This will hurt me...

Chains of love. Marieville Esplanade, Sandy Bay. December 2011. This week's Q and A has been filched from many years ago on Sunday Stealing: The Final Week of 2009 2011 Meme 1. What did you do in 2009 2011 that you'd never done before? I took Henry and Ezra to Melbourne. 2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I don't really do them. I'm trying to be a little more healthy next year. 3. How will you be spending New Year's Eve? In bed. 4. Did anyone close to you die? No. 5. What countries did you visit? Just Australia. 6. What would you like to have in 2010 2012 that you lacked in 2009 2011? A little more peace and quiet. 7. What date from 2009 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? Henry's first day of Kindergarten, because it was... well.... Henry's first day at Kindergarten. 8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Not killing anybody. 9. What was your biggest failure? Not killing anybody. ...

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 Pr...