THE GOOD LIFE
I'm having a great time here in Dubai where I'm writing this month's column. At the moment I'm sitting outside and I can hear loads of crickets. I'm looking out on to two swimming pools, lit up with lots of little lanterns and surrounded by big trees. There's a cool breeze but it's still really warm. Does that sound nice or what?

THE BAD LIFE
Coming here has made me sit up and appreciate just how lucky I am. We stayed in a fancy hotel in Kuala Lumpa and right next to it was a really por shanty village. The people were so lovely and yet they have nothing, nothing at all. I bought a big bunch of flowers and gave little flowers to the children.

TRAGEDY!
I was given a Tamagochi, one of those virtual reality computer pets and I managed to keep it alive for an astonishing ten days. I made sure I was feeding it and looking after it properly and I was doing really well until I went out and forgot to take it with me. When I went to collect it later there was steam coming out of it's head!

FIRE!
I'm not having a good effect on things technological at the moment. I plugged in a charger for my MiniDisc player in my hotel room and the socket blew up. Then the lights went out and the Cartoon Network on the TV blacked out! No more Scooby Doo for me, then!

SONG FOR DIANA
Of course all this month's happenings have been overshadowed by the death of Diana Princess Of Wales. I'd been asked to sing The Shooting Star - the song I've recorded for the film Hercules - at the premiere of the movie and Diana had been due to attend. I was really looking forward to singing for her, I was going to dedicate the song to her. I can't believe it will never happen now, it's very, very sad.

All of this has made me realise life's too short to be unhappy so I'm out to enjoy myself big time! See you next month!

God Bless, Steve xx