Mike Riversdale

Kasploosh!

Kracorin is a comic book supervillain created by imagination who first and last appeared in a 2017 photograph. Made up of ocean water and energy he seeks to exist as he hauls his 'body' onto the land. (is what I see, how 'bout you?)

 "DOGS PROHIBITED", and yet ... ?

If I've told this story before I apologise and beg you allow me to repeat myself. Green is my favourite colour. Everyone has a favourite colour when pressed by insistent 8 year olds. I was lying on my Chiswick hammock in the early months of the sparkling new millennium. Life was most excellent indeed, I was employed by an international software company that I enjoyed massively. I was paid a LOT. I had friends that enjoyed the same things that I did. I had proved that flying to Wellington for a weekend visit was eminently do-able. I did however need a visa or permanent residency to carry on this lifestyle but no fear, the company had told me they wanted me to stay and they would sponsor me to gain such documentation. Lying there in my hammock I was deciding what to do. Sort of. I was lying in my hammock feeling the warm wind blow across my Saturday face, absorbing the late summer boat fun around me, and listening to music. It was Slice Of Heaven by Dave Dobbin. A more apt song for

It's right there, in the opening verse of  Advance Australia Fair so it must be true.

I dunno, you choose which edit of Fairy Bower Sea Pool is the one to use

I love a good spicy tomato juice, there are never two alike, it's always a voyage of taste discovery, and sometimes the café people just let lose and go for it. And they are perfect 'morning after the night before' resuscitator.

Inspector Adam Gjelstad looked up the stairs and sniffed. The air hung thick with the smell of booze, bar fights, and scariest of all, Betty.

Sydney is chock full of Victoria-era shopping malls full of Dickensian feels.

A choppy Manly Ferry between Sydney Harbour heads, the only way to travel when you need a little waking up.

Manly Ferry into the city for a night out.

This scene has always reminded me of an old, poor, rundown part of a Mediterranean village. Or maybe the backside of Venice. I suspect it's a multi-million dollar Manly view.

My mates get a lot of photos taken of them. Here is Karen in the Harbord Beach Hotel (pub!) and I like the definite inside / outside feel of the photo. Karens, "Another photo?!?" look tickles me as well.

 Mesmerising. The creator, Linden Gledhill, has quite a few more extreme closeup videos, do check them out:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjm7N6sG7YdG2bGdjSTEeIQ

Inside his lair Ernst Stavro Blofeld pondered the least efficient way to rid himself of James Bond.

Canberra airport is quite something, it's massive chock full of huge art and sculptures and seemingly made of glass and straight lines.

I've just re-watched  Death At A Funeral (2007 )  and it's still a fantastic farce. The end speech contains some thought provoking words as well:  ... Life isn't simple, it's complicated. We're all just thrown in here together, in a world full of chaos and confusion, a world full of questions and no answers, death always lingering around the corner, and we do our best. We can only do our best, and my dad did his best. He always tried to tell me that you have to go for what you want in life because you never know how long you're going to be here. And whether you succeed or you fail, the most important thing is to have tried. And apparently no one will guide you in the right direction, in the end you have to learn for yourself. You have to grow up yourself.

I've looked long and hard to find some background to this sculpture on Hutton Street in Canberra but nada - anyone able to fill in the blanks?

Like all government cities around the world Canberra is no different in that it has large impressive buildings bustling with consultancy suits.  This is one, attempting to sky merge and become invisible, is Ernst & Young, "EY" as they are now known for reasons beyond me.

Ladies and gentlmen, boys and girls, we'll be landing soon ...

Anyone able to tell me what Sydney road this is? I think it's Rozelle area.

The Gladesville Bridge (bottom right) is, I was told, the boundary between Sydney Harbour and the Parramatta River.  I lived in a Chiswick riverside apartment (centre left), pronounced "Chiis-weeek" and spoken at the speed of a snail.

It's the basics that hit home when money is tight - rent, food, and getting around. It's these times that friends support you through and we support them through.

Here's to discovering new lands in a new day - go well everyone ♥️

Overhead trolley bus cables of a 2017 evening.

The Access Granted 2017 #Techweek inspired road trip was a week of many many special memories. By far the biggest honour was hanging out with Raj and getting to see how truly incredible he is.

Unusual cloud, ground up.

Being a father is tough. In a changing and challenging world the ways to be are no longer set in stone, accepted, and understood by all. Fathers now have the freedom to express their feelings, to acknowledge their failings, to know they need to sometimes stand up and other times to sit and listen. I believe my own father, Derek, Dad, took the first faltering family steps along this changing path. I don't think he liked it, in fact I know at times he absolutely loathed it and hankered for the clear road he had seen his own father travelling upon. A road full of power, ego, violence, and rage. A road however lined with love and hidden moments of care and tenderness. A straight and narrow road with clear sign posts, an understood destination, and clearly marked milestones on the way. It was at the age of 17 that I first realised the "Dad" was more than an honorific. It was a mindset, a way of being, and most importantly it was something you could see in the behaviour of men.

A lampshade photo I still loose my inner child to, it's so cool.

The Len Lye Centre in New Plymouth is just wonderful to stare at with its reflecting stainless steel curved walls.  Especially glorious when you see the lit up Clock Tower .

During our Access Granted 2017 road trip Raj and I were hosted by a number of coworking spaces and the welcoming team at Manifold in New Plymouth were perfect examples of how valuable such places can be.

New Plymouth are very proud of Len Lye, and so they should be. The Wind Wand is wicked.

I'll leave this here for those moments during the day you require some peace from the madness surrounding us.

Kiwiana Town , otherwise known as Otorohunga , was a drive through for us (sorry peeps) as we had to get from Hamilton to New Plymouth and do another day of podcast recording.