The Grumpy Traveller hopes Sir Blob will sail off into the sunset.

Like you, I missed out on a ticket to next month's Live 8 concert in London.

I dutifully sent Sir Blob and Bonohead a dozen text messages – at some cost, mind you – but the two Sisters of Mercy replied with a message that I didn't understand, although it may have been Swahili for Get Lost.

Two million people sent text messages for the lottery to win 75,000 pairs of tickets for the Live 8 concerts of clapped-out old rockers.

Apart from wondering where all the mobile telephone revenue went to, I ask what is it all for? To see Pink Floyd, who haven't spoken to each other for almost a quarter of a century, kiss and make up?

To watch Sir Paul McCartney and Lord Blob Geldof go through that charity routine one more time before they retire to their old rockin' chairs?

To watch Dame Elton John make a spectacle of himself?

Sir Blob says he will not accept any more "people dying on my TV in my siting room every night."

Frankly, I don't want Sir Blob looking like a demented Irish tinker, dropping swear words along with the names of the Pope, Nelson Mandela and the Dalai Lama, on the TV in my sitting room every night.

And surely even Bonohead must have realised that there are a lot of people out there who would put a quick profit before any thoughts of Africa's starving pulled on their heart strings.

No sooner had several lottery winners had their Live 8 tickets confirmed than they had them for sale on eBay. At last count, there were 41 ticket sales in progress but at least "Pegasus" from Aldershot had the grace to offer to donate 15 percent of the GBP310 asking price to charity.

Only glitch is that the donation is going to the Army Benevolent Fund, not Africa's starving or even Blob and Bonohead's Charity Home for Desperate Old Rockers Denied a Gig at Live8.

Lord Blob and Bonohead are worth zillions, so why don't they just rattle charity tins outside supermarkets and leave the rest of us in peace.

The Live 8 concert is linked to Geldof's calls for demonstrations in Edinburgh to coincide with the G8 summit in Scotland on
July 6, and for a Sail 8 flotilla of boats to cross the English Channel.

But already the G8 nations have agreed a debt deal for the world's 18 poorest countries, so why does Blob need to go sailing?

Perhaps it's just an excuse for another ancient rocker, Rod Stewart, to reprise an old hit.

I am sailing, I am sailing,
Home again 'cross the sea.



IAN JARRETT is based in Fremantle, Western Australia from where he travels frequently in Asia on assignments for travel magazines.

He is a member of the BamBoo Alliance, a group of leading travel writers in the region. He can be contacted at ianjarrett@mac.com