Since returning from Sydney to live in my home town of Perth in 2010, I've become increasingly fascinated by a couple of things. Firstly, there's the rate of change in this city. It's amazing. It just keeps getting bigger and busier. The speed of transformation may have plateaued, but it's still pretty frantic. And there seems to be no end in sight. Such a contrast to when I was growing up, and even compared to when I lived here from 1998 until 2002 ... 

The other aspect of Perth that I really notice now, and hardly used to in the past, is its architectural history. It's a pretty young city by global standards, sure. When it comes to architectural gems it's got nothing on those ancient European capitals. And while it's not much younger than, say, New York, it's comparatively small compared to that city. So beautiful old buildings are rare in comparison.

But there are certainly plenty of them around. And you really start to notice them as you get older yourself. These days I'm really quite fixated on the subject. Wherever I go I keep an eye out for them. And I think it's because they are like markers against which you can chart your own life journey. Now that I've reached the half century myself, it's dawned on me that a high proportion of Perth's buildings were actually built after I was born. They've sort of sprung up around me! Those that are much older were all there when I was a kid, of course. And they were even fairly old then. So when I see these, and I recall them -- even vaguely -- from when I was that age, it's quite a comforting feeling.