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....