Sorry, Dawg, my dilatoriness in getting to the computer was not entirely my fault. I had to peel my son off it before getting a look-in. Thank God he goes back to work on Monday!

PS: Apropos of that, would anyone with any ideas on how to get rid of 32-year-old sons (short of boiling them in oil) please forward their suggestions.

I am an extremely curious person. I have always been very curious, and used to drive my parents insane with my questions. They simply couldn't keep me in books. Thank heavens when computers and the internet arrived on the scene - too late for my childhood, but, as they say, better late than never.

My curiosity finally drove me to visit Julian, and close the gap of 500 odd miles which separated us.

For those unfamiliar with the Great South Land, Sydney's the capital of New South Wales, the first state in Australia, and is on the Pacific coast set on a very long bay called Sydney Harbour. That's where Julian lives.

I, on the other hand, live in Melbourne, 500 miles south in the state of Victoria, of which M is the capital city. It's also set on a bay, but in the south rather than the east, and the entrance to this bay is opposite the most southerly portion of Aussie, the island state of Tasmania.

Julian and I had been participating in TR discussions for some years, and another site he got me interested in, Meeting Christians (I'm an atheist!), but a few months ago he took to ringing me instead, often for several hours at a time.

We had plenty to talk about just by drawing material from the posts and threads of the various discussions we were involved with besides lots of other, non-associated topics.

Well, my curiosity shortly got the better of me - it always does - and I jumped on a train one night and went to Sydney to meet Julian.

I wasn't really in the least surprised by him; after all, I'd seen his pic in various guises on this site and MC, so I knew what he looked like.

As for that awful pic of me he's used to illustrate his post at the beginning, it's over two years old, taken when I was 60. I must get a newer one done when I get the time.

Meeting Julian was a fantastic adventure and I enjoyed every moment of it. I hope he felt the same, because I intend to go back there for a few days every so often, as it's much easier talking face to face than either over the phone or by email.

I've also met Colin [HAL9000] and his wife, Gai, when they came on a flying visit to Melbourne a couple of years ago on motoring business. Col is an awesome guy, and Gai is charming and has a great deal to put up with, I think, even tho' Col refers to her as 'She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed', as in Rumpole of the Bailey!

Aussie's an enormous place, so it's not easy meeting members (of TR and other sites) just like that. Travelling long and often boring distances is the norm. A few years ago, it took me three days (by train) to travel from the south-east coast where I live across the continent to the west coast, the Indian Ocean and Perth, capital city of the state of Western Australia to attend an astronomical and cosmological conference for a week. It was extremely relaxing, but I flew back in four hours, lost a couple in between (because of time zones) and probably arrived before I'd left. Disconcerting!

So you see, folks, don't be too rough on us for just having a little fun and satisfying our mutual curiosities. I will now paste my son back on the computer and peel him off on Monday morning when he has to go to work.

Cheers

Gret