Il Porcellino

Il Porcellino ("the piglet") is the famous bronze boar standing in the Florence marketplace where Bondi visited in March 2007.

A copy of this boar was donated to the City of Sydney in 1968 (see plaque below) and now stands on Macquarie Street outside Sydney Hospital.

Moscow strays

[via EnglishRussia.com]

Russian scientists say that Moscow stray dogs became much smarter. The four legged oldest human’s friends demonstrate real smartness such as riding the Moscow metro every morning to get from their suburban places of living to the fat regions of Moscow centre. [more…]

NB: I would take some of the pictures and interpretations in the linked article with a mine of salt.

June is bustin' out

June 14 2008: 8.8kg    ->    June 14 2009: 43.8kg

All but 3.5kg of that growth had happened by Xmas last year.

Entertaining Mr Munson

Munson pays quite close attention to dogs he sees or hears on TV, so I sometimes leave on a DVD of Antarctica, Eight Below or Snow Dogs  to babysit him when I'm out in the evening. He's not just a passive watcher of screen entertainments: he comes and goes from the room according to his interest in what's showing, sometimes watching from the sofa or the floor, other times nose to the screen with an ear cocked to the speaker.

Playing a few YouTube videos of  talking malamutes and huskies is also a sure way to get his interest.

Bondi at the British Museum

Schmap Maps have picked a photo of Bondi outside the British Museum as one of the images in the new edition of its London Guide.

VIVID Sydney: Light Walk

The new VIVID Sydney festival of music and light incorporates a Light Walk around The Rocks, Circular Quay and the Opera House. This series of light-centred installations also allows you to view the Lighting the Sails artwork as part of Brian Eno's Luminous event - the sails of course referring to the Opera House's arched forms.

 

  

Many faces of the Museum of Contemporary Art, created through a series of static and dynamic images projected onto its seaward side.

 

 

(Thanks to Peter for this picture of Munson).

Bondi Beach Promenade

It is a great regret of mine that Bondi never strolled along the promenade at Bondi Beach due to the stringent anti-dog policies of Waverley Council. A multitude of "No Dogs" signed were posted at each end of the beach and council inspectors were quick to advance on infringers with their microchip scanners and fine-books. I wrote to the Council some time ago to point out that the policy of allowing dogs on the coast path was at odds with the policy of forbidding them on this particular stretch. I never got a reply, and appeals to the NSW state bodies were dismissed with the usual circular argument about it being forbidden because it's against the law.

Today I see that the policy has been amended to allow leashed dogs on this stretch of concrete. The world has not been brought to an end by all the people out strolling this fine day with their canine friends. Now if some of the similar pointless policies in the Sydney CBD can be overturned it will a happier day for all.

 

Munson met a four month old Siberian Husky pup by the name of Maya (pronounced May-a). She's all white with two piercing blue eyes. Quite a crowd developed as they checked each other out.  It was quite difficult to get good photos as people would simply walk in front of my camera to take their own pictures.

Cooks River

 

It's only two weeks' shy of the winter solstice but still warm enough for a lightly clad midday walk. Today, a ten kilometre loop through Marrickville and Dulwich Hill, mostly along the banks of the Cooks River.