This will hurt me...

I pay the glasses Hank, but you're gonna have to ditch that t-shirt if you want to be taken seriously as a beatnik...

Things happen here. Macquarie Street, Hobart. November 2011. Another day, another [two] birthday parties... Meeting in a Lift , Vladimir Holan We stepped into the lift. The two of us, alone We looked at each other and that was all. Two lives, a moment, fullness, bliss. At the fifth floor she got out and I went on up knowing I would never see her again, that it was a meeting once and for all, that if I followed her I would be like a dead man in her tracks and that if she came back to me it would only be from the other world.

Riding a horse into a deserted town centre for a high noon shoot-out is so passée. We use scooters now.

Some kind of flower. Royal Botanical Gardens, Hobart. October 2011. The efficiency of the Tasmanian library system delivered a little experiment this week, with two Doris Lessing novels arriving back to back for me to pick up. Interestingly, the one I read first was her first (from 1950), while the second was one of her last (from 2001). This afforded me the opportunity to compare and contrast the artist at the very beginning of her career against one in her older years. The Grass Is Singing was her first novel, and takes place in South Africa and Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) during the 1940s in a period of a very particular racial politics between the minority white population against the majority blacks in the then British Colony. The process of decolonisation just around the corner, but the tensions inherent in such a process is omnipresent in the narrative. Yet The Grass Is Singing is more than a (pre-) Post-Colonial novel. It is also the bleak analysis of failed marriage, the neuroti...

Ever wondered who those Anonymous chaps might be...?

Laneway. Just off Russell Street, Sandy Bay. November 2011. Theme Thursday today brings a lot of promise. TOMORROW, you see. There is always TOMORROW. TOMORROW offers all the opportunities in the world. Whatever happens today, TOMORROW awaits. TOMORROW it might not rain. TOMORROW I might stay dry. TOMORROW I will start losing weight. TOMORROW I will get myself fit. TOMORROW I educate myself, smarten up, tart up and address all of those niggly little things that have constrained me up to this point. TOMORROW I will quit drinking so much coffee. TOMORROW I stop eating all that junk. TOMORROW I will tidy up my desk and finish up that work that’s been hanging around for weeks. TOMORROW I will walk more upright, look people in the eye and tackle everything with 110 percent. TOMORROW I will be more attractive to the opposite sex, smell better, smile better, run faster, leap higher, swim further and sing in a more harmonious voice. TOMORROW I will be a more generous tipper, lover, brother, h...

The eyes have it!

Metal plus seaside equals corrosion. Little Howrah Beach, October 2011. I've warned Ezra about jumping up and down too vigorously on corroded man personholes, utilising the tried an true 'fear' approach (i.e. there are crocodiles locked up in there). As long time readers will intimately know, I have been a passionate and enthusiastic supporter of manhole protection for many years now.

Some days more than others that my baby is not much of a baby any more...

I shall try not too. Elizabeth Street Pier, Sullivan's Cove. November 2011. It's Tuesday right? That means another Q and A stolen from Sunday Stealing. This week, The Madness Meme, Part 2 [the madness continues]. 23. Do you ever walk around the house naked? All the time. It’s my house! 24. If you were an animal what would you be? Why? Erm... I’m pretty sure that I am an animal. Humans can get mighty uppity sometimes about their position in the food chain. If the question was intended to be “If you were a different kind of animal what would you be? Why?”, I guess that I’d say Great White Shark. Why? I dunno. Cruising around. Easting stuff. Sounds cool. 25. Hair colour you like on someone you’re dating? These things are always going on about ‘dating’. I don’t even know what that means! Is it a euphemism for ‘rooting’? Anyway, I like brown hair on girls. 26. If suffering an injury, would you rather be left blind or deaf? I really rather not suffer the injury, but if you have a h...

Did you know that the human foot and ankle contains more than 26 bones, 33 joints and more than a hundred muscles, tendons, and ligaments? I didn't.

Occupy Geilston Bay? Geilston Bay path to nowhere. September 2011. The Internet is a wonderful place filled with the rich and varied treasures of the world holds (pay attention folks). The following are some things that I've had a look at in the last few week. I call this: a Compendium of Click-throughs for Monday Morning ... Some answers to a question that has troubled me for some time: Has the use-by date gone past its prime? This history of HIV sounds like the best epidemiological detective story of all time. On why we shouldn't cry for Argentina ... Troll or idiot? I honestly cannot decide. Another existential question that needs answering: Why does the Australian Labor Party still exist? Dang! Another dream has been snatched away from me ! How is this for a depressing fact: ten times as many girls are trafficked into brothels annually as African slaves were transported in the peak years of the slave trade. The NY Times has more on the face of modern slavery . Ever wonder...

I haven't even bothered to worry about how far away we are from accessing remote controlled children. I'm still waiting for the instillation of volume controls!

Twenty-Seven. King Street, Sandy Bay. November 2011. Today's top five? The Top Five Interesting Things That I Could Say About The Number 27! 27 contain numbers 2 and 7 if you take line of numbers starting with 2 ending with 7 you will get 27 in result. (2+3+4+5+6+7=27). There are 27 Amendments to the United States Constitution. The Twenty-seventh Amendment prohibits any law that increases or decreases the salary of members of the Congress from taking effect until the start of the next set of terms of office. It was ratified in 1992, a mere 203 years after its initial submission for ratification. Your government at work! According to the ancient and deadly martial art of Feng Shui ; a handy hint for raising money is to discretely keep in the house 27 identical coins. Even better if those coins are 1794 Flowing Hair Dollars ... There are 27 countries are in the European Union. For now, Liechtenstein must bide its time... The 27 Club represents a ragtag collection of musicians ...