Thanks mate :)

Thanks mate,

I really appreciate your sentiments. I'm glad you and your work colleagues liked and appreciated my contribution, though it's nothing special :)

Just think, me and the former Pope now share a prominent similarity (aside from our inherent dislike of Nazist and Soviet-brand Socialist ideology). Now BOTH of us have written a (published) opinion column for the same Polish newspaper!

Changing the subject...

At this stage I'm due to return to Europe on the 30th of this month. It's taking a little longer to finalise things here in Cowra and there's another reason which is delaying my departure :(

Due to the expanding oil crisis costs of flight tickets have sharply increased. Australian oil prices have been heavily affected by the hurricane crisis unfolding in the American South since many oil refineries there are now inoperable. To make matters worse, a defective shipment of air fuel arrived a week before 'Hurricane Katrina' hit (unusable since it has the potential to create dangerously high amounts of static electricity). Therefore, petrol was being rationed at Australian airports before the cost of oil increased.

The cheapest fare I was able to reserve was with Malaysia/KLM (Royal Dutch Airlines) on that date (I'll also be stuck in Amsterdam for more than 14 hours waiting for my connecting flight to Gothenburg).

Naturally, I'm a little disappointed. It would have been great to have stopped over (albeit for a short while) in a city where I have friends (um, how far are you from Amsterdam Nele?).

But I'm missing Karin and Ingrid more than anything. It's getting to the stage now where I don't really care how I get to Gothenburg, just so long as I get there sooner rather than later. The earlier I'm back with them the better, it's torture living like this :(

Now I'm really stuck between two continents. Wherever I live now, Europe or Australia, I'm going to be longing for the other side :/