The procrastination post

I have really struggled to get my blog mojo back since I started my new job, but tonight I've found the perfect reason to write - a towering pile of essays waiting to be marked. I don't think I can devise a theme for this post apart from 'stuff I've been doing.' Eloquent, huh?

We've had a few trips to Mount Lawley recently, to visit Planet Video which is a great shop but should probably be called 'Planet Books, DVD's and CD's But Actually No Videos'. We also dropped into the We Heart Vintage market at the Flying Scotsmen. Although I did buy a new (old) handbag it wasn't a great success. Before we paid the $2 entry fee we would have done well to remember that I don't really like shopping, much as I'd like some new clothes, and there was nothing there for the Fella (who does like shopping). Ah well, lesson learned. We rescued the day with a visit to Ottobrino Meats to pick up some wurst and sauerkraut and then lunch at our favourite Malaysian in Northbridge.

There are a bunch of Perth's best restaurants and bars in Mount Lawley and the Fella began to have some pangs of regret about choosing to live in Freo. My brother suggested we'd like Mt Lawley so we had a look around on our reconnaisance weekend, but it didn't really grab us. I don't regret the decision. Sometimes it can feel a little far away from things here, but mostly it serves our needs well. The Fella will feel much better in a month or so when he's able to walk to work at his new office right in the middle of Fremantle.


The Fella has been in Melbourne for the last two weeks for work and I flew over for a lovely weekend with him last week, visiting dear friends and having a serious case of city envy. I don't feel I can talk about it too much here in case I start gushing and make poor little Perth feel bad. But I will give you a tip in case you ever need to fly from Melbourne to Perth. I flew with SkyWest (I know, I've never heard of them either, and neither had most of the Melbourne airport staff). They tricked me! The flight went via Kalgoorlie! It wasn't mentioned at all during the booking process. So now I can say, technically that I've been to Kalgoorlie...sitting on a plane on the tarmac...

It's been interesting being here without the Fella. It's forced me to feel more like a local in a way, which is nice. I've had a few highlights over the last two weeks, including a delicious meal at Bistro Felix with lovely ladies from work and a last minute invitation to watch the taping of RocKwiz at the Perth Concert Hall. I haven't watched the show very often because it's on Saturday nights and I'm always out raging. Well, out anyway. But it was a blast. Loads of fun. Especially for a Monday night.

Well I need to go and finish cleaning up the evidence of my sloppy bachelorette lifestyle before the Fella arrives home. I just don't know how to break it to the Pusscat that the other half of the bed isn't hers anymore.

Snapshots

I've been in my new job for three weeks now. I'm settling in well, getting to know my students and colleagues and how everything works.

But teaching is such a wordy pursuit. Sometimes I get home and feel like I've been talking all day. And teaching students from a non-English speaking background you spend all day thinking about words too - what they mean, which ones to use, what type they are, how to use them and so on. Well, I feel as though I've run out of words for the moments, so for this edition of Adventures in Federalism I bring you a photo essay. Well that might be overstating it - it's a bunch of photos with no particular theme really except that they are scenes from an ordinary day.

This is a sample of the view that makes me happy on my train trip home from work. As you approach Fremantle the beautiful beaches give way to this amazing landscape of cranes, containers, ships and other large metal things I can't identify. I love it.

This is a view that makes me happy while I'm at work. There are rose gardens everywhere in Fremantle, and in Claremont where I'm working. I stop several times a day for a sneaky sniff as I walk around the neighbourhood. This garden has some exquisitely fraganced roses that I get to smell as I walk between classes.  

Sticking with the horticultural theme, here is one of many ENORMOUS rosemary bushes around Freo (see how I've included the ute in the photo for size comparison?) They are in front gardens as well as in public parks and next to footpaths. You need never buy rosemary again. Last week I discreetly picked a sprig from a garden on my way back from the grocery shopping just to finish off a dish...

 Oh look, here's another one. This one is no good for cooking though. I can only pick sprigs when they are hanging over fences or are in public places - I don't have the nerve for real thievin'.

Now for a few of my favourite things on Wray Avenue, beginning with Frank's Gourmet Meats. See all those signs? He needs those because he sells SO many different kinds of meat. Look I'm actually quite conservative about the animals and which of their body parts I eat but if I wanted to I could pop up to Frank's and buy buffalo, emu, crocodile, quail, rabbit, ox, kangaroo, 22 different types of sausage as well as the usual edible animals. The best part is that there really is a Frank and if his crowd of competent apprentices can't help you he will personally answer your questions and lovingly package your purchases for you.

Right next door to Frank's is Galati and Sons. Outside are piles of cheap fruit and veg, inside are Italian groceries, including a great range of cheese, fresh pasta and cured meats. Mmmmm. And if you look closely you can see a bit of Freo-postcode-inspired graffiti in the blue 6160 sprayed on the footpath.

They seem to have a bit of a thing for mosaic around Freo. There are some examples of very dubious, extravagant quality, but I've chosen to share with you one of many quirky little pieces from the footpath on Wray Avenue. They're so small you might miss them as you tread through the leaf litter.

So that's it really until I have something to say again....