Shopping and homework

We had a good trip into Perth today.  Jim and I started by getting soaked walking to the bus stop, but when sheltering under a willow tree at the bus stop, I was looking at the rain running off the willow leaves, and started thinking about my Pattern and Meaning homework.  I could see how the willow fronds could be used in various tessellated designs. 

We spent a small fortune in an IT shop.  We were having problems using Word on the laptop, because we did not have the Product Key, I think because we were still using a "free sample" and had only just exhausted the number of free log-ons we could get.  So we have had to buy the most recent version, 2011, to upgrade from the 2007 version.  But at least it will mean I can do my essays at home, and also my presentation on powerpoint. 

Perth is a combination of the old and the new.

Jim found the YHA hostel in Perth and got the application form as membership gives considerable discounts on train travel.  I suspect he is researching his next route, as he spent some time in Dymocks bookshop consulting various maps and being quite sniffy about how few maps went out as far as Esperence.  Why would he be looking at Esperence and Kalgoorlie unless he had an ulterior motive!  He ended up buying a book map that covered the southern half of Western Australia.  Let's see what the next tour comprises!

While we were out, Jim and I had a cup of tea each, and a muffin, and a honey/almond slice.  This cost $15 (about £10).  And it was only a cup, not even a pot each!  And these prices seem normal here!  You don't often see anything much cheaper.  The only thing I have learned, is that a carton of milk is about $1.20 compared to $3.90 for a take-away tea at college.  And while we were having tea, I was looking at the insert in the paper, advertising the mining industry in WA, and thinking about how to use the pages that gave pictures of mining, and wondering what tessellated willow in gold would look when drawn over it.  The link being that trees are cut down for the mining of ore, so the gold willow would represent the trees that are lost, for the gold that is gained.

Then we returned home and I had a very happy afternoon doing my Visual Images homework. Jim went out on his bike to stay out of the way.  I had the chance to get my new paint set in operation and spent time pattern-makingwith 25 random items.  I hope this time the tutor thinks what I have done fits the specification, unlike last time.  So I was sensible enough to do the homework that has been worrying me, before I did the homework on tessellations that I had clearly planned in my mind.  I did the tesselations while watching Harry Potter on the television.  All in all, we had a good day.