This will hurt me...

Ten. Geilston Bay Road, Geilston Bay. August 2013. Theme Thursday ? WACKY? Get this: Tony Abbott is likely to be the Australian Prime Minister this time next week. There's wacky for you. My sides are splitting.

Power pole. Geilston Bay Road, Geilston Bay. August 2013. Wordless Wednesday.

Power. The view to Stowport, Emu Heights, Burnie. April 2013. Harvest , Jim Crace: Set during the the enclosures of 16th century England, and the destruction of one particular village (and an entire way of life). Some lovely writing and careful structure, lyrical in tone and in tune with the gentle harmonies of nature. B+ . Tasmania, The Tipping Point? Griffith Review 39 , Julianne Schultz and Natasha Cica (Eds.): You might not know that Tasmania ranks at or near the bottom among Australian states on virtually every indicator of socio-economic performance. This collection of essays drawn from thinkers, writers and doers from Tasmania (and its extensive diaspora), explores why, what it means and what we might do about it. Equal parts enlightening and infuriating. C . Logan's Run , William F. Nolan: A cracking yarn, albeit not particularly well written. C .

Blue sky. St George's Terrace, Battery Point. January 2012. This is a good poem to learn by heart and shout out to strangers in the street. The Fossil Fish , Christopher Middleton the fossil fish hides in time for now it is the season & all the hunters come with long clean rifles

Wires. Quayle Street, Sandy Bay. December 2012. Sunday Stealing: The 11/11 Questions meme What is your favourite possession? Probably my camera. Do you like to read? If so, which books do you love best? I love to read. I'll read most things, so am not sure I can pin down any particular type that I "love best". My list of favourites contain a lot of dark novels, however. Do you have any pets? No. Unless you count two rug rats. What was your favourite food as a child? Is it the same now? I probably liked sausages best. I still do, but I don't think that they are my 'favourite' any more. What is your favourite thing about blogging? Interacting with people from all over the world. If you could live anywhere, where would it be? Somewhere close to the beach. What is your favourite number? Seven! Which of these things would you find hardest to give up for a year? Chocolate, reading, coffee or smoking? Reading. Without a doubt. I've ne...

Winter. The view north on the East Derwent Highway, Geilston Bay. June 2012. It's cold. Very cold. 90 North , Randall Jarrell At home, in my flannel gown, like a bear to its floe, I clambered to bed; up the globe's impossible sides I sailed all night—till at last, with my black beard, My furs and my dogs, I stood at the northern pole. There in the childish night my companions lay frozen, The stiff fur knocked at my starveling throat, And I gave my great sigh: the flakes came huddling, Were they really my end? In the darkness I turned to my rest. —Here, the flag snaps in the glare and silence Of the unbroken ice. I stand here, The dogs bark, my beard is black, and I stare At the North Pole . . . And now what? Why, go back. Turn as I please, my step is to the south. The world—my world spins on this final point Of cold and wretchedness: all lines, all winds End in this whirlpool I at last discover. And it is meaningless. In the child's bed After t...

Circle and lines. East Derwent Highway, Lindisfarne. April 2012. Another Tuesday Q and A courtesy of Sunday Stealing. It's a bit of a shake-up this week, less 'Q and A' and more 'complete the sentence' really. Thus, I present to you The Semi Charmed Meme, Part One 1. My uncle once: got my father imprisoned for the weekend. 2. Never in my life: have I insincerely professed love. 3. When I was five: I am sure that I was naughtier than my boy Henry. 4. High School was: not something that enjoyed in the slightest. 5. I will never forget: that the important things in life cannot be bought and sold. 6. I once met: someone with an odious personality. It didn’t end well. 7. There’s this girl I know who: must have the patience of a saint. 8. Once, at a bar: I took a punt and then everything in my life changed. 9. By noon, I’m usually: ready for either a) my run; or b) a nap. 10. Last night: was like most other nights. 11. If only I had: been a little ...

Parallel Lines (Don't Do It). Duke Street, Sandy Bay. March 2012. I'm late! I'll have to be quick. Two books this week. The first Who Was David Weiser? by the Polish novelist Pawel Huelle. This is a fantastic book. We don't ever quite answer the question posed in the title, but the journey is magnificent. A tender, lovely work. Highly recommended! Second up is a spot of literary theory, The Two Lolitas by Michael Maar. A (vaguely) interesting bit of literary detective work. I’ll be frank, I found it a somewhat dull. Your time would be better spent reading Nabokov himself, or even the ‘lost’ work of Heinz von Lichberg (the author of the ‘other’, less famous Lolita). Only for the completists.

What's up with that? Regent Street, Sandy Bay. October 2011. Busy busy busy!

One way, or another... The junction of Princes and King Street, Sandy Bay, September 2011. Another stolen set of questions ! 1) Who is the last person you high-fived? Henry. 2) If you were drafted into a war, would you survive. I would, as long as I didn’t sneeze. It is a dangerous business hiding under beds! 3) Do you sleep with the TV on? No. We rarely have the TV on after 7 pm these days. 4) Have you ever drunk milk straight out of the carton? Many years ago I did. 5) Have you ever won a spelling bee? Not to my knowledge. 6) Have you ever been stung by a bee? I stood on a bee once. Does that count? 7) How fast can you type? Reasonably fast. With speed comes errors though… 8) Are you afraid of the dark? It depends where I am. Generally I am not. 9) Eye colour? Brown. A beautiful brown like that found on Jersey cows. 10) Have you ever made out at a drive-in? No. In my defence, the last time I was six (Rocky III). 11) When was the last time you chose a bath over a shower? When the chil...

A bird on a wire. Sandy Bay, July 2011. Another day. More rain. Not good. Very bad. Very sad. Very tired. Oh well. Another day. Still a bird on a wire. Sandy Bay, July 2011.

You heard! St Johns Park, New Town. June 2011. Week two into the new job, and I'm slowly picking up reading time. One really top book this week, Tom Keneally's Gossip from the Forest , a novel which reconstructs the minutia of the negotiations surrounding the declaration of an Armistice at the end of World War I. Now don’t let that concept fool you, as this is an engaging and impressive work. Kenneally paints vivid portraits of the key characters, and infuses a humanity that is often absent in this kind of work. The novel is a fantastic study of the profound challenge of ending a conflict that featured such brutality. As might be expected, the real interest can be found in the vanquished, rather than the victors. This is magnified as the key Allied negotiators - vain French Marshall Foch and cold British Admiral Weymes - relish their roles as conquerors (even though the the reality was somewhat more complex than that) and that the Germans were something approaching evil incarna...

Evening falls. Then gets up again. East Derwent Highway, Geilston Bay. April 2011. Sunday Top Five and today's top five is brought to you by the city of Batmania Dutergalla Melbourne ... Five Things On The Agenda For Melbourne Over Easter ! By the time this list appears, I expect that we shall be part way through this list already… Melbourne Zoo Melbourne Aquarium Melbourne Museum Royal Botanic Gardens Scienceworks We also have an extensive list of all relevant eateries, shops, retailers and hot dog stands to keeps us busy. As you can see, we like to combine our fun with our learning . I usually like to finish these trips with a questions to answers ratio of 20:1, which strikes me as a healthy sense of our own knowledge.

Dusk closes in on Geilston Bay. East Derwent Highway, looking north. April 2011. I know that it's clichéd right now to give 'em a kick, but the majority of public servants really do seem to have no clue about where their level of workplace entitlements and conditions sit in relation to the rest of the world... Please note that I say this - for the moment - as a public servant myself. Evening Love Song , Rainer Maria Rilke Ornamental clouds compose an evening love song; a road leaves evasively. The new moon begins a new chapter of our nights, of those frail nights we stretch out and which mingle with these black horizontals.

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...

Climb at your own risk. New Town Road, New Town, December 2010. If you are a fan of lines in photographs, you could do worse than stand under one of these snapping away for a few minutes. In fact, after staring at this photograph for ninety seconds, I think that I have spotted a Desargues configuration. Have a close look… If A.a, B.b, C.c are concurrent , then (A.B) ∩ (a.b), (A.C) ∩ (a.c), (B.C) ∩ (b.c) are collinear ! Ain’t geometry grand?

The make power poles from concrete too. East Derwent Highway, Geilston Bay, October 2010. My beautiful babies, and my beautiful and sexy wife, are all now at the airport awaiting a flight to that filthy city of sin: Sydney. It will be a whirlwind visit, but nonetheless I shall be without their company for the best part of THREE DAYS and TWO NIGHTS! As would be expected, I am at a loss. Stricken, heartbroken and utterly forlorn, all that I have for company is this here power pole.

Looking up towards the light. East Derwent Highway, Geilston Bay. October 2010. You may not have noticed, but I have been experimenting with the blog template just a wee bit. I'm not quite satisfied with it as it stands, so may make a few amendemnts over the coming days. I've gone with a seventies vibe, for reasons only known to Ezra.

Geilston Bay power poles. June 2010. A short while ago someone asked in the comments to see more of Geilston Bay, here's a start! Here's the view looking south towards the next suburb of Lindisfarne. Geilston Bay itself is a small suburb of Hobart. Technically, it is located in the City of Clarence located on the Eastern Shore of the Derwent River Estuary. It is a suburb abundant with nature, with many houses built right next to the bushland (hence the impressive amount of dead native animals to be found squished on the highway). In terms of 'attractions', well, there is the bay itself, with a Boat Club located a couple of hundred metres from our house. There's the Shag Bay Aboriginal Site , but we're really just talking about piles of discarded mussel shells. I'll be honest and confess an anthropological bias: once you've seen Notre Dame Cathedra l, a midden that dates a few hundred years more recent seems a bit humdrum. There is also a local high s...

There is just something about power lines and street lights that I like. Perhaps it is the fact that they are an almost omnipresent feature of modern life. To be honest, when you're wandering around looking for things to snap, the poles every four metres often get a look in. For the record, this pole is in Geilston Bay. Here's today's Sunday Top Five : 1) A vole; 2) One small saucepan; 3) Milan Kundera's The Joke ; 4) A clock radio; 5) Soap. Guess the topic!