Monday 19 - Forest square

Back in the square - felt a little low on energy today but soon back in the dirvers seat once a few people had come and said hello. Finally finally got the camp stove working (thanks to James) and got that kettle on, a well earned cup of tea after 4 days I can tell you.


This is the Christmas tree shot, originally I didn't want to park here in case it looked like rudolf was hiding in my garage, but I don't think you read it like that once you're up close.

Here's a few shots of kids that dropped in over the morning, there was a group Uno game going on at one stage where there were two kids in every window with a full double set of cards. It got a bit complicated when I realised that not that many people actually know the rules, but we managed to get through it.




I kept asking the kid in the t-shirt if Mickey was some special friend of his, or if he'd known Mickey from some other place. I think he got annoyed with me asking him actually because he didn't know who Mickey Mouse is.

And then there were the Scrabble gals, three of them on assignment for their year 11 media studies course, they were supposed to be interviewing me I think but I roped them into speed Scrabble instead. Some interesting creative spelling going on there too...





More cute face in window shots - just because, hell, they're cute.



And this guy gets the largest shark tooth hanging around his neck award. Apparently it's a Morroccan shark - I wonder if the shark knew he was Morroccan or whether people just presumed it. After all, he could have been a Spanish shark on vacation. Anyhow, this guy is Morroccan, I guess he has a passport to prove it.

SUN 18 November 2007

Oh la la today was pretty full on! There are a lot of people in that mall on a Sunday afternoon. It was perhaps fortunate that it was so hot in the direct sun because it meant people had to keep moving. I must have been looking hungry too because so many people offered me food. I thought perhaps I should go and eat a steak just so I don’t look so needing. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed it though. Especially this amazing chicken salad from these fine Perth Lasses who rocked up and popped it into my window when I was looking the other way.


Now, let me introduce you to Eva. Eva is from Germany (of course, hence the name) working in Perth at the moment. She made this paper boat for me and then we made a whole heap of them and plastered them all over the roof. Apart from the fact that she has the same green bag as me, I thought she was super cool cos she was someone who sits and watches and takes people as they are, aside from the fact that paper boats are the perfect thing to make on a sunny-sun-day.


This is a couple of shots to prove I wasn’t exaggerating to say there were 26 million people in the square today. I was chatting to a brother and sister comedy duo and they offered to take some photos from the outside for me, just to prove it. Y’see, I can usually only see a few feet outside the windows so miss whether there are people hanging back watching. Maybe I should have made more of an effort to entertain? Ah well, apart from the fact that my billie is still out of action due to a severe lack of gas canisters in central Perth, I think most people I spoke to were pretty happy to just sit and chat.




And here are a bunch of other shots of people. One of these guys – I won’t mention who (black t-shirt ahem) reckoned my walls were melting and it was freaking him out that I was actually alive inside. When pressed he thought the fact that he was tripping might have something to do with it and guessed he should probably get back upright as soon as possible.










And here’s my new interior decoration job. Flowers – Frescas (ooops I don’t think that’s how you spell it) Ju-Og was randomly given flowers when she was using the money machine (you see those tv ads really do reflect reality) and so she donated them to me.

Saturday in the square

Down at the square – nearly dying of heat until a bit of a cool breeze dropped in on us, it was a day of meeting interesting people. This is the first guy I met and he had a really interesting story. He’s 17 and I think he may be getting away from home due to a few ahem… domestic complications. The phone he’s got there has the rudest songs I’ve ever heard in my life – he also showed me how to play the same tune on two phones at the same time – not bad…

Local wildlife.

And this is the famous triplets of Perthville – if they formed a band I reckon they’d be giving Hi-5 a run for their money. Do all Perth girls have perfect teeth?

And then there’s the scrabble guys – actually this is speed scrabble, good for people like me who are terrible spellers (what did people use to do before Spelcheck?) The end of that stoy though is that I WON! Yep I’m one of those guys who teaches people new games so that they can beat them at it!

Meanwhile this is Lily, we played a full game of Scrabble before Goliath the 2 year-old decided to do a little bit of random reorganisation. Luckily I was doing really badly so didn’t mind the early exit. Lily came to Perth from Queensland, she likes hanging out with her crew in town, she’s also a great conversationalist – we hung out for a while.

And this guy is apparently a regular local. He was telling me he served in Vietnam, and that people ask him for his address he tells them ‘Australia – wherever I put me hat, that’s m’ home’. He told me his name was Ned Kelly and he looked me right in the eye when he told me that so I didn’t like to hold him up to further scrutiny on the matter, I noticed Lily calling him Uncle Jack but I prefer Ned. I always wanted to know what he looked like. Anyhow, Ned is officially Perth’s friendliest bloke and he told me all about house prices in Australia and reckons that John Howard is chiefly to blame for things being over-inflated. Quote of the day ‘when you kids are old enough to vote, make sure y’vote Howard out’

And speaking of games, these guys went out and got me a pack of Uno. I got my first lesson and VOILA – I won! I must have been on a winning streak. I reckon meeting Ned Kelly on my second day in Perth was probably a good luck omen. Anyway, thanks you guys for bringing me cards, looks like a good game.

Cute window pics of the day – we didn’t get to talk but we did hang out for a bit.

And this is just after I got out for the day – I’m not actually sleeping in the house at the moment. On the left is Ju-oh (sorry I don’t know how to spell her name). After teaching piano for 10 years she is now a Social work student and had some really interesting observations about Australian life. We had a great conversation.

Oh – and this is Crowded House. Someone came by with a spare ticket and took me to the show tonight, I saw them years and years ago and I reckon they’ve still got it…

If this photo was a manuscript it’d be a duet.