This will hurt me...

Pine cones as hand grenades?

Sandstone bricks. St George's Terrace, Battery Point. October 2012. It's Henry's birthday party today (although his birthday isn't actually until Tuesday), but Sylvia Plath insisted that I pass one this poem... A Birthday Present , Sylvia Plath What is this, behind this veil, is it ugly, is it beautiful? It is shimmering, has it breasts, has it edges? I am sure it is unique, I am sure it is what I want. When I am quiet at my cooking I feel it looking, I feel it thinking 'Is this the one I am too appear for, Is this the elect one, the one with black eye-pits and a scar? Measuring the flour, cutting off the surplus, Adhering to rules, to rules, to rules. Is this the one for the annunciation? My god, what a laugh!' But it shimmers, it does not stop, and I think it wants me. I would not mind if it were bones, or a pearl button. I do not want much of a present, anyway, this year. After all I am alive only by accident. I would have killed m...

Patterns on a wall. Davey Street, Hobart. May 2012. Wordless Wednesday!

ANOTHER brick in the wall? Retaining wall, Royal Botanical Gardens, Hobart. April 2012. Theme Thursday. CONNECTIONS. associations links acquaintances agents allies associates contacts. go-betweens intermediaries mentors messengers networks. correlation correspondence intercourse nexus partnership relationships. Everything is CONNECTed. Nothing works.

Ezra lures a young girl through a doorway. Royal Botanical Gardens, Hobart. March 2012. The Internet is a wonderful place filled with the rich and varied treasures of the world holds (as well as innumerable straw men.) The following are some things that I've had a look at in the last week. I call this: a Compendium of Click-throughs for Monday Morning... Follow some of the most famous trips in history Scott's Antarctic diet: Stewed penguin and champagne ... Why politicians should rethink their appeals to people's fear Ahhh, the good old days: when we gave opium to newborns and sold heroin over the counter ... Making sense of Visegrad ... Guy comes out of closet on Facebook to friends who are entirely too geeky to care ... The Ottomans were a rather hardcore bunch ... America. " From Nuremberg on, no country has invested more in the development of international jurisdiction for atrocity crimes. And no country has worked harder to make sure that the law it seeks for oth...

All I want for Christmas is a... new door? King Street, Sandy Bay. December 2011. As Theme Thursday rolls around again, we are sucked into the exploitative cycle of GIFT-giving, GIFT-receiving, GIFT-rejecting and GIFT-resenting otherwise known as Christmas. It is certainly beyond my comprehension quite why we so will-fully allow this bloated Satan Claws character to waltz so freely into our houses and dump rubbish about the place with a careless disregard for our wheelie bins. I put this Claws fellow on notice: any GIFT that appears in our house on Sunday morning that meets any of the following criteria will be removed to a discrete offshore facility for immediate destruction. The exclusions list is brief and bars any GIFT that: Sings any kind of song. Requires more than a single battery to perform a function. Demands some form of repetitive hammering. Involves food that contain some form of immunoglobulin E or other anaphylatoxins, which thus provoke a release of histamine a...

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...

Just one way? Princes Street, Sandy Bay. October 2011. The Internet is a wonderful place filled with the rich and varied treasures of the world holds (and ladies with zebras). 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... The history of turning tyrants from figures of fear into figures of fun ... How extreme wealth and absolute poverty have returned to disfigure the West ... The trick to creating healthy boys is not that tricky ... Bit of trouble? Feeling a bit down? The strange and curious history of lobotomy ... Did you know that the Easter Island “heads” have bodies ? Shocking news: social protections like income security and access to essential social services are essential for third world development ... A surprisingly poignant video of video game deaths over the years. On a personal note, it was great to see to see the grisly decapitation from Barbarian II make the cut... On why...

All in all it's just another crack in the wall. Princes Street, Sandy Bay. August 2011. 1. When you looked at yourself in the mirror today, what was the first thing you thought? "Christ..." 2. How much cash do you have on you? 54 dollars and 80 cents. 3. What’s a word that rhymes with DOOR? Rapport. 4. Favorite planet? Venus. 5. Who is the 4th person on your missed call list on your cell phone? No idea. 6. What is your favourite ring tone on your phone? "Ring ring." 7. What shirt are you wearing? A cream short-sleeve one with blue(-ish) pinstripes. 8. Do you label yourself? Not consciously. 9. Name the brand of the shoes you’re currently wearing? Dr. Martens boots. 10. Bright or Dark Room? This morning: dark. Usually: bright. 11. What do you think about the person who took this survey before you? I love them very, very much. Whomever they are. 12. What does your watch look like? This . 13. What we...

Indeed they will.

Caption contest! [Keep it clean fellas...]

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...

Someone has put some wood in this wall! The Theatre Royal, Hobart. December 2010. Two books, both written within the same period, with similar themes, but both very different from each other. The first is Defeat Into Victory by William Slim. Bill Slim, or – to give him his proper title – Field Marshal William Joseph Slim, 1st Viscount Slim, KG, GCB, GCMG, GCVO, GBE, DSO, MC, KStJ, has been described by some as perhaps the greatest commander of the twentieth century. Defeat into Victory is his account of the retaking of Burma by Allied forces during the Second World War first published in 1956. Slim was the commander of the British 14th Army that, in concert with American and Chinese forces, defeated the Imperial Japanese Army during the Burma Campaign. But don’t let that put you off! Slim's most notable characteristic is his lack of ego. Unlike many (most?) other accounts of this type, Slim consistently makes reference to his mistakes, errors in planning or judgement, and his def...

I suspect that there was once a door here. Theatre Royal, Hobart. December 2010. As promised, here is Today's Sunday Top Five Seven, Nine Wonderful Uses For The Marvellous Oil Of The Genus Eucalyptus ! Eucalyptus oil also has anti-inflammatory and analgesic qualities as a topically applied liniment ingredient! Eucalyptus oil is also used in personal hygiene products for antimicrobial properties in dental care and soaps! Eucalyptus oil can be applied to wounds to prevent infection! Eucalyptus oil can also be as an insect repellent and biopesticide! Eucalyptus oil has been used as an effective way of killing dust mites! Eucalyptus oil is used in flavouring lollies, sweeties, candies and soft drink! Eucalyptus oil is also used as a fragrance component to impart a fresh and clean aroma in soaps, detergents, lotions and perfumes! Eucalyptus oil prevents the separation problem with ethanol and petrol fuel blends! Eucalyptus oil has a respectable octane rating and can be used as a fuel i...

#35 of a series that is never used. An abandoned car park. Campbell Street, Hobart, October 2010. Who knew that number 35 was so important? Did you know that…? 35 is the sum of the first five triangular numbers, making it a tetrahedral number. 35 is a centered cube number, a pentagonal number and a pentatope number. 35 is a highly cototient number, since there are more solutions to the equation x - φ(x) = 35 than there are for any other integers below it except 1. There are 35 free hexominoes, the polyominoes made from six squares. Since the greatest prime factor of 352 + 1 = 1226 is 613, which is obviously more than 35 twice, 35 is a Størmer number. All I know is Rule 35 of the Internet!

Wall in Battery Point, September 2009 . Look at that wall will you? Just look at that shoddy workmanship. Bloody convicts. No wonder they got sent off to the other end of the world... Tasmanians are a funny mob when it comes to convicts. You are probably aware that one of the primary reasons for the British settlement of Australia was the establishment of a penal colony far, far away to send their overabundance of criminals. Over the whole period of transportation of convicts, over 165,000 rapists, murderers, handkerchief thieves were dispatched to Australia. For us Tasmanians, we have an extra-special relationship with these vile scum pesky miscreants. You see, the soft, feeble and indolent New South Welch-people decided that the vilest, smelliest and foulest criminals would be better suited to somewhere else, away from them. Thus, a new penal colony was established in Van Diemen's Land! All those buggerers perverts cannibals kiddie fiddlers Irish prisoners who were unable to...

" Go this way! ", it seems to be saying. They're sprucing up The Shed down on the waterfront. Quite how day-glo eighties nostalgia bits 'n pieces tacked on the what it ultimately an aircraft hanger sans aircraft is an improvement is beyond me. It's an embarrassment! A disaster! A travesty! A tragedy! I need to knock of the television news for a while...

A convict peep show? I don't know! It's a hole in a sandstone building. I know that people have been dying for another drabble . Never let it be said that I'd fail to deliver (much). People Brian was a fellow who assumed that he knew why he did the things he did. A rational man, Brian had long considered his actions the result of a deliberate and clinical assessment of the facts . Ultimately, he believed that he did things because he chose to do so. Then he met Cheryl. Cheryl worked in accounts. She liked a drink, loved a laugh, and found Brian quite tolerable. After he deduced this, Brian began to suspect the soundness of his judgement. His aforementioned clarity of thought had deserted him and this caused him no end of great worry.

The last of my trio of walls is now posted. Here you can see the winning combination of red brick and sandstone! I like the subtle interplay of colour here. So there are the three. Now I want you guys to tell me which is your favourite. I know which one I am presently leaning towards, but wouldn't mind an idea of what people think.

So here is number two in my planned trifecta of textures. Yes, it's some worn old red bricks, and no, not the same red bricks that I featured last October . These red bricks are on the side of a shop, and at some point must have had an advertisment or mural painted on them. I'm not sure if the degraded brickwork is because of time, or a hurried job to clean off the paint. There are some interesting gouges in the bricks themselves, but I've no idea who (or what) left them there. After reading the past couple of day's newspapers, I have developed a theory: Sharks!