This will hurt me...

Here's a close up of a knot on a tree in the park. It was right at the top of the tree, but I had no need to climb it. Such is the power of the zoom! Here are five unimportant facts about me: I am 193 centimetres tall. I am considerably younger than my old dear wife. It is something like THREE months. I like lists. I hate Katherine Hepburn. I find her a ye olde version of Nicole Kidman, and I rank Nicole Kidman right up there with spinal meningitis. I am going to the beach right now.

Here we have some clouds. Not just any clouds of course, but very rare Tasmanian clouds . As any proud Tasmanian will tell you, we very rarely get clouds around these parts. We are quite lucky down here at the arse end of the word (thank you Paul Keating ), quirks of history, geography and weather have engendered character traits in Tasmanians that are quite profound in both their homogeny and uniqueness . In general, Tasmanians are very trustworthy ; we rarely (if ever) lie , exaggerate or worship false idols . We wash behind our ears every time, and brush our teeth not twice, but three times a day . We love our mothers dearly , and we respect our fathers deeply . Tasmanian men in particular are excellent lovers , kind to their wives and are exceptional fathers. Tasmanian women are a credit to their gender ; they smile at the appropriate moments, frown when required , do not talk back to their husbands and benevolent (yet firm ) with their children. Tasmanian children are see...

Here is the photograph of Henry that I promised. I thought that I would give you Five Quick Henry Facts . He can now say "please" and "ta" ["thank you" is still some time away]. He likes donuts, although he calls them "donts". He knows what "doing a poo" is, but remains coy about telling people. He has ticklish thighs. He is a marvellous kisser.

Here are some of the more interesting things that I learned over the past year, with thanks to the BBC News Magazine ! [Click on the link to read more] Adding milk to tea negates the health-giving effects of a hot cup. Dishcloths can be purged of 99 percent of their bacteria from just two minutes in a microwave. About half of China's population can’t speak the national language, Mandarin. There are approximately 30,000 wild parakeets currently living in London. You can get mobile phone coverage from the summit of Mount Everest. As part of their performance reviews, female civil servants in India are questioned about their menstrual cycle. The true secret to happiness is learning to accept misery. Until the late 1990s, the nuclear warheads of the Royal Air Force could be activated using a easily obtained bicycle lock key. Cats can be police constables in the UK. Chickens can be diagnosed with depression. In Iceland, 96% of women go on to some form of higher education. There have bee...