thought of the suitcase - she got in it and went to sleep.