I have been a bit confused lately. I don’t travel well if I put on weight. Lethargy sets in and inevitably an increase in the susceptibility to the dreaded lurgy. A chest infection and blocked ears probably contributed to the confusion on top of some internet connection difficulties. And “Dili-gence” … who cares about that now anyway ? No more front page news for Dili. Lebanon has some real nasty stuff beyond the capabilities of the boys here … and Darfur, Sri Lanka and Woteveritistan.

You would have thought with a couple of thousand troops and 800 blue shirts, things should be going swimmingly here. But in the last couple of weeks, things have deteriorated. I have seen none of it myself and most of it has occurred at night in the usual places. But today, right outside the OZ Defence Force base in the centre of Dili across the road from the Hotel Timor, I am told it was all on today. The lads from the hills came in to have a good old fashioned punch-up laced with a bit of stainless steel and sharp projectiles.

A bit difficult for the blue shirts to handle when it is right amongst refugee tents and families etc. I just don’t understand it and at the moment, I am not sure anyone I have spoken to does either.

And I am perplexed just why the new Prime Minister is doing a world tour (ie Kuwait) just a matter of weeks after taking control under quite unusual circumstances. I suppose if you don’t have a functioning military or police force, you may as well go and do something else in times like this.

And now for the good news. There is a new burger joint a couple of hundred metres south of the Obrigado Barracks across the road from the old Matadouro (slaughterhouse in Portuguese). There’s enough room to swing a rat but not a cat. The burgers are $2-50 which compares well to the $6 touch at the more expat oriented establishments. There is no grog but I rate the burgers (or should I say the cheese burger I had) fairly high. A very nice crisp lightly toasted bun and well-presented.

Yeah, I know. Another road kilometre to work off this week.