This will hurt me...

Greek Orthodox Church prepares for a new day. Antill Street, South Hobart. July 2011. Cripes, I forgot again! I am going to recycle something that I wrote in a previous comments page just to stir up the possums... It concerns the outrage that many have with regards to the issue of gay couples having children. Now, my opinion on the matter is that too many people attach far too much significance on the concept of ‘ natural ’, which seems to me itself an incredibly subjective and contestable idea rather than some immutable scientific ‘ fact ’. Yet let us not get too sidetracked on that point. My belief is essentially one that assumes the only acceptable or correct equation in this area is "man + woman = parents" is wrong. Moreover, it is such a simplistic notion that barely seems worth arguing about. Surely anybody with any experience in the world much have collected by now innumerable examples of how the "man + woman = nothing like a parent (should be)". For me - i...

On the way to the bus stop one foggy morning. Geilston Bay, June 2010. Walking to walk in the fog is a pleasure. Well, it's more of a pleasure than walking to work in the poring rain...

Morning is breaking over Flagstaff Gully. Geilston Bay. May 2010. This was not taken this morning. This morning you would be lucky to see the hand in front of your face; fog as thick as pea soup! All the better to be having day two off from work, this time recovering from the dreaded gastro.

The last of the cruise ships in Hobart, April, 2010. Here is part two of the meme... 11. What's the best bargain you've ever found at a garage sale or junk shop? I'm not sure that I ever have. I've enough junk of my own, let alone picking up others'... 12. Where were you on September 11, 2001? I was in bed with my future wife. We spent a large part of that year in bed, come to think of it. I'm not sure I was all that aware of events until the next day. 13. What's your favourite tree? I am quite partial to the good old Araucaria heterophylla . 14. What's the most interesting biography you've read? If This is a Man and also The Truce by Primo Levi is an excellent two part auto biographical tale. 15. What do you order when you eat Chinese food? It's been a while. I like a nice special fried rice. If I can switch to Korean I love the Kimchi Fried Rice. 16. What's the best costume you've ever worn? Costume? I seem to draw attention every tim...

The CSIRO crane under some morning cloud. April, 2010. Galveston. Scarborough. Wichita. Jackson. Lodi. Impanema. But there are no good songs about Hobart.

Sunrise to the east of Geilston Bay, April 2010. Why does Autumn have the best colours? Why do geoducks look the way that they do? Do conjoined twins pay for one ticket or two tickets when they go to see a film? Why are people so unkind?

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.

Another day, another shot of Sullivan's Cove down here in Hobart. This morning the bus arrived on time, and despite the presence of one youngster who wanted to share the latest pop s hit (think robot voice unimpressively droning over equally unimpressive synth drum beat) with all on the bus, the trip passed by as pleasantly as one might expect. This contrasts very much with three o'clock this morning, when I (an I suspect that everyone else) was awoken by the incessant squealing of tyres and revving of engines. Not being a " car man " myself, I shudder at the thought of the incredibly minuscule penises that must lay at the root of such behaviour...

I'm starting to get to know these kayakers rather well. They're out most weekday mornings before work, no doubt having a paddle and the stopping off for a quick shandy before heading in to the organic fruit stall for a hard day's slog...

I took this shot just outside the farmhouse we stayed at up in Burnie earlier this month. I do like a nice sunrise through. Here in Hobart, it's morning. It's Australia Day. It's time to go down to Bellerive docks to get some sausages and laugh at people draped in what is a profoundly ugly flag.

Here is a startled birthday boy opening up a present last Friday morning. Trains were what he wanted, and trains were what he got!

I'm not sure what these birds are doing lurking up on some luxury flats above Salamanca Square. Whatever it is, it can't be good. I've seen that film by Hitchcock. No, birds gathering, it has to spell doom . As I was looking at this photo, one thing that struck me was the yellow tone. I don't do a lot of yellow, and I don't know why...

Another morning, another one of 10 Murray, another one of the moon in the sky. Are you sensing a pattern? I am as busy as a Marxist beaver today, the masses against the classes and all that jazz. That said, I am making headway, so HURRAH COMRADE!

Waiting at the bus stop yesterday morning, I spotted and photographed some interesting colours in the sky to the east. The show in the sky was useful actually, as the bus didn't show. Bastards. Which gives me an idea for Tuesday Q and A : What withering bon mot should I include in my latest letter of complaint to the bus company?

MORE rain means MORE reflections. MORE reflections means MORE photographs of things in puddles. Here are a few buildings and a 4WD down on Hobart's waterfront the other morning.

Here's a Hobartian winter sunrise (when it isn't raining), for your perusal. I think that the two columns there are masts from a couple of super maxi yachts parked down in Constitution Dock. I have just heard that poor old Michael Jackson has died. As someone of the firm opinion that Whacko Jacko's work enables him to stand in the column marked Musical Genius (at least until it all started to go pear shaped . I am wondering, what do people think of the guy? Pop genius ? Kiddie Fiddler ? Tortured child trapped in a man’s body ? Punch line to a thousand jokes ?

The sun, the yardarm, clouds, a ruddy great crane: what could be finer on a cold winter's morning? A sleep in? A cuddle? Sex? A long, hot bath? BAH! It's off to work for me to be kicked in the head repeatedly again. It's been a good week, yes...

Unfortunately this has been indicative of the kind of morning that I have been setting off into of late. Here is the up the highway towards my bus stop on Monday morning. The fog is okay, because it generally means that I won't get rained on... I thought that in the spirit of inclusiveness, I'd give you a list of Things I Don't Like : Vampires People who like vampires. Fairies. Adults who dress like fairies. Those hats that people buy at Salamanca Market with leopard print trim and fuzz at the top. People who wear those hats that people buy at Salamanca Market with leopard print trim and fuzz at the top. Overly sensitive television personalities. People who say "It shouldn't be a problem, I don't think" when they really mean "I think that it shouldn't be a problem". Men who carry umbrellas. People who are really friendly to you when you're taking photographs, then walk away in disgust when they find out that you're not foreign at all,...

Sometimes the morning brings with it such sunshine of which dreams are made. This sunshine presents a five minute window whereby the reflection off the McMansions on the hill renders them quite interesting (whereupon the sun shifts, and they revert to hideously ugly monstrosities that are a blight on the landscape). Fun fact of the day! I like the song Fat Bottomed Girls in an equal but opposite correlation to the song Bicycle Race . Think of it as Queen with magnets .

Despite the morning fog, you can't keep the bright orange paint of the Aurora Australias under wraps for too long! It is a wonderful sight in the mist, and a pity that it is wasted on a journey into work. Go on, have a poem. again The dissolution of an agreement, and disassociated from his very being, Desmond was disgusted. Disallowed an explanation and discouraged from discussion, this distorted his disadvantage. The discomfort upon discovering the distasteful details of dishonesty, Desmond discontinued to care.