This will hurt me...

Bike racks have come a long way of late. We are certainly of the opinion that any bike rack must ideally double (triple?) as both 'public art' as well as 'children's play equipment'.

Pretty in pink. York Street, Sandy Bay. September 2011. I've been following the progress of the Detroit Tigers baseball team of late, and have to say that I really do like the MLB.com interface for live coverage. Go Tigers! Quite what that has to do with a pink flower and a poem by Czech poet and immunologist Miroslav Holub, I shall leave t you to figure out! Brief reflection on accuracy , Miroslav Holub Fish always accurately know where to move and when, and likewise birds have an accurate built-in time sense and orientation. Humanity, however, lacking such instincts resorts to scientific research. Its nature is illustrated by the following occurrence. A certain soldier had to fire a cannon at six o’clock sharp every evening. Being a soldier he did so. When his accuracy was investigated he explained: I go by the absolutely accurate chronometer in the window of the clockmaker down in the city. Every day at seventeen forty-five I ...

Spring-loaded box traps. A fool-proof way of dealing with troublesome children! Everything that I learned about parenting I learned from Raiders of the Lost Ark.

The things that you see when sitting on the toilet. The toilet, Mayfair Plaza, Sandy Bay. October 2011. I always seem to be finishing books on the Friday and consequently posting the review the following week, so forgive me if I’m a little vague on Herta Müller’s The Appointment . I shall confess that I was not familiar with Müller’s work until she was awarded the awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize in Literature. Müller is a Romanian-born German novelist and poet most noted for her exploration of the effects of violence, cruelty and terror; usually in the setting of Communist Romania under Nicolae Ceauşescu. It is this stifling atmosphere of repression that pervades throughout The Apartment . The unnamed narrator – a young, female factory worker – has been summoned for questioning by the secret police for a relatively benign crime. From this point, her life has become subject to the whims of Major Albu, who summons her for random interrogation sessions with seemingly little purpose other tha...

Spring has sprung which means that [beach] swimming will not be too far away. Ezra can barely contain his enthusiasm.

A caged bird never wins grand finals. ANZAC Park, Lindisfarne. October 2011. Some days it is hard. Some days it is less hard. Some days, even, it is easy. Some days it is so so. I think that today is a ‘less hard’ kind of day, with a possibility of an upgrade to ‘hard’.

Ez takes his man marking very seriously, and moments after this photograph was taken Henry collapsed in a crumpled heap with bruises up and down his legs...

A pipe in a wall in the middle of the road. St George's Terrace, Battery Point. September 2011. Is it good luck or good management to have ended up marrying the person that a) you think is the sexiest in the world; and b) you love most in the world? Answers on the back of a postcard please...

One of the best thing about Ezra is that his smaller arms and hands means that he’s far more able to get them into the tiger snake holes…

Careful of the drips with your lens. Princes Street, Sandy Bay. September 2011. The Lucky 33 Meme [part 2]! 17. Do you know how to do the macarena? I most certainly do not! 18. Is the sun shining where you are now? Absolutely and I am loving it. 19. Do you think clowns are cute or scary? I think that clowns are supremely unfunny . 20. If you could change one thing about how you look, what would it be? A little less frayed around the edges would be nice. 21. Would you be my good angel or bad angel? I'd be an ambiguous angel. 22. What color eyes do you have? Seal brown. 23. Ever been married? Just the once. 24. Bottle or Draft? As I stated last week, I am against the draft. Also, I am very anti-bottling bonsai kittens. 25. If you won £10,000 today, what would you do with it? Exchange it to Australian dollars and quickly deposit in the bank. 26. What kind of bubble gum do you prefer to chew? I am not a bubble gum kind of dude. 27. What's your favorite bar to hang at? Monkey bar...

Red is the colour of my true love's platelets, in the morning, when we rise. That's the time, that's the time we love the best.

Coming back with crays. On the Derwent, as seen from Long Beach, Sandy Bay. September 2011. The Lucky 33 Meme [part 1]! 1. Can you cook? Absolutely! 2. What was your dream growing up? Lots of beautiful women. 3. What talent do you wish you had? Turning a blind eye. 4. Favourite place? Home. 5. Favourite vegetable The wonderfully durable potato. 6. What was the last book you read. The Appointment by Herta Müller 7. What zodiac sign are you? Taurus. 8. Any Tattoos and/or Piercings? Not one. Ever. 9. Worst Habit? Groping my wife. 10. Do you personally know anybody on Blog? Erm... 11. What is your favorite sport? Sychronised jelly tickling. 12. Negative or Optimistic attitude? Realistic. 13. What would you do if you were stuck in an lift with someone of the opposite sex? We would wait. 14. Worst thing to ever happen to you? My children were born very loud. 15. Tell me one weird fact about you: I am nine percent blancmange. 16. Do you have any pets? Only a wife and two children.

Occasionally - usually on grey and wet days - Ezra announces that advanced industrial society has fundamentally prevented us from reaching a non-repressive society that is rooted in fundamentally different experiences of being, fundamentally different relations between humans and nature, and fundamentally different existential relations internally. While I concede that he has a point, I haven't the heart to tell him Marcuse beat him to it by 60 years...

Someone is playing silly buggers! Regent Street, Sandy Bay. September 2011. My Top Five Words Favourite Words [Today] The Don't Have A Direct English Translation! Mamihlapinatapei A Yagan word for the wordless, yet meaningful look shared by two people who both desire to initiate something but are both reluctant to start. Jennifer and I know this look all too well... Ilunga A Tshiluba word that describes a person who is ready to forgive and forget any first abuse, tolerate it the second time, but never forgive nor tolerate on the third offense. It is safe to say that I am not really an ilunga . Torschlusspanik A lovely German word that literally translates as “gate-closing panic,” but contextually, it implies the fear of diminishing opportunities as one ages. How very appropriate! Ya’aburnee One from Arabic now, a lovely little word that basically means “You bury me”. The desire for burial reflects the hope that one will die before one's partner because of how difficult it would...