The Rule of Doors

If it's not your door, then leave it as you found it. 

It feels terrible when I stuff this up. When I poke my head in a room for a quick word with someone and then the word becomes a sentence and then a discussion, I lose track of whether the door was open or closed before I entered. So I have to guess on my way out how to leave it and I'm gonna get it wrong much of the time.

The solution: a memory door. Someone please create a door that automatically returns to its default state after someone uses it, be that closed, open, or ajar.

Official Meal-Times

I've recently learnt that some family members have contravened one of the iron-clad rules of meal-times, and started lunch before noon. I would like to  re-iterate that mealtimes can not start earlier than these times:

Breakfast: 7am and later
Lunch: noon and later
Tea: 6pm and later

It may be an ordeal but it's essential that you fight the temptation to eat before you reach these times. It is one of the fundamental precepts of civilisation. If you succumb then we have anarchy: mealtimes will gradually move earlier and earlier until lunchtime is at 10am and teatime is 2pm. Then we're faced with a bleak ten hour stretch in the afternoon and evening without an official meal. We don't want that.

I will mention that dogs are also bound by these rules.

Rokeby Road Dude

Seen on a first floor window in Rokeby Road a week ago, another guy with projected thoughts.

More from King's Park

Glowy Bulbs in King's Park

This Perth International Arts Festival installation in King's Park comprises thousands of light bulbs. And animatronic children who walk beside them. They are eerily lifelike.

Young Smoochy Couple

Another Woman Thinking Aloud

Also from Subiaco last week. I have a suspicion that these tableaux were part of the Perth International Arts Festival.

Thinking Aloud

Nearby on Rokeby Road was an equally captivating scene. This women's thoughts were appearing projected onto a screen above her head. I presume some mind-reading technology was being used on her.

Motorbike Accident

Walking through Subiaco on Saturday night, I came across this horrific scene. The motorbike rider had come off and was mortally wounded. He was surrounded by a silent audience of passersby who did nothing to help. I had no choice but to take a photo as evidence of this callous behaviour. Then I went off for an ice cream.

Blue Tree

Another shot from UWA last Friday.

Hello Jeera

I met this young roo called Jeera today. He was very interested in my iPhone initially, but after realising it wasn't chewable, he moved onto tastier items in the room.

Greek Coffee and Turkish Delight

At George's Meze in Subiaco last night, a feast of meze (small entrees) ended with Greek desserts and coffee.

Dangerous Photography

Watering the garden with one hand while taken photos with the other is perilous. Not for me but for my iPhone, which could easily come to a watery end should my coordination fail. Anyway, it survived long enough this time to capture this refreshing scene on a humid Saturday afternoon.

Friendly Tree-Face

One or two of the trees came to life on the weekend. They spoke to passersby.

Sunken Garden

This is the Sunken Garden at night. This is the non-Sunken part of it.

Cheating at Weather Forecasting

Why not follow the Bureau of Meteorology's recent trend of forecasting Perth temperatures badly (2 or 3 degrees out) and then revising the forecast retrospectively once the day's maximum is reached. For example, we hit today's forecast of 39 degrees by 11.30am, and so they've upped the forecast to 41 degrees. What a great idea ! All forecasts should be revised in light of reality. Then we'll live in a world of 100% accurate forecasting, the only problem being that the final forecast is not available until after the event.

Fireworks

The fireworks at UWA on Friday were very successful in terms of turning thousands of people an eerie red colour.

The Great Court

Colourful Uni

Another shot from last night. Why can't they permanently paint the building with this vibrant colour scheme? It's so subtle and tasteful.

Illuminated University

Having just returned from UWA's centenary celebrations, here's a sample photo from the show projected onto Winthrop Hall.

Chocolate Bar Variations

Every few months a new chocolate bar hits the supermarket shelves, hoping to attract our attention. Most recently it was the Cadbury Starbar. Before that it was the Crispello. But how many more variations of the same ingredients do we need? Each new one has its eye-catching packaging and distinctive advertising but they're all just combinations of the same core ingredients:

• Chocolate
• Caramel
• Biscuit 
• Peanut
• Nougat

If I was designing a new bar, I'd come up with a radically new concept. I'd use beetroot and elderflower liqueur and meringue and a dozen other untried ingredients. How successful would that be I wonder?

Hot Chocolate at the Bookshop

The cutlery was so small, it was clearly taken from a dollhouse.

Crown Casino is Blurry

Or maybe I had too many cocktails.

In truth, I was entirely free of drinks as I was there to appreciate Dame Edna's farewell tour in sobriety.

She didn't disappoint, emerging in the middle of a Bollywood number on top of an enormous elephant.

A Shed at Victoria Quay

When I say A Shed, I mean it's the shed named 'A'.

I went past yesterday en route to the Maritime Museum. Naturally this photo has been HDR'ed up for extra pizzazz.

Fiery Grevillea

Yet Another Cat Portrait

I apologise in advance for boring you. But show this photo to any cats you know and they'll purr in appreciation at this handsome fellow.

Raised Reefs

Note to self. Persistent onshore winds lower the local sea level. So before swimming across the reef at Granny's Pool, make sure that the winds aren't strong enough to have pushed all but a few inches of water from on top of the jagged rocks.

This is relevant because for the last few weeks, easterly winds from the hot inland have been responsible for about a 50cm drop in sea level at my favourite beach. And thus my normal swimming route across the reef has been treachorous, and I have cuts on my hands and feet. I've had to increase my flotation by sucking in a lungful of air and holding it as I passed through the shallowest of passages. I had thought that tides were responsible but at this location, tides are insignificant.

Short of installing an electronic gauge to report on sea conditions remotely, I should use seabreeze.com.