I’m beginning to wonder if a voodoo guy has it in for Australia and is sticking pins into an effigy of our glorious country. And that’s why I haven’t written lately. I’ve just been overwhelmed. Too much has happened in the last two months and so far 2011 has been pretty miserable.

There have been natural disasters in Queensland and Victoria. Both Australian states suffered once in a century floods. How can anyone describe the horror of losing your home and your business in one swoop? And then there came the controversy over flood insurance. Was it a flood or was it something else? Well, people found out the hard way that one has to specify “flood” and not make any assumption about the policy.

While Queensland drowned, Western Australia burned. And then came Cyclone Yasi to blow everything to smithereens.

As if that weren’t bad enough New Zealand suffered a terrible earthquake in which many lives were lost and a beautiful city has been destroyed. It’s as if Hell was let loose during the past two months.

Nature can be beautiful but it can also be terribly cruel and, we human beings, are very helpless when it comes to combating the forces of nature.

Whenever I sat down to write I felt that other topics were too shallow by comparison with these disasters so I avoided writing. I still continued receiving the usual attacking comments for having criticised simulated diamonds and quite frankly I am disappointed that this has turned out to be my most popular post. My post on some cream for under eye wrinkles is also popular. Sigh…

I think that we reach a saturation point about how much tragedy we can absorb and then we escape into trivia for diversion. Let’s face it, if it weren’t for trivial subjects many of the popular journals would not exist. Apparently, we are interested in cellulite and diets and fashion and make-up. The media even thinks we care about Shane Warne, Liz Hurley and that silly girl who bears a grudge against footballers.

I don’t believe that we seriously care about celebrities, but we do need to escape into unimportant rubbish from time to time. We need a break from all the famines, revolutions, politicking and downright misery.

So we escape into gossip and silliness. Yes, it’s trivial. Yes, it’s rubbish. And yes it’s boring. But it’s a relief from all the sadness and I guess that’s why we read about it or watch it on TV.

I am reluctant to go to a cinema to see a miserable movie. I want something that will cheer me up. A good comedy which will make me split my sides till my stomach hurts. My soul needs uplifting. It cries out for it in this crazy, screwed-up world. And the sad thing is that I’m a compulsive news watcher. So what hope is there for me? Sigh…

It didn’t help that I had to go to my mother’s funeral a few days ago, but at least she’s at peace now.