Return to Perth

 H aving seen many Iranian films over the years I was rather shocked to hear that The President's Cake is the first Iraqi film to be shown in the Perth Festival. In a Q&A with an Iraqi film maker who now lives in Perth, he seemed somewhat embarrased by aspects of the movie. He insisted that Iraqis weren't like the bad characters we were about to see; that it wasn't a "true" story; that life was too difficult in Iraq to make films just for entertainment. But it was more than entertainment and as is often the case with a good film, it's "truth" lies in its exploration of the human condition.  Set during Sadam Hussein's regime, in the southern marshlands of Iraq, its the story of a young girl who lives with her grandmother in a reed house above the water. The landscape is amazing and a character in itself. In a time of American sanctions and bombing, she has to find the ingredients to make a cake so her school can celebrate Hussien's birthda...

There were some solar panels on the roof of 106 Archibald St but in the flush of finance, saving some money by buying in Willagee rather than a fancier suburb, we decided to help the environment and invest in both more panels and a battery. Of course I have to confess that I know nothing about how to make the best choice of a new solar system but luckily Susan had a well informed friend and we have a self-described electricity Nazi as a neighbour. So between these two helpful blokes, we signed on the dotted line for: 10kw inverter 16kw battery 36 new solar panels Plus all the wiring, switchboard upgrades and even a bollard to protect the battery from bad drivers! The team that came to do the installation included Phil, the boss, an electrician for 40 years, plus a team of young apprentices including his godson. They were all nice folk, grateful for the cool drinks and biscuits we provided, and good at cleaning up after themselves. Usually, the company takes away old solar panels and sh...

I've mentioned the Walyalup Fremantle Arts Centre before and I had another chance to visit it last weekend. Susan and I had a delightful lunch catching up with cousin Andrew and his partner Debra in the grounds of the Arts Centre. It was the perfect day to be sitting out under the shade of some trees. I've often felt ghosts in places that have previously been mental asylums or prisons but not in this building. Maybe because no matter how difficult life was for the inmates, they could come outside and enjoy the sea breeze and the sunshine. After lunch we went in to see an exhibition of a Fremantle artist Theo Koning (1950-2022). The exhibition includes artworks spanning his entire oeuvre with examples of assemblage, sculpture, repurposed materials, paintings, drawings, collage and print editions, including artist books and examples of his poster art. Over many rooms, this tells a story of a man who must have lived every day for his art, always on the lookout for something to tur...

  I think it was our Dacia Tour driver in Bucharest who mentioned the 1987 BBC TV series Fortunes of War based on the novels of Olivia Manning. Its one of those rare series that captures a piece of history in an almost unknown  country at a time where the focus was on other parts of Europe - in this case, the story starts in Romania during the early years of World War Two. It's an 8-part series set not only in Romania but also Greece and Egypt and it's almost worth watching for the architecture and historic buildings alone. From what I could find online, it was one of the most expensive TV series of its time, costing the BBC 7 million pounds. The number of extras alone must have cost of fortune, let alone clearing historic sites, such as the Parthenon and the Pyramids, of tourists so scenes with one or two lead actors could be filmed. It's fascinating to watch a series that is nearly forty years old. It has a leisurely pace for all that it's set in a time of war. It sta...

Not surprisingly given my slightly obscure food tastes, one of my go-to choices in pubs and restaurants is often fish and chips. And given many years experience in many parts of Australia and overseas, I confess that I'm a picky fish and chipper. Good crunchy batter. Delicate fish. Tartare sauce with some oomph. Lots of salt. No vinegar, And hot, crisp but not hard chips. When we moved into Willagee I was pleased to spot a fish and chippery in our little shopping centre. Unfortunately, its turned out to be a disappointment. Apparently the owners have been there for 25 years or more and I don't think the outside or the inside of the shop have changed over that time. While the fish is acceptable, they do a strange crumbed covering rather than a good batter. Luckily, 7 minutes drive away in Attadale, there's Redfish Fish, Chips and Grill. It doesn't work for me for take away because by the time the chips get home after a 3 kilometre drive, they won't be perfectly hot b...

  Maggie O'Farrell's Hamnet was amongst my favourite books of 2016. In my Libib keeping-track-of-books app, I said: "This is an exquiste novel. I've read books based on the lives of Shakespeare and Marlowe but this is the best. Partly because Shakespeare is never named and so the focus is on his family. Partly because there's an impressive depth of research about the smells and sounds and living in 16th century England. Partly because the characters are so warmly crafted. And partly because this story of grief is so profoundly told. A beautiful, lyrical piece of writing." Not surprisingly, I decided to see the film. I'd seen the shorts during last year's British Film Festival and wasn't particularly impressed but then the nominations started pouring forth and I convinced Susan and some friends to go. However, just after we'd bought our tickets, some negative commentary started coming out. Was this, the critics asked, grief-porn? But we walked i...

Even though Susan and I grew up in Perth there are some things that we don't remember or didn't notice. And it's about water which is somewhat ironic as that's the reason we came back - the water of the Indian Ocean, pool water. We remembered the bore water and the orange marks on paths and building from our childhood but we hadn't remembered that Perth water is  notorious because it's hard and mineral-rich. And I certainly didn't realise what that meant for glass shower screens. The result is white mineral deposits causing cloudiness, streaks and in some cases even etching as soap residue clings to the glass and captures the minerals. I just couldn't work out why the cleaners (yes - we have succumbed and now have fortnighly cleaners) didn't seem to do a very good job of washing the glass screens in our en-suites until I realised just how hard it was to get off.  Leighton Beach We tried every hack in the book (aka youtube) from professional products ...

As an excuse for a catch up, Susan, Sebastian and I regularly do quizzes via video link. In the old days, face to face, we used to do The Age's general knowledge crossword but that's too hard via video so we've discovered the Weekly 50 quiz. We never get 100% because there are often sports or contemporary culture questions that are completely out of our league but it's always fun to find out what we don't know as well as what we do. I was particularly taken by a recent question about a quote from an unlikely source.  If only our politicians realised that it's not enough to ban social media for the under 16 year olds. We need to increase funding for the arts to counter the horrors of social media for all of us.

Ward Grove, PVS, Vic Amongst my favourite birds in Melbourne were the rainbow lorikeets that would fly in to drink the nectar from the red bottle brush tree we had in the backyard. I just love the richness of their colouring. But I'm not allowed to 'like' them in Perth. They are another invasive species from the eastern states - see my blog about Kookaburras - and have pushed out various local bird colonies and impacted fruit crops. They are now a declared pest. So I have to transfer my loyalty to another bird. Much as I enjoy the cheekiness of willy wagtails and the sociability of pink and grey galahs, my vote for the moment goes to the Forest Red-tailed Black Cockatoo or Karrak. I just love the flash of colour that you see when they settle into a tree. They are a vunerable species, not yet on the endangered list, but there's only 15,000 in the south west so it's always a joy to see a couple in the neighbourhood. Willagee, WA

A couple of mornings ago I woke up to a sound that wasn’t a crow and wasn’t a spotted dove. It was, I thought, a kookaburra. I whipped out my Merlin bird ID app and sure enough it was. I was delighted. I love the notion of that kookaburra sitting in the old gum tree, merry merry king of the bush is he. Laugh, Kookaburra, laugh Kookaburra, gay your life must be! Only to have all my illuisions shattered. I had no idea that kookaburras aren’t native to Western Australia. We used to hand feed them in the Porongorups when we went to stay during school holidays. A pair regularly flew in to talk to us when we stayed in the Margaret River district a couple of years ago. But they are imports. There were introduced to WA in the late 1890s to control snakes and have spread throughout the south west. I even found an ABC article from 2020 about first sightings in Esperance: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-20/kookaburra-cull-questions-after-bush-king-spotted-in-esperance/12578196 My joy in h...

Last weekend, Susan and I were lucky enough to be part of the celebrations for Thelma Strickland's 100th Birthday at Caversham House, surrounded by 130 family members and friends. Thelma is the mother of our dear friend Barry. The first time I met her was in 1979 when Susan and I spent a weekend in Darkan with the Strickland family to see a production of HMS Pinafore. Peter Goss, Zoe Goss, Susan, Thelma & Ray Strickland with Barry at the front We've stayed in touch over the years either through visits or letters. The entire Strickland clan have beautiful handwriting and it's always a joy to receive Thelma's Christmas letters full over insightful comments about the world. Face to face, Thelma tells fascinating stories about her time growing up in Queensland, falling in love with a handsome soldier, and moving to the Western Australian countryside. In 2016, Barry helped her write an autobiogrpahy called A Purposeful Life  which provides great insights into Australia o...

I have an ever growing lists of TV series I should watch but every so often I come across one that isn't on my list and become completely enamoured. In this particularly case, it's not a new series. Save Me premiered in 2018 with second part appearing in 2020. Part 1 is available on Britbox and Binge with Part 2 only on Binge. The story is about a working class English man of colour who has had no contact with his teenage daughter since she was 3 years old. She's disappeared and he becomes the first suspect. What makes this series so brilliant are a number of features: stunning performances, particularly by Lennie James (who also co-wrote it), Suranne Jones and Stephen Graham amongst others impressive array of characters, most of whom live on a council housing estate so it's about class as well as families taut story which goes to some uncomfortable places where the issue of paedophilia is explored in a way that I've never seen before. And if you don't believe m...

I have to confess that I've never been to a writer's festival. I love reading books but I'm not that interested in hearing authors talk about why they've written them let alone people talking about why they think writers may have written them. I broke my own rule a couple of years ago and went to listen to a writer talk - and I was bored witless. So I'm no position to comment on the loss of this year's Adelaide Festival from the audience perspective.  I do have opinions on the Festival Board that started the kerfuffle but while I'm acting Executive Director of the WA Chamber of Commerce, I'll restrain myself. However, in that role, I have made a comment about the censorship in the Chamber's newsletter: “Creative freedom matters, and artists must be able to speak, write and create without fear of political interference or institutional pressure. Boycotts are never undertaken lightly. When artists withdraw from a program, it signals that trust has brok...

  I was never a Neil Diamond fan although some of songs are so ubiquitous that one can't help but know them such as Sweet Caroline and Cracklin' Rosie. So a film about a Neil Diamond tribute band wasn't automatically on my must see list. However, I always been impressed by Hugh Jackman's work so when I saw the ad for his newest movie Song Sung Blue I decided to risk it. Mind you, having said that I admire Jackman's work I should confess that I haven't seen a single one of the Wolverine films. Song Sung Blue is about a Milwaukee couple as they rise to fame with a real-life band called Lightning and Thunder in the 1990s. He's an ex-marine, a person with a past alcohol addiction, a parent, a musician in various bands; she's a hairdresser, a parent, a Patsy Cline tribute singer. The original couple clearly had talent and charisma and Jackman and his co-star Kate Hudson do as well. Both performers sing with passion and by the end of it, I was almost a Neil D...

I'm assuming that my brief visit to Melbourne from 9 to 12 January will be one of many because there are aspects of the city that I can't live without. Mind you, it was the weekend of weather that I can live without. 44 degrees with blustery winds when the plane touched down on Friday 9 January. The air was ochre and dusty as we flew over the Victorian landscape that was alight in many places. By Saturday, the temperature was down to 26 and on Sunday it was 19 degrees with some rain. A classic example of Melbourne's every-changing climate. Amongst the things that I miss and the things that I managed to do this time: 1. Friends Although they are always at the end of a phone, a Whatsapp post, a text, it's always great to see people face to face. Staying with Glenda and David in Brunswick, meant that I could celebrate his birthday, catch up with Loretta, have great meals at their place, cocktails at Shabooh Shoobah, dinner with Pam and Kath, and generally enjoy the ambienc...

I'm running a few days late in celebrating the anniversary of Susan and I returning to Perth. In fact, it was a series of anniversaries: Susan came on 8 January 2025 Indigo, our cat, came on 9 January 2025 My car left on 10 January 2025 I arrived on 11 January 2025 And I missed most of those 2026 dates because I was in Melbourne (more about that in a later post). Just before I left I asked Susan if she was happy with the choice we'd made to return to Perth and her answer was simple and clear: "best decision ever".  We're still exploring the city. We're still learning how to be pool owners. We're still going to be spending time in other parts of Australia and the rest of the universe. But when we're not doing that, there's plenty to see and do and enjoy in Western Australia.

I don’t know whether this is common in any other West Australian industries but in the arts, a surprising number of people use indigenous language in their email communication. They will start a letter with “kaya” which means “hello” or “yes” in the Noongar language, spoken by the Aboriginal people of the southwest of the state. And at the end, the farewell might be “boordawan” or “boorda”. I know it’s used by well meaning people to show respect to indigenous people and to acknowledge that we stand on their unceded land but I confess it makes me feel uncomfortable. Yes, I could use it to show that I have a few words of language but I'd feel like a fraud. When in France, for example, I might attempt to say hallo and goodbye in French when dealing with people face to face but would I write in French? I might use Google Translate side by side with my English to show that I was trying. But using bonjour and au revoir as greetings when writing in English? Am I being too self-conscious...

As kids we weren’t taken to the inevitable Chinese restaurant that could be found in every suburb but to Italian and Yugoslav restaurants in Northbridge (then called North Perth) and Fremantle (then and now called Freo). One of the meals that Susan and I both remember having was chicken and spaghetti bolognese. One of those restaurants still exists – the Capri in Fremantle. We’ve been trying to visit for months but they only take a limited number of bookings and otherwise you have to either eat at 5pm to guarantee a table or hang around outside in the wind or the sun or the rain waiting for some replete punter to leave. Finally, we braved an early dinner. I suspect the menu hasn’t changed since we used to go their 50 odd years ago although I’m sure in the old days, you only got a quarter of a chicken, not the half they serve up these days. You also get free bread and soup with every main course. They still serve veal alla marsala and that was one of the courses I would serve up in th...

After Susan and I returned from Adelaide, we slowed down to almost nothing. A bit of unpacking. A bit of washing. A bit of watering. A bit of swimming - pool and beach. A bit of shopping. A bit of catching up with friends. A bit of travel planning. And a lot of ignoring my birthday.  Not a particularly memorable year so no need to get excited about it. There were enough kindly messages to remind me that I was getting older and Susan cooked a special meal (cevichi, an Ottolengni rack of lamb, a lucious chocolate cake) but there no parties or wild celebrations. Susan and Sebastian gave me a beautful necklace made by a local designer, Tineke Van Der Eecken . The featured stone is variscite which is known for its calming, reflective qualities. And that does capture the last few days. The most exciting thing that happened was an attempt by someone to steal something from my car. And the opportunitist thief would have been deeply disappointed. No coins. No phones. No sunglasses. And they...

Just when you thought Susan and I had stopped buying art, we started again. I think it’s all to do with the great state Archibald St was in when we bought it. We’d put aside money to do some renovations just in case we needed to (a new kitchen perhaps, retiling the bathroom maybe) but we haven’t had to do anything more than cosmetic work. So when we saw a work called I love these warm afternoons at exhibition of Albany artists, curated by a WA ballet colleague from years ago, at the Gallows Gallery in Mosman Park, we lashed out – again. It's a collograph with gouache, acrylic and pencil by a young artist called Laura Newbury and, in her words, it’s about “capturing the joy, chaos and whimsy of communal gatherings.” Laura is “particularly interested in the things that are left behind after a meal shared; not just empty bottles and food stains, but memories and relationships forged and fortified.” You can see the attraction both in the work itself and its meaning. The beach paintin...

Susan and I were at an exhibition called The Land Speaks in the Early Works gallery in South Fremantle, presented by our friends Anna and Arthur from Artija Fine Art when Susan beckoned me over. She’s never used that gesture before - you know: the kinked finger gesture that teachers used?. She had had just fallen in love with a painting and wanted to know if there was enough money in the kitty to buy it. And the answer was yes – so she did. It’s a huge piece – 2m x 1.8m – which glistens and glows in tones that look but aren’t  gold. Susan said it reminded her of the golden icons we saw in the orthodox churches of Eastern Europe even though it is absolutely and clearly a piece of indigenous story telling. Joyce Robin, the artist, is from the tiny Fregon community in APY lands in the north of South Australia. “Tjukurpa” is the central belief system for the Anangu, traditional people of Australia’s central desert. I remember hearing the word for the first time on a tour around Uluru-K...