Yo

Shall keep this brief and uncharacteristically monosyllabic(okay, I just contradicted myself there). Am communicating this way because i'm not sure if you're reading your ICQ messages anymore.

I see you've had a lot of fascinating experiences defending your home and country and being a Better Man. I highly recommend the poem Dead Man's Dump by Isaac Rosenberg for some perspective on the glory and honour of your current situation(barring the mutilated corpses.. for now). A soundbite:

The air is loud with death,
The dark air spurts with fire,
The explosions ceaseless are.
Timelessly now, some minutes past,
These dead strode time with vigorous life,
Till the shrapnel called 'An end!'
But not to all. In bleeding pangs
Some borne on stretchers dreamed of home,
Dear things, war-blotted from their hearts.

Anyway, I have am now past the phase of my life in the Antipodes, and am heading back to more humid concrete pastures. Mine paterfamilias are in town, which is irritating but a necessary evil to be endured, and I have friends and loose ends to tie up. Also am in the midst of repackaging my life for transport elsewhere(which accounts for my disappearance over the last fortnight, coupled with a brief respite travelling in the mountains). I shall be back in touch with the usual lengthy rants in time, after I've settled down, rebuilt my librarium, and plugged myself back into the Internet. Give our few mutual acquaintances my regards, and remember, "if you have to go, go as Mr. Underhill".

Si vis pacem, para bellum.