Every man with a bellyful of the classics is an enemy to the human race.

This is the inner sleeve of the break up album.

We won't mention the foreign avant-garde artiste...

I am the grass

Keep on the grass. Princes Park, Battery Point. December 2010.

The blandly-titled Princes Park features the impressive structure that lures children from all over Hobart. Unfortunately, it seems that Battery Point has some kind of dress code, as all the kids seem to be little fashion plates...

Grass, Carl Sandburg

Pile the bodies high at Austerlitz and Waterloo.
Shovel them under and let me work---
I am the grass; I cover all.

And pile them high at Gettysburg
And pile them high at Ypres and Verdun.
Shovel them under and let me work.
Two years, ten years, and passengers ask the conductor:
What place is this?
Where are we now?

I am the grass.
Let me work.

He declared that he knew nothing, except the fact of his ignorance.

Part monkey, part pirate; Ezra has been practicing his scaling of the rope ladder (with cutlass tucked down the back of the pants), before he ships out to the Somalian coast...

Many people would sooner die than think; in fact, they do so.

Ampelmännchen, Ich werde auf dich warten. Campbell Straße, December 2010.

The Christmas/New Year period has derailed my reading somewhat. Who knew that so much literary graft could be achieved on public transport and during lunch breaks through the week?

That said, I'm knee deep in Gert Hofmann's Luck, and should be finished in a few days. I'm not sure how I feel about it yet. I think that much will depend on where he takes the tale...

No man means all he says, and yet very few say all they mean, for words are slippery and thought is viscous.

Patience is a virtue.

• Temperance


• Prudence


• Fortitude


• Justice
  

Guess how many Henry embodies?

If dogs could talk, perhaps we would find it as hard to get along with them as we do with people.

There's a wall. And some power lines. New Town Road, New Town. December 2010.

It's still 2010 and I am so very, very tired.

I think that I'll go to the beach today...

There is a point at which methods devour themselves.

Next stop: the entrance of the Philadelphia Museum of Art!

[If you can pick that reference, five points.]

Every good cause is worth some inefficiency.

I see a tree. Geilston Bay High School, December 2010.

Sturm und Drang.

Drang and Sturm.

Storm.

And.

Urge.

Not stress. Urge. That's not a slight distinction.

After coming into contact with a religious man I always feel I must wash my hands.

You keep playing up Hank, and this here seaweed is going to be your dinner.

And I'm not deep-frying it.

Against stupidity the very gods themselves contend in vain.

There be many a window there. Royal Hobart Hospital, Hobart. December 2010.

The windows are the eyes of the sole. I think.

Do you know who would make a beautiful woman? Boutros Boutros-Ghali.

I believe that the name 'Darren' is cursed.

Mister Mister. No good.

The year is nearly over.

Probably for the best.

No one lies so boldly as the man who is indignant.

Ezra awaits the arrival of the orcas. You can’t see it in this photo, but just behind those dunes he’s sharpened up the knives and is ready to gut and fillet the colossal crustacean fish whale member of the oceanic dolphin family.

Dip ‘em in a bit of olive oil, roll in some fresh rosemary and tarragon, stick ‘em on the grill and serve with a nice summer salad.

Bon appétit!

Although it is not true that all conservatives are stupid people, it is true that most stupid people are conservative.

A moon over Davey Street. Hobart, December 2010.

The chimney belonged to the Hobart Gas Company, and was built in 1854 to establish a gasworks to lighten the city streets. This was the third gasworks in the southern hemisphere, but we all know that it really was the best.


A lot of bricks, piled real high... Hobart, December 2010.

How poor are they that have not patience! What wound did ever heal but by degrees?

So Christmas is done and dusted for another year. All we have left is to get out in the water, catch us a few fresh Orcinus orcas, fire up the barbie and we’ve got ourselves a traditional Tasmanian New Year Hāngi!

Get to it Henry!

Next to a circus there ain't nothing that packs up and tears out faster than the Christmas spirit.

Very little action at the bus stop. Campbell Street, Hobart. December 2010.

Boxing Day? BAH! The Easter eggs will be out soon.

This year - excluding picture books - I've read eighty-five books! Jen guessed at sixty, I was thinking seventy, so eighty-five is a sounf tally that leaves me a good selection for today's Sunday Top Five: My Top Five Books That I've Read This Year! Bear in mind that these are books I've read and enjoyed this year, not books released this year. Let's see if this year's crop can top last year...

• Fatelessness by Imre Kertész


• Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis


• The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene


• Popular Music from Vittula by Mikael Niemi


• The Restraint of Beasts by Magnus Mills

Just missing the cut, and again in chronological order (in terms of my reading it): The Quiet American, Graham Greene; Closely observed trains, Bohumil Hrabal; Mercedes-Benz, Pawel Huelle; The Middle Parts of Fortune, Frederic Manning; The End of the Affair, Graham Greene; The Millstone, Margaret Drabble; Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, Alan Sillitoe; The Ice Palace, Tarjei Vesaas; A Kind of Loving, Stan Barstow; A Season in Sinji, J.L. Carr; and An Artist of the Floating World, Kazuo Ishiguro.

I'd happily recommend all of these. What are you waiting for?