And the runners up are ...

Here's the rest of the pics from Strand Ephemera.
I'll let you make up your own mind.


Fountain with curtain of coloured beads.

Hanna Barbera meets Freddy Krueger.

Licorice allsorts (sand flavoured).

Elton John's love child?

Townsville's new defence system.

The Great Art Heist

Someone stole one of the exhibits from
Strand Ephemera early on Sunday morning.

After a public outcry, it was left anonymously
at the back door of the art gallery.

The artist immediately set about restoring
it to its former glory.

And I was there to film the closing chapter.

Imagine trying to sell that at Cash Converters.

"What is it?",
"Ummm, it's called 'Man On Beach',
"But it's not on the beach?",
"Oh, yeah. Umm, it's just called 'Man' then".

The art of lawn care

This image always plays with my head. It is either the aftermath of a serious disagreement with a ride-on mower, or some kind of statement about earth and sea or something. I don't know who the sculptor is. It was one of the exhibits at Strand Ephemera a few years back, an annual event where they plant works of art by the sea shore in all kinds of surprising places and people stroll along the Strand discovering them. It is my favourite event and on again in a few weeks. I don't know much about art, but I know what I like and I like this ... whatever the hell it is.

Stuck in the middle with you

Living statues have always fascinated me. They’ve been around for a very long time as a form of entertainment and were a regular feature at medieval fairs.

But I couldn’t imagine doing it myself. To cover your whole body in makeup and then stand absolutely motionless for hours at a time is not my idea of fun. All that makeup can't be good for you either. I read somewhere about a person dying because the silver paint they had coated themselves in had cut off the oxygen absorbed through the skin.

I also couldn't imagine standing docilely by while little kids kicked and prodded you, knowing full well you couldn't do anything about it.

And if you're busking, what do you do if someone short changes you or takes off with your day's takings?

Even worse, what if you develop an itch you can’t scratch or have a sudden need to pee, or a passing blowfly decides to crawl up your nose?

No, I don’t envy living statues, but I do like them because they let me take their photo. They don’t seem to mind at all … or if they do, they’ve never said anything