Hello Everyone,

Happy New Year!

I certainly feel this will be a great year for me and I hope it is for you too. But before I go on I owe you all an apology.

I am sooooooooo sorry I have not posted any articles since late November. You may have heard of the old Chinese curse “May you live in interesting times” well last year I bore the full brunt of that curse.

We Were Hacked – Almost to Death

Apart from a very sad personal experience, which I will not bore you with, in October all our web sites were hacked and some malicious code was inserted on them. You may have seen a Google message on this site that said “visiting this web site could harm your computer”

Luckily we were able to clean up this web site and our other smaller web sites very quickly but our main web site eSTV was badly affected and it took us two months to get off the Google banned list.

It was a very harrowing time and I thought we would lose the site altogether. The consequence was we lost a lot of business, all our November and December promotions were cancelled and we could not sell into January or beyond either. Our income dried up and we had to refund deposits plus pay for a technical team to work on the web sites.

In addition we had no work for our staff and we had to let some go. It was a very sad time. I also had to spend a lot of time liaising with clients whose promotions we could not fulfill and of course, work on the affected web sites.

I Decided to Go “Bush”

When it was all over, I was so exhausted I decided to go away for a holiday. It was the week before Christmas and everywhere I rang was already fully booked. But in any case what I really wanted was some where quiet not full of tourists so I decided to go “bush” that is, go to the Australian Outback where few people go for a holiday. I looked on Google maps and found a small town in the middle of Australia which became my destination. Then I Googled to see if there was a motel in the area and I found there were three. I rang them and they were all empty.

I found my desert island.

So I set off for West Wyalong – a place whose claim to fame (as I later discovered) is the length of its main road and the fact that it has a bend in the middle of it. Other than that, there is nothing there except three pubs, two Chinese restaurants, an RSL club, and some great people.

But I was in no hurry so on my way there, whenever I saw a name on a sign that took my fancy I went there. I didn’t even take a map (which was actually an accident, I left it on the kitchen table) I just knew the direction I was heading in.

I saw some wonderful little country towns here is a short list of some of the towns I visited while I was away:

Goulburn

Yass

Gundagai

Cootamundra

Junee

Temora

West Wyalong

Bundaburrah

Bumbaldry

Cowra

Blayney

Lithgow

Nothing to Brag About – But that doesn’t stop them

Wherever I went the people were amazingly friendly. I stopped at a few pubs along the way and as soon as I walked in the locals knew I was a stranger in town. After a while I got to checking my watch to see how long it would take for someone to strike up a conversation. I think Temora was the quickest, I was still looking at my watch when a group at the bar started talking to me and Goulburn was the longest (it was also the biggest country town I visited) where it took a couple of minutes.

The first question they always asked was had I moved into town – no one guessed I was on holiday, I think going to these towns for a holiday is unheard of. But let me assure you, that is our loss not theirs.

After getting over the shock that I was on holiday everyone asked where I was going and when I told them West Wyalong (which in all honesty was just a point I chose to give me a general direction to head in) they said I was crazy. Every one said “Stay here there is more to do here than in West Wyalong” and as more to do usually translated to drinking at the pub or going to the one club in town or eating at one of the two or three café’s in town, I really started to wonder what the people of West Wyalong did for entertainment.

The Most Unusual Café I Have Ever Visited

I can’t remember the town it just appeared as I turned the corner. One minute I was on a country road surrounded by trees when I came to a cross road. The road ahead was unsealed and the one to the left was sealed so I turned left. And two minutes later I arrived at a bustling country town.

I decided to stop for breakfast and looked for a café. I found a beautiful old world café that was pretty busy so I decided it must be “the place”. It had a courtyard out back which was full so I took a table inside.

The first thing that struck me was that everyone was talking to everyone else. I thought I had imposed myself in a private function but it was only 10am. People would be walking past the café, see someone seated at a table and pop in for a chin wag before setting off again.

Two ladies came in to buy take away coffees and an iced drink and immediately the assistant asked them how was their mother and they entered into a conversation that gave me a good snap shot of country life.

The waitress came to my table, asked me if I had recently moved into town, where I came from, who was I visiting, where was I staying and finally, what did I want to eat. Then she proceeded to tell everyone in the café I was on holiday on my own and visiting country towns. They all looked at me approvingly, nodded hello and proceeded to talk about the merits of various country towns and why this was the best one. Unfortunately no one mentioned the name and it will forever be anonymous to me.

Oh and I had a great breakfast of steak, eggs, bacon, sausages, mushrooms, tomatoes, toast and something they called coffee.

The Purchase that Saved My Life

When I was in Temora I saw a shop that had a sale on 3G wifi sticks and I decided I had better buy one as I was having no luck accessing the Internet at the motels I stayed at. I didn’t know it then, but that purchase saved my life.

That day I finally made it to West Wyalong. I chose a motel on the highway leading into town mainly because it looked like an oasis on a desert island. It had palm trees that leaned over the driveway, a pool and bar-b-que facilities. When you cook like me a bar-b-que can cover a whole gamut of ills.

The room was incredible. Large, comfortable, airy, light with a table where I could set up my computer and a huge bed, a sofa and arm chair.

Bush Australians Are the Friendliest People on Earth

I stayed there for a week and half, going for long walks and shorter ones into “town”. On my first excursion into town to buy meat and vegetables I could never walk into a shop without a friendly assistant with little or nothing to do asking me what I came to regard as the basic questions. After they felt they knew me they were happy to serve me and always had a handy tip or three.

One lady in the general store on discovering that I was going to be in town alone on Christmas day, invited me to her house. She said all her family were coming over for Christmas and one more would be no problem. That was the first of three invitations I got. All of which I politely refused as I really was looking forward to the solitude.

One of my biggest problems was that I love to go for long walks and especially at that time that is what I wanted more than anything else. But every time I left home within minutes a car would pull up and the driver would introduce himself, ask if I was the guy visiting town on holiday and then offer to drive me where ever I was going. One time I said I am not going anywhere and he said “okay, hop in I’ll drive you there”. I began to wonder how I was going to get a decent walk but I was blown away with the genuine generosity and friendliness of country people.

My Brush With Death

How easy it is to be seduced by this great country. It is big, masculine and the epitome of freedom. The hills roll on forever and in most parts there are no trees just countryside as far as the eye can see. One day I noticed that my cheeks were aching and I realised that I was walking with a smile a mile wide. I have never been so happy.

One morning I woke up and decided it was time to move on. I was sorry to leave West Wyalong but the longer I stayed the harder it would get.

By now I had acquired a map and I estimated the town I wanted to visit was about 60kms away. A short drive by country standards.

It was a hot day, over 40 degrees centigrade but I had air conditioning in the car so no problem. I had run out of water bottles so I determined to buy some at the next garage but on such a short trip it was not a necessity. I would be at the next town in time for breakfast.

Not long after I left the motel I noticed my car was overheating so when I saw a garage I pulled in to see the mechanic. But when he saw I was driving a Volvo he quickly told me that he had no tools for my car and didn‘t expect anyone else would either. “It’s a city car” he said in that tone country people reserve for city folk.

He sold me a 5 litre container of coolant and said I should get back to the city as soon as possible.

I left and in my distress I forgot to buy water.

Then I missed the turn off that would take me to the highway and ended up on a country back road. A quick check of the map showed me that if I followed it I would get to another town, not the one I was originally heading for but from there I could get back to the highway.

Along the way my engine overheated regularly so I had to stop frequently to top up the coolant and very soon I could see that would not have enough but then my radiator hose blew and I was stranded.

It was then I realised I had broken every rule in the book.

I didn’t have any water, it was over 40 degrees, I had not told anyone where I was going and I was not even going where I intended. I was on a back road with no traffic and I was at least 30 kms from the nearest town.

I tried making a phone call but my phone could not get a line in the bush. I had no means of communication to tell anyone I was in trouble.

As a regular walker, I had no doubt I could walk 30 kms, I have often done 20 in the city. But in that heat it would have been suicidal so I determined to walk at night. What I didn’t think of was how dark it gets at night. When night came I left the car and very soon I lost the track. I even had trouble finding the car again.

That was when I realised the situation was serious.

I started to think about my last skype conversation with my daughter and suddenly I remembered the wifi stick. I didn’t think it would work but I tried it and blow me down, it did.

I Googled for a tow truck company in the area, found their web site if they had one, and sent them an email. It was then that my luck turned and just as my email arrived one guy was checking his email and responded. After a little haggling over price, at which I was at a distinct disadvantage, he agreed to come and get me.

It was an exciting end to what I planned as a quiet holiday but I came back to work happy to be alive and raring to make the most of this year.

I’m Back. So let’s get on with the show. Welcome to the new Shadow in the Flame and to the new Ric.

I know I have lost a lot of readers after the great hack and the long period of silence. But I have one piece of good news already.

Shadow in the Flame Wins Award

One of the first emails I opened on my return to the office informed me that Shadow in the Flame had been selected as one of the top 50 Philosophy Blogs.

I will load the banner they gave me as soon as possible but it was like God saying, well you came close but this is a new year and I expect you to make the most of it.

You can see a list of the Top 50 Philosophy sites here : http://www.zencollegelife.com/50-best-philosophy-blogs/

For three and a bit glorious weeks I was “The Man” roaming the highways and by ways of this magnificent country. It changed my life or more appropriately it changed my attitude. It renewed my faith in man kind with “kind” being the operative word. But I also learned that living in the bush is a constant struggle, something that hasn’t changed since the first settlers left the cloister of Sydney, the first town, now a beautiful city which I am lucky to call home.

We have a lot of rebuilding to do this year but it is a challenge that palls into insignificance when compared to that which the stoic people of the outback face every day. I learned from experience that a stoic achieves happiness by submission to destiny, something I had read but never really understood. I dedicate Shadow in the Flame to the wonderful people wherever they are who live life to the best of their ability, who ask for little and share whatever they have, most of all their good will.

I think we will have a lot to discuss this year and I look forward to receiving your input via comments and articles. I look forward to writing again. And though I didn’t think I would say this two months ago, I look forward to 2011.

Thank you for your patience. Let’s make 2011 our best year ever.