This will hurt me...

WHAT!?!?!?

Salamanca Place, March 2010 . Back in ye olde dayes, Salamanca used to be known for the quality of its brothels, the poor quality of it brothels, to be precise. How things have changed! These day e s, gentrification and la-de-dah-ism means that you won't even find a rubbish brothel! Here's a poem from Auden's later period, 50 cents goes to whoever can guess the ogre. August 1968 , by W. H. Auden The Ogre does what ogres can, Deeds quite impossible for Man, But one prize is beyond his reach, The Ogre cannot master Speech: About a subjugated plain, Among its desperate and slain, The Ogre stalks with hands on hips, While drivel gushes from his lips.

The Orient Express. The Trans-Siberian Railway. The Deccan Queen Express. The Don River Railway. We've done them all one.

Looking through a hole in the back fence, April 2010 . Good Friday, eh? I bet Jesus is wondering what was so good about it!

Cricket season is over, the flowers are wilting, and Henry has discovered the world of dinosaurs!

Thursday morning, seven hundred hours. The job is at hand: hop in the kayak, nip down to the Antarctic, a spell on the Wurlitzer, harass some randy Great Whites, brave the huge swells of the Southern Ocean, nibble on some blubber, chuck some rocks at the penguins, string up a couple of tennis racquets, sing a couple of show tunes, evade some icebergs, ponder the fate of Schrödinger's cat, zig-zag through the squalls, step aside for a quick shandy, head back up the Derwent, and in to work! Are you up for it, or are you YELLOW? Theme Thursday . Like Theme Tuesday, only on Thursday.

Here you can see [from left to right] Ezra, Henry and Jennifer all auditioning for the lead role in the new remake of That Girl . Personally, I think that Ez has best captured the Marlo Thomas-vibe. Henry is a little too Sally Field in the Flying Nun and Jen far too Mary Tyler Moore to best be that girl .

The Moon as seen in the evening from a backyard in Geilston Bay in March, 2010. Like Henry, I am somewhat infatuated by the moon. One day, I shall like to visit the moon. Unlike Henry and Ezra, I don't envisage getting there in some kind of modified carrot.

It was cold today. It wasn't that long ago we we're frolicking on the beach. This depresses me.

I like the subtly of this advertisement... the Enticement of a Skin More Precious than Personality or Cleverness ... Indeed, it's the oldest story in the book: the stunning blockhead perched in the corner surrounded by a gaggle of gents, while the intellectually superior - but aesthetically displeasing - lady sits alone in the corner, weeping inside. Know it people: surface not depth. Forget the books girls, concentrate on your anionic surfactant and H2O!

An aeroplane comes in to land at Hobart International Airport as seen from Seven Mile Beach, February 2010. If I could catch a plane to anywhere in the world, where would you go? Moreover, what would you do with your kids? Is their much to do in Oulu for toddlers?

Here's an old one, Ez in the Botanical Gardens juggling his various bits 'n pieces. Now you know how it feels!

Walking to work, Monday morning, what could be finer? Oh, I know ! NOT walking to work on a Monday morning. Staying home in bed. With children who are quiet and well behaved and let you lie in. Walking to work, Monday morning.

Henry has a determined little game that involves wrapping things . The rules are quite simple, i) take one piece of material or paper; ii) lay it out on a flat surface; iii) take one thing of varied size; and iv) wrap it. The game usually concludes by presenting the wrapped thing to whomever is present as a gift. Of course, this is rarely the end, as one might expect at least seven or eight of such gifts until he tires of it. One day I hope to find a gold watch, or the complete two series of Deadwood on DVD; but up to now it's usually balls, rocks or rags.

As summer disappears into the fog of memory, I look back with some regret at the heady days spent at the beach over the past four or five months. Oh the warm weather! The surf! The fine looking birds in bikinis ! Alas, it is behind us now. All I can do is gaze longingly at snaps taken at Opossum Bay, trying to avoid the teardrops from shorting out the laptop. Featured here (in both normal and panoramic form) is Opossum Bay, sans possums. Which, inevitably, leads me to today's Sunday Top Five; the Top Five Beaches That We Visited This Summer ! * Seven Mile Beach * Clifton Beach * Opossum Bay , South Arm Peninsula * Fossil Bluff , Wynyard * West Beach , Burnie