@Gwendolyn2018 No I mean we need a few intelligent people to reach nine. We have a shortage.

@Gwendolyn2018 PS. When you quote Shelley, I hope that does not mean you are going to cut your body up, and dump the bits in the desert ?

Soooo true! Not that it matters....apparently, the pens and t-shirts are all gone.

@Gwendolyn2018 Know what? I have a great idea! ROBES! Ceremonial robes....with gold thread and beautiful embroidery! Maybe his popeship could give us a few!

@Gwendolyn2018 With number NINES on them? Metallic gold thread? Golden slippers? How about tinkling bells on our toes?

@Gwendolyn2018 I'm sure I can find them in my local Indian market.....and, maybe incense....we should have incense, too.

@Gwendolyn2018 Your wish is my command (within reason).

@Gwendolyn2018 Let me put it this way...you're welcome to every million dollars I have.

@Gwendolyn2018 You would have been in with a chance that way!!

@Gwendolyn2018 If you got ten dollars off me there would be no point in asking again!

@Gwendolyn2018 Thanks for the tip. I'll make a note of that

@Gwendolyn2018 When you say "a poor teacher" I'm sure you mean "a fine teacher, though paid inadequately". I'm a poorly paid old age pensioner, so perhaps we could combine and take up bank robbing. Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway, eat your hearts out!

@Gwendolyn2018 I'd be very careful about Irian Jaya. I've never been there, nor Papua New Guinea. My father was there (PNG) in the war and took part in some of the most horrible fighting. Memories of the Second World War are fading now, and probably few people remember Milne Bay, Buna, Gona and Sanananda. Before PNG he fought in North Africa and the Middle East. I don't know if you've heard of the Rats of Tobruk, but Dad was one of them.

@Gwendolyn2018 Much better to turn left and come down here. I might even scrape up that $10!

@Gwendolyn2018 I'm sure we could make suitable arrangements and that you would enjoy your visit.

@Gwendolyn2018 Xmas is a bit different in this part of the world: its usually the height of the bushfire season, temperature about 40C. Still a lot of people have a Xmas dinner based on Northern Hemisphere traditions. Others (like us) prefer a dinner of seafood, white wine and beer.

@Gwendolyn2018 Or a barbecue in the back yard: that's the other alternative. Pity you don't like wine though. How about beer?

@Gwendolyn2018 If that's the weirdest thing about you, you're doing OK. I eat cows but don't eat pigs. When I was a kid I liked cows and enjoyed their company, but I hated pigs. There's no accounting for taste.

@Gwendolyn2018 Now you've got me intrigued. JUst what IS the weirdest thing about you?

Pigs will eat you if they can. They'll eat anything.

@Gwendolyn2018 At first it's really hard for me to imagine what it would be like to live in a place where most people supported a creature like Donald Trump. But when I reflect, I can see that, in the small town where I grew up, majority opinions in the 1950s had similarities to radical right wing opinions today. In my primary school classroom one whole wall was taken up by a permanent blackboard display featuring a map of the world dominated by a giant red octopus emerging from the north of the USSR and the slogan "A Red Devil Enslaves the World".

@Gwendolyn2018 Do you think he has any chance in the coming election? Is Biden the best person to oppose him?

@Gwendolyn2018 I've been reading (re-reading) a very good book about the collapse of France in 1940. I was again struck by the degree to which the country's military collapse seemed to flow from the divisions that had emerged in French society. On most subjects the country was divided. There were very few assumptions or conventions shared by the whole nation. I couldn't help but be reminded of your country (Admittedly I can only speak about how it looks to an outsider). If you're interested, the book is Alistair Horne's "To Lose a Battle".

@Gwendolyn2018 OK. Sleep well.

@Gwendolyn2018 Glad to hear it.

@Gwendolyn2018 Well at my age it is a bit of a relief to find that you've woken up each morning.

@Gwendolyn2018 Yes, you're just a kid, really. I'm so much more mature. By the way, I've sent you a test email.