What a start to 2005

There's a lot going on at the moment, around the world. It's really heartbreaking just reading about it, let alone what it must be like to be one of those people with missing loved ones or those that were caught up with it, saw parents and children, brothers and sisters die under the waves - right before their eyes.

It doesn't bear thinking about.

There are those people that believe that only positives can come from disasters. This might not be a vision shared by others, but in this case it rings true. The world has responded like no one could ever have predicted. The human spirit has broken down the barriers of race and religion: everyone has been affected. Each of us knows loss; it is a shared human emotion.

Personally, it has just been a busy week at work, with more to do today. I am not a fan of working at weekends, believing that the two days I get off to do something more leisurely; however, this weekend the house has plumbers in and they are setting about removing my heating boiler and replacing it with one that works. It's January, and in the UK this is not a warm time, so a boiler is something I really need. I thought that spending all this money on a heating system made me seem selfish in the face of the recent tsunami disaster, so I made a sizeable donation at my local tube station yesterday and I propose to do so each day next week, a minimum of £5 (as this is usually what is left in my pocket each morning).

I can do no more, I hope it is enough.

purplesimon out...