POSTCARD FROM PERTH

“The fireworks begin today. Each diploma is a lighted match. Each one of you is a fuse.” - Edward Koch

Greetings from Perth, where I am presently for work. It is a lovely warm and sunny autumn day here with the temperature reaching an equable 27˚C. The difference between the hustle and bustle of Melbourne is quite marked. The pace is slower and more relaxed here and the people are rather more casual and take things easily. Nevertheless, quite a few tourists are around, and also many young people from overseas on working holidays.

I had a very pleasant lunch at the Dôme café-restaurant on St George’s Terrace. Dôme Coffees Australia was founded in Perth in the early 1990s with a promise “to deliver the World’s Finest Coffees to its discerning guests”. From the first café in Cottesloe, to the latest in Bahrain there are now more than 70 cafés in Australia, South East Asia and the Middle East delivering on this promise with more than 10,000 cups a day.

The ambience was casual and relaxed but the menu was very ordinary. One had the immediate impression that one was in a chain restaurant from the type of menu, the ordering and paying arrangements and the ordinary service. In fact the service was poor. I had a Caesar salad which was fresh and well constructed with a freshly cooked poached egg, tender green leaves of Cos lettuce and an added extra of smoked salmon.

The best test of an unknown restaurant is a simple, standard dish (like the Caesar salad), which though deceptively straightforward and seemingly uncomplicated can be botched so easily! Although the meal was surprisingly good (given the poor service), the restaurant could not be recommended without reservations. So much depends on good service when one is dining out!

This evening I officiated at the graduation ceremony of our College’s Perth Campus in the newly renovated Perth Town Hall. The evening went extremely well and there were many happy faces in the auditorium. Not only the graduates, of course, but also the all-important family and friends who supported the students through their academic career. I always enjoy graduation ceremonies as they are the culmination of many years of sacrifices and hard work by the students and families, and they are the ceremony where the fruits of that hard work are harvested and celebrated.

Tomorrow morning I’m off to Adelaide where another graduation ceremony awaits me on Sunday!