gillpolack @ 2012-04-01T17:01:00

Last night I had a fabulous time meeting roller derby and discovering its extraordinary nature. It's the sport of geeks. I was going to tell you about it in enormous detail except... I have just had the most astonishing and wonderful afternoon.

silvanime has a father (as one does) and that father has a friend and he took me on a tour of his private rock collection. He's going to replace the very few times from my own rock collection (gypsum, calcite and quartz) that were missing - and the pieces will have stories attached (for he understands rocks and their stories) and I got to tell him about Hattah Lakes and about fossilised sea urchins (which were not in the same story). I saw the most amazing rocks and learned so much about them. And a hole that the burglary had left in my heart has healed.

Burglary isn't about money - it's about emotions and one's life history. The small pieces of rather interesting stone (I will show anyone who visits - you don't even have to hint hard) I was given (fossil and crystal - this was in addition to the replacements he's finding me - rock people are so wonderfully kind!) were worth more to me than any insurance payout.

There's only one small thing that I now must do. I've rediscovered my childhood ambition of owning an uncut diamond - a natural crystal like the ones that John probably lost in the Wash. I could use it for teaching...