Fosbury Flopping

Strangely, my Olympic high jump career never took off, despite clearing an impressive 1.20m using the Fosbury Flop at school in the early 1980s.

Fearsome Teen Gang

From the archives, a rare glimpse of a notorious gang that roamed the woods of Solihull in the 1980s.

Improvising a Spoon

Ever have a yoghurt but no spoon? The solution is simple - mold the foil lid into your very own handmade spoon. Here's my attempt.

Fixing a Radio with the Inverse Square Law

My trusty semidigital radio is gradually falling into disrepair, but it can still perform its fundamental task of turning radio waves into sound. But with the volume dial being permanently stuck on maximum, I'm forced to improvise to quieten it. Luckily studying physics at university has taught me the inverse square law, whereby doubling the distance from the source of a sound will quarter the intensity. So when my radio is 1 metre away and is ten times louder than I want it, whipping out my calculator it tells me that the radio needs to be placed on a table 3.16227 metres away. How convenient is that !

Classic Lego Spaceship

This was our household's first Lego spaceship, from circa 1979.

Lake Como Again

I just discovered a video shot with my iPhone from the ferry across Lake Como last year. Here it is.

Perth Domestic Airport

Here's the remarkable sequence of aerial photos showing Perth Domestic Terminal's staggering growth. From the 1950s to the 1990s, not much happened, but wait till you see the most recent photo.

1953

1965

1974

1985

2006

2014

Cloudy Boulevard

Heading west from Floreat Forum at sunset today, I seemed to be approaching the Rapture. Thankfully I stayed earthbound.

Perth International Airport

There's new construction to be seen every time I visit the international airport. In recent decades the approach along Horrie Miller Drive has transformed from bushland to commercial property and car parks. And every square metre of bush that disappears saddens me further. So I recommend going back in time via Landgate's aerial photography website.

1953

1974

1985

2006

2014

Parking Crimes

This morning, parking spaces at Floreat Forum were at a premium, and many cars were hovering, waiting for spots to open up. So when I chanced upon a spot and was waiting in my car for a rain shower to pass, it was entertaining to observe who was parking in the newly signposted "Parents with prams" spots right by the entrance.

Here are my notes from 11am.

1. Young single guy with no pram

2. Middle-aged pramless woman.

3. Older woman, again pramless.

Personally I'd be ashamed to park somewhere reserved for someone more needy. And with a steely gaze, I tried to let these three miscreants know I was onto them, to guilt them, but they brazenly strolled off, unaffected. So my solutions are twofold:

1. Print up some fake parking infringement notices

2. Replace the "Parents with prams" signs with "Parents with prams, or selfish people" signs.

That'll teach 'em.

Garden Danger

Gardening tip #1 - don't wear a dress shirt when pruning bougainvillea. 

It was shocking to come inside and find a spreading puddle of blood on my arm. But rolling up my sleeve, it turned out to be a small puncture wound from a thorn that soon stopped bleeding. Having decided my chances of surviving the incident were high, my next thought was obviously to take a photo.

Productively Wasting Time

Do you ever kill time mindlessly playing an inane game? During an ad break do you struggle to occupy yourself without resorting to searching the pantry for lost chocolate, or teasing your pets? My recommendation is that you spend those few minutes wisely, on something both entertaining and self-improving. Here are some suggestions.

1. Words with Friends - improve your word power far enough, and you'll be invited onto Dictionary Corner on Countdown, the UK word game show, to fill in for the legendary Gyles Brandreth.

2. Candy Crush - the process of lining up similarly coloured candies in rows may seem pointless, but it is actually perfect preparation for a job in the retail sector (stacking shelves at Big W with biros), or on a production line (e.g.in a lolly factory). When austerity hits and your well paid professional job disappears, you'll be thankful to have the sought-after skill of being able to sort items by shape and colour at high speed.

3. Wordsplay - another word game. Master this game and you'll soon befuddle your friends with your enormous vocabulary. To do well, you need to memorise obscure three letter words, such as as ait, ita, ain, ean, uta etc. So although your conversation will soon be undecipherable, you'll feel superior.

Morning Health Treat

Liquorice has medicinal value, so I felt happy consuming a packet of mini all-sorts this morning.

Rainbow Healing

After a few hours of tiring tennis, my unconventional treatment for a sore leg was rainbow light. The office water cooler was refracting the sunlight into a beautiful rainbow so I decided to test whether the magical healing powers of a rainbow would have any effect on me. After a solid two minutes standing in the light, my conclusion was a resounding perhaps. Further investigations will follow.

Solar Eclipse

This afternoon's solar eclipse happened in perfect conditions for viewing. The clouds were just thick enough to remove much of the sun's glare, but not too thick to obscure it. However my attempts at photographing it failed. This shot is through my polaroid sunglasses at the maximum of the eclipse, but the crescent sun can't be seen.

But I was able to see the event by making a pinhole camera from a shoebox. A tiny crescent sun was projected onto the back of the box, and it was spectacular but on a microscopic scale.

Domestic Time Dilation

Being at home for the last few days (thanks to the spate of public holidays, due to the unusual proximity of Easter and Anzac Day (caused by Easter's lateness (due to its determination as being on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox))), I've observed first hand the slowing and speeding up of time in a domestic setting. On a normal day, I'll jump out of bed at 7.30am, dress by 7.32am, water the front and back gardens by 7.39am, make breakfast and read the paper by 7.55am, and then leave the house for work at 7.58am. And it doesn't feel rushed. But faced with an entire day with a few sparsely spaced activities, things change. Tiny tasks take on enormous magnitude to fill up hours instead of minutes, and indecisiveness festers in the absence of a deadline.

Whereas on a working day you're forced to efficiently plough through your activities before rushing out of the front door, a slow day at home changes your perspective on time. You ponder what level of luxury cup of tea is appropriate, you can't decide whether to water the back garden, or perhaps you should check the weather and see if rain is forecast. But once the computer is on, it's important to check emails, and catch up on the latest tennis news. Oh yes, and while you're there, perhaps watch a few English tv shows on the BBC iPlayer. Soon a couple of hours go by and you still haven't watered that back garden or had breakfast. Checking the pantry and there is no bread left, so instead of making do with cereal or a yoghurt or some fruit, you definitely need a fresh ciabatta. So there goes another 45 minutes.

This must resemble retirement. Whole years go by without anything productive happening !

Tea Luxury Spectrum

It's apparent that the world is missing a meaningful method of assessing the level of luxury you're experiencing with your cup of tea. Let's start at the bottom and work our way up.

1. Cold water - hardly worth mentioning, but for the strict ascetics, a cup of cold water can be regarded as a minimal cup of tea. It has the hydrating effect but none of the taste. And there's no ceremony in its preparation.
2. Hot water - some dieters prefer this to a cup of tea, but the logic escapes me. My recommendation is to use this only if you're freezing and don't have warm clothes.
3. Black tea - now we're in business. Still regarded as slightly kooky and alternative, it is nonetheless tea, with that soothing aroma. 
4. White tea - this is so English. But it's still missing something...
5. White tea with sugar. Now we're in business. The standard cuppa. 
6. White tea with sugar and shortbread. The biscuit adds that touch of excess. One or two biscuits are acceptable. Any more and you're turning a drink into a meal.
7. High tea - the pinnacle. Restrict this to more than once a year, or you'll spoil the effect.

What level of luxury do you experience? I'm normally in the 3 to 5 range. 

Quest for the Dark Tower

Stephen King's masterful Dark Tower series is an epic quest, spanning eight novels, inspired by The Lord of the Rings. And I've experienced that quest firsthand. Because no single library has all eight books, my only option has been to join new libraries, to venture far afield in foul weather, and in scorching heat. I'm two years into my journey and have finally reached book six. I had been stranded on book three for six months, but eventually my lucky break came with the discovery of Tuart Hill and its well-stocked library. Only two more books to go...

Embarassing T-Shirt

Proudly buying a new t-shirt a fortnight ago, and wearing it around town aglow with its lemony yellowness and bluey stripes, it was shocking to see the very same t-shirt being worn in a movie. Normally such an endorsement of good taste would be welcome, but in this case, Steve Carell was portraying a nerdy no-hoper prior to a makeover in Crazy, Stupid, Love, wearing MY T-SHIRT ! Damnit. So back into the closet goes that top. The only consolation was that Ryan Gosling's character in that movie was the pinnacle of masculine desirability, and my pair of sunnies were bought to imitate his look in a recent film. So I'm not entirely hopeless.

Grand Budapest Luna

This weekend's screenings of The Grand Budapest Hotel at the Luna Leederville Cinema featured actors dressed as characters from the film. A pair of woman taking too long to choose a seat were accosted by an undercover officer with a pistol who advised them "Find a seat ladies". But best of all, moving images were projected onto the facade of the theatre.

Perth Mad Men

This impressionistic day in the life of Perth has office scenes reminiscent of Mad Men.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57Zs6BieUZM

Historic Perth

These old documentaries featuring Perth are worth a look.

1. Perth in 1930

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IStbjtDmK1s&list=PL45EE375716CAA187

2. Perth in 1954. Featuring Floreat's The Boulevard. Bonus footie feature: Claremont vs. West Perth

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=b2TaLGlj6ig&vq=large#t=27

3. UWA in 1961

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TcC83wEOcM#t=910

If they repeated that performance in the Sunken Garden, I'd happily pay a couple of shillings for a ticket.

Skyline Drive-In Theatre

Near Reabold Hill in Floreat is the old Skyline Drive-In.

Despite closing in the mid-1980's, it's still possible to see traces of its existence. Here's a current photo from nearmap.com. The Cambridge Council is at the bottom right.

And in its heyday, in 1965:

In 1985, just prior to its demise:

In the Shell Grotto

A grotto underneath a villa on Isola Bella, an island on Lake Maggiore.

Menaggio

Another of those tedious towns on Lake Como.