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366 unusual things: days 254 – 258

10th Sep – Early in the afternoon, went to a beach where there were 4 people on the sand and 3 in the water.  Late in the afternoon, went to a Point recommended for its sunset, where 4 people were watching it and 3 were gutting fish.

Zenith Beach, Port Stephens, NSW.  The figure on the sand is me.
Sunset, Soldiers Point, Port Stephens, NSW.  The figure on the rocks is a stranger.

11 Sep – In a park, beside a sign declaring it an alcohol-free zone, a group of people were drinking tallies under an old fig tree.

12 Sep – Currently reading or listening to 4 novels:  The Brothers Karamazov;  The Pickwick Papers;  Spiridion;  Le Bouclier rouge.  Sometimes I confuse the plots.

13 Sep – Had coffee in a converted church called ‘The Flying Nun’.  The woman behind the counter looked like a man and the man looked like a woman.

14 Sep – On a small truck with ‘Outback Queensland’ plates:  Bugger this. I’m goin piggin.

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Ailsa's travel photo challenge: Texture

Ailsa has been checking out textures during her road travels:  http://wheresmybackpack.com/2012/09/14/travel-theme-texture/  She’s asking us to show some textures from our own travels.  I thought of the bubble texture on these beach rocks at Apollo Bay in Victoria:

Rocks, Apollo Bay, Victoria, Australia
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Weekly photo challenge: Everyday life

Everyday life for a soldier in Egypt in 1941 included some pretty unpostable activities:  rifle practice, wrecking tanks, sinking ships, covering  the bodies of dead comrades in the desert.  However, the activity in this photo looks fairly harmless.  My father captioned it ‘Shufty’, which comes from an Arabic word for ‘a look’, as in ‘take a shufty at this’.

Three curious things I’ve considered:  What are the tubular projections behind the men?  What is the Egyptian boy doing?  Why is one man naked while all others are clothed?

Shufty, Egypt, 1941
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366 unusual things: days 249 – 253

5th Sep – When the door of my student’s house opened to me, I saw her waiting, her long blond hair plaited down her back.  Her mother, also with long blond hair plaited down her back, was standing behind her brother, plaiting his long blond hair.

6th Sep – In 2 books in 2 days I’ve read that I should take my time when reading, don’t go too fast, have the time to read, ask why the author chose one word over another.

7th Sep – Went to a jazz concert with my son.  Never done that before.

8th Sep – At a professional development session about Aboriginal English I had a long conversation in French.

9th Sep – Today we drove to our holiday destination.  Arrived at the moment of a wide, horizontal orange sunset identical to the one in the ad for this place.

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Weekly photo challenge: Near and far

I found this photo in my father’s album from his time in Egypt in 1941/42 with the Australian Army.  It’s simply captioned ‘Roxy Theatre’, though I’m not sure if it’s in Cairo or elsewhere.  Searching online hasn’t turned up anything quite like it.

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366 unusual things: days 244-248

31st Aug – In a café I had a choice of sitting inside with people, heating, loud music, louder voices, coffee grinding and crockery washing, or of sitting  alone in a cold, outer room.  Which I did.  Like a hermit.  It was quiet.

1st Sep – Watched  a young neighbour skip rope vigorously, a cigarette firmly held between her lips.  Without removing it she dropped the rope and flipped into a  handstand.

2nd Sep – A violent movie is playing in this room;  I have my back to it.  Earlier, when I approached the armchair to watch it, my young adult son cautioned me, ‘Oh, Mum …’, and I took the hint and walked away.  Not many years ago it was me warning him!  Perhaps the censors should create a rating for parents like me:  FG – Filial guidance recommended.

3rd Sep – Outside the library while I was waiting for someone another woman was waiting for someone;  she was red black red black in a brief red top, black trousers, red socks and black thongs.  After a long while she gave in to the cool air and put on a cardigan, pulling it up over the right shoulder but not the left, which was tattooed.

4th Sep – Sticker on a small tradesman’s truck in front of me:  A work horse, not a show pony.

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366 unusual things: days 239 – 243

26th Aug – Found out that lactose-free cream can’t be whipped.

27th Aug – A 10 year-old told me about a scorpion.  It’s a dirt bike trick where the rider throws his body up off the seat, curling his legs up and back like a scorpion’s tail.

28th Aug – Taught English to an ambassador.  That’s a first!

29th Aug – Read that some of Marcel Proust’s lines are the longest in English literature.

Illustration of a sentence by Proust, from ‘How Proust can change your life’, Alain de Botton, pp. 32, 33

30th Aug – My students never write in cursive (running writing).  One 13 year-old said he had one-hour cursive writing lessons once a week when he was in Year 3 (8 y.o.), but he didn’t like it and prefers to print.  What is truly amazing to me is that teachers give them the choice.

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Ailsa's travel photo challenge: Curves

Ailsa has just shown us some curves she captured in her travels:  http://wheresmybackpack.com/2012/08/31/travel-theme-curves/

Now she’s challenging us to show off our own curves.  Here are mine:

La Basilique Notre Dame d’Héliopolis, or the Basilique Church, sits in the centre of Heliopolis, which at the beginning of the 20th century was a planned town built in the desert ten kilometres from the centre of Cairo by the Belgian Baron Empain.  It’s now a suburb of Cairo.  Alexandre Marcel, the church’s architect, was inspired by Hagia Sofia in Istanbul, designing a smaller version of the domed basilica to be the centre of the new town.  The baron is buried beneath the church.

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366 unusual things: days 234-238

21st Aug – A Year 12 student arrived for a lesson today dressed in gym clothes with her cleavage pushed up and out like a French Madame from the 1800s.

22nd Aug – Received a letter from Germany with a Queen Victoria half penny stamp stuck on the envelope.

23rd Aug – One of my students wants to become an accountant and travel to the Mediterranean and beyond, using her accounting skills.

24th Aug – Noticed that when I shop at a shopping mall and run into someone, they are always in a hurry to get away.  But if I run into someone at the fruit and vegetable markets, they are free to chat and are never rushing to be somewhere else.

25th Aug – Today I emailed a guy in Heliopolis, Cairo about some photos I have of his suburb;  he was stoked and asked me to send them.  This is the first time I’ve ever communicated with someone in Egypt.