In art, economy is always beauty.

Hobart Private Hospital building, as seen from Collins Street. Hobart, January 2011.

This is now the Hobart Private Hospital, which used to be the Queen Alexandria maternity wing, attached to the [public] Royal Hobart Hospital. One government sold it off in ’98, and a different government tried to buy it back in ’05 when they suddenly realised that they needed the space. Not the best example of sound public policy…

Here is a little questionnaire that I like to call Getting to know you, getting to know all about you…

Do you have any pets?
I have two children.

What was the last book you read?
See the sidebar to the left.

Do you like to cook?
Yes I do.

What kind of food do you like?
I like savoury, spicy and sour things.

Do you have brothers and sisters?
One brother.

Which sport do you like?
Wii Sports Resort.

Do you live alone?
No, I do not.

Do you live in a house or an apartment?
A house.

Have you ever lived in another country?
No, I have not.

Have you ever met a famous person?
It depends on your definition. I have met some moderately famous people. I’m not sure that I’ve met a really famous person though.

How do you spend your free time?
I read on the bus, at bus stops and walking to and from bus stops, if that’s what you mean.

Tell me about a favourite event of your adulthood.
Event? Introducing Henry to Ezra for the first time was a good one.

Tell me about a favourite event of your childhood.
I enjoyed sunny days at the beach.

What are your hobbies?
Taking photos, reading books, chasing children around. That sort of thing.

What countries have you visited?
In order (not counting airports): Australia, the UK, France, Italy, Austria, the Czech Republic, and Germany. Not many, I know.

Which country are you from?
Australia.

What do you do on Sundays?
Lately, go to the beach. And parks.

What do you do? What's your job?
My identity card says “Senior Policy Officer” within the Tasmanian Department of Health and Human Services. I work primarily in broad policy around alcohol, tobacco and other drugs.

What is your motto in life?
I don’t really have one. How about “anyone who isn’t confused doesn’t really understand the situation”?

What kind of people do you like?
I like interesting and funny people.

Which languages do you speak?
English. Just…

What are you best at?
False modesty.

Whom do you respect the most?
I respect anyone that get’s on with things with a minimum of fuss and complaint.

Who has had the most influence in your life?
My darling wife.

Would you like to be famous?
Not really.

What do you think you will be doing five years from now?
Hopefully something interesting.

Are you a 'morning' or 'night' person?
Morning. Most definitely.

How many times did you move as a child?
That I remember, once.

What cartoon character best illustrates you?
A composite of Linus and Lucy from Peanuts, with a touch of Daffy Duck for good measure.

If you could live anywhere in the world for a year, where would it be?
Greifswald.

If you knew could you try anything and not fail, what dream would you attempt?
To generate a decent income through doing something enjoyable.

What super-power would you most like to have, and why?
Innate capability. That is, the ability to naturally have skills and/or knowledge typically earned through learning. This would be handy when travelling, I feel.

Would you live with someone without marrying them?
I did do that for quite some time. Then I married her.

Would you rather take pictures or be in pictures?
Take. Can’t you tell?

Are you a beach, country or city person?
All of the above. I am a ‘coastal’ person, in that I don’t like to venture too far from lots of water.

Where do you spend most of your money?
My family.

Ah, Joe, you never knew the whole of it...

I still have the robot on the job. Here you can see the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery . And here is a poem: Soliloquy for One Dead Bruce Dawe Ah, no, Joe, you never knew the whole of it, the whistling which is only the wind in the chimney's smoking belly, the footsteps on the muddy path that are always somebody else's. I think of your limbs down there, softly becoming mineral, the life of grasses, and the old love of you thrusts the tears up into my eyes, with the family aware and looking everywhere else. Sometimes when summer is over the land, when the heat quickens the deaf timbers, and birds are thick in the plumbs again, my heart sickens, Joe, calling for the water of your voice and the gone agony of your nearness. I try hard to forget, saying: If God wills, it must be so, because of His goodness, because- but the grasshopper memory leaps in the long thicket, knowing no ease. Ah, Joe, you never knew the whole of it... I like Bruce Dawe. He just my be my favourite Austral

There was nothing left. No reason, no conscience, no understanding; even the most rudimentary sense of life or death, good or evil, right or wrong.

Here is a self portrait. I’m calling it Portrait of a lady in a dirty window . Shocking, isn’t it? However, it is apt! Samhain , Nos Galan Gaeaf , Hop-tu-Naa , All Saints , All Hallows , Hallowmas , Hallowe'en or HALLOWEEN . It’s Theme Thursday and we’re talking about the festivals traditionally held at the end of the harvest season. Huh? No wonder Australians have trouble with the concept of HALLOWEEN. For the record, in my thirty-two L O N G years on the planet, I can’t say I’ve ever seen ghosts ‘n goblins, trick ‘n treaters or Michael Myers stalking Tasmania’s streets at the end of October. [That said, I did once see a woman as pale as a ghost turning tricks that looked like Michael Myers in late November one time.] Despite the best efforts of Hollywood, sitcoms, and innumerable companies; it seems Australians are impervious to the [ahem] charms of a corporatized variant of a celebration of the end of the "lighter half" of the year and beginning of the "darke

In dreams begin responsibilities.

A life at sea, that's for me, only I just don't have the BREAD. That's right, Theme Thursday yet again and I post a photo of a yacht dicking about in Bass Strait just off Wynyard. The problem is, I am yet again stuck at work, slogging away, because I knead need the dough . My understanding is that it is the dough that makes the BREAD. And it is the BREAD that buys the yacht. On my salary though, I will be lucky to have enough dough or BREAD for a half dozen dinner rolls. Happy Theme Thursday people, sorry for the rush.

This will hurt me...

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