Well, here we are in 2009 – it hardly seems possible.  I was waxing lyrical about Egypt yesterday, remembering getting off the train in Aswan and the absolute hush as we watched the sun set over the Nile, or cycling out to the Valley of the Kings at midday, after all the tour groups had gone in the cool of the morning, so we had the tombs to ourselves (cue gusty sigh), and then I realised that it was twenty five years ago.  A quarter of a century.  It makes me feel quite odd just thinking about how quickly time goes – except when you’re bogged down in a book, when every minute drags, of course! 

Am not quite sure why I’m feeling so nostalgic at the moment.  Perhaps it’s because I’ve been to see the film “Australia” with all those wonderful shots of the outback and the extraordinary stars you get in the southern hemisphere and that set me remembering ….  To be honest, I was a bit ho-hum about the film itself, although I DID finally understand why everyone goes on about Hugh Jackman and how attractive he is.  Yes, indeed.  I think it’s the only time I’ve thought a man was more attractive with a beard than without it, too.  The one time in the film when he shaved and scrubbed up for the ball (an interesting reversal of the Cinderella moment) I was left cold, but when he was looking dusty and scruffy and riding his horse …well, gorgeous doesn’t even begin to describe it!  I wonder if he’d ever like to drive a mob of cattle through York …?

I was going to include a couple of photos of Egypt, but realised they weren’t going to compare with Hugh, so I’ll put them up on the Where in the world are you? page instead.  Having unearthed my album, sighed over all the photos, and gone to the trouble of scanning them before I even thought about mentioning Hugh Jackman, I might as well use them, but will quite understand that some of you would rather keep your eyes fixed here.  But Egypt has been beautiful a lot longer than Hugh and is worth seeing too, you know!

Otherwise, there’s not much going on.  I had some minor corrections on the latest book  but they’re done now and I can start 2009 with a clean slate.  So all I need to do is stop thinking about the past, focus on the future and, in the eternally wise words of my mother, just get ON with it.