The kids and I went to The Blue Train Cafe today (my last visit to one of my long-time favourite Melbourne haunts) for lunch and I took my geometry kit. This is one of my favourite ways to relax. There is something about working out basic platonic solids and golden ratio designs, armed with only a compass, ruler and pencil, which completely absorbs my attention and concentration for an hour and gives me a bunch of joy. I never paid attention to geometry as a kid. It’s only been the last five years or so that I have been so fascinated by it. The book that I use as a guide, “Geometry Of The Golden Section“, is something I picked up in a little bookshop besides the abbey in Vézelay in France in 2004. If you ever get a chance to visit Vézelay, do it. It’s one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever visited. The abbey does a polyphonic mass which is beautiful enough to impress even a militant atheist such as myself. And the abbey itself, which is from the 9th century, is simple amazing. Anyway, as I was saying – I loves me some time with a compass.