Even a liar can be scared into telling the truth, same as an honest man can be tortured into telling a lie.

When we went along to the Christmas parade, Ezra appeared more interested in these two ducks mucking about in the Hobart Rivulet than he was in the various X-mas goths, roller derby girls and blokes in skirts. Indeed Ez tried to scale a fence to join the two Pacific Blacks - that's Anas superciliosa to any twitchers out there - for a dip.

I figure that as we are rapidly approaching the end of the year, I can knock of another Sunday Top Five very easily. This week: the My Favourite Five Books I've Read This Year! That's books I've read and enjoyed, not books released this year.

Death and the Penguin, Andrey Kurkov

The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, John Le Carré

Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe

If this is a Man, Primo Levi

Gold, Dan Rhodes

Just missing the cut is a long list, the ones that stand out in the memory include: Billiards at Half-past Nine, Heinrich Böll, Border Crossing, Pat Barker, Union Street, Pat Barker, The Truce, Primo Levi, History of the Present, Timothy Garton Ash, Towards the End of the Morning, Michael Frayn and The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro.