Waratahs, Lions and Lamas

No, not those waratahs or lions. And it's Lama, not Llama.

Last weekend, Wayne and I went to see the NSW Waratahs v the British & Irish Lions at the Sydney Football Stadium, along with 40 800 others in a sell-out crowd. The Lions won the game 47-17.

Shortly before kick off, Robbie Deans, the Qantas Wallabies coach sits with the plebs about 10 rows behind us

Kick off - NSW Waratahs v British & Irish Lions

Lee Halfpenny, Lions fullback, looks on as his penalty gives the Lions the lead

 Six rows from the front, we had a great view of the action

On Monday I took a group of Year 12 students to see the 14th Dalai Lama speak at the 'Young Minds' Conference at the Sydney Town Hall. Although there are only a limited number of ways you can say "Be nice to people", there were a few gems, including anecdotes about his childhood (his mother was lovely and his father a bit of an arse by the sound of it). He also talked about the scientific and therefore universal basis of ethics, which he calls 'secular ethics' - not that it is distinct from religious ethics, but includes and goes beyond the religious. There were also about 100 school children from the NSW government schools'/ St James Ethics Centre 'ethics in schools' pilot scheme, who got the chance to ask him questions. The best one was "what would you like to be reincarnated as" from a kid of about 9. Although he didn't say it, the obvious answer would of course have been "the 15th Dalai Lama".

Term 2 has finished after a crazy few weeks - so I get a much needed three week holiday! Having been ill for the past week it's a chance to catch up on sleep, chill out a bit and, obviously, watch the rugby!

Go the Lions!