This will hurt me...

Henry starts up an impromptu freestyle jazz riff with the sticks as Ez gets ready to scat his way through a bebop interpretation of Dostoyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov . We are thinking of taking the act to the next Arkhangelsk urban fringe festival, but just need some start up capital for air fares and bribes...

Henry channels the spirit of Jennifer Lopez...

Now, who's a silly boy then?

For some reason this makes me think of The Beatles in A Hard Day's Night . I don't know why.

Elvis ain't got nothing on this kid...

Caution: Nick Drake fan on the loose. Salamanca Place, Salamanca. February 2012. Two books finished this week, both decent. First up is Austrian/German Daniel Kehlmann's Me and Kaminski . An exploration into the concept of artistic genius, this is a surprisingly bleak book. Ultimately, some not very likeable characters irritate each other in the pursuit of their own self-interest (but that interest largely rests on what another can do for them). An odd road trip eventuates that features an incredibly narcissistic 31-year-old journalist/ wannabe biographer and the decrepit (almost) forgotten painter. I liked you, you might too. Recommended. Second up is Italian Alessandro Baricco's Silk . A short and lyrical tale of desire that is structured around a wandering French silk breeder and his illicit ventures to Japan alone in search of disease-free silkworms, it explores the concepts of love and desire in a very subdued way. Stylistically reminiscent of an old-fashioned fable, I sus...

Indeed they will.

With all due respect to Machine Laundry Café – part coffee bar/part laundrette – the pancakes that I make are never left unfinished…

At some point Ezra will been viewed with increasing suspicion as he lurks around ladies’ public toilets…

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

The chips are slow, but the seagulls are patient. Salamanca Square, Hobart. December 2010. Sometimes it is best to wait and see before committing yourself. These seagulls understand this all too well. Not wanting to reveal their hand wing too early, they are content to hang back and await a change in circumstances. Have you ever seen a seagull half squashed on a road? They are the ones that rushed in before being in full receipt of the facts… These are Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae , more commonly known as the Silver Gull or the ubiquitous “seagull” here in Tasmania. These fellows should be eating worms, fish, insects and crustaceans, but I suspect this gang favours hot chips, meat pies, Hawaiian pizzas and the odd chocolate torte.

A message from the fountain in Salamanca Square to you. June, 2010. T minus 9,090 minutes and 18 seconds. Heavy fog on Hobart's eastern shore this morning, you couldn't even see the Tasman bridge until you were on it, and when you were on it, you couldn't see the Derwent River Estuary. Funny thing was though, no fog on the western shore. Grey old day mind you, but no fog. Looking out over the river though, no eastern shore! What witchcraft is this!?!

The fountain in Salamanca Square up close and personal. May 2010. Crikey Moses it is cold this morning. The very heavy frost that is lurking about has mean that my fingers are struggling to hang out the four loads of washing done thus far. Yes, it is a cruel world. Today's Sunday Top Five: Five Places In The World I'd Rather Be This Morning... Blackpool Vladivostok Montego Bay Rostock Pago Pago

Tasmanians like beer. Australians like beer. Some like it far too much. Today's Sunday Top Five isn't really a top five, rather a grab bag five: Five Things About Tasmanians and Alcohol You Might Not Know ! The percentage of Serious Casualties [24+ hours hospitalisation] Involving Alcohol as a Crash Factor in Tasmania for 2007? 24% ! Tasmania has the highest proportion of young people aged 18-24 years of all states and territories who drink alcohol at risky or high risk levels causing short term harm (19.8%) Of course, that means 80.2% who don't!. In an inversion of data around tobacco use, risky and high risk alcohol consumption causing long term harm is more prevalent among higher income groups. Of all Tasmanians with the highest household income, 17% are drinking at levels harmful to long term health, compared to 9.4% of Tasmanians with the lowest household income. 15.9% of Tasmanian women consumed alcohol while pregnant in 2006. Analysis by age shows an increase in th...

Look out behind you! It's Father Christmas and he's got a reindeer! Merry Christmas Eve everybody.

Quick tip for new players: NEVER turn your back on Henry during a game of chess. Your horsey will be outta there before you even know it! The key thing to remember with you Hank is, no matter how well you know the rules of the game, he always has a little lagniappe for you...

Tora! Tora! Tora! Beware Henry, your prawns are under attack! Ezra favours the aggressive style favoured by the Latvian greats of the early twentieth century, most notably Kārlis Bētiņš. High risk and high reward is the toddler's favourite.

A swim is all I want. A little swim. I don't care about the muck. I just want to swim. Here you can see a budding Esther Williams contemplating his next move down by the fountain in Salamanca Square.

Henry's prawns are intact, but his horsey's are vulnerable to a flanking manoeuvre. He better be careful though, because the increasingly mobile Ezra - he can run now - has his eyes set on the castles...

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...