Well another very, very uneventful day has passed. Yesterday concluded in dull style. Had tea with Tony and we tried a bit of half-assed clothes shopping. Home to crap telly. Bland chicken and boiled potatoes so I could take my tablets as a cure for the giardia. Watched Boston Public, The Secret Life of Us, spoke to Dad, Karen, Garry and Darren and left messages for Stevie P and Richie and Martyn. Bed around 11pm. Over it all.

Hopes for miracle cure overnight were scuppered by the 7.30am run to the bathroom. All's been OK since 10.30am though, so hopefully I'm over the worst. Sorted through my CDs which has been niggling a while, and tried to install various bits of software on here that I've been meaning to reinstall since I reloading the entire operating system. I think my CD drive is buggered though. Some stuff loads, some doesn't. Annoyingly one of the things that won't load is Microsoft Office - so I can't look at or create any Word or Excel documents. Pain. Think I might have to send the PC away to be fixed which is even more of a pain. May try and coincide it with going into the sun. Still need to sort that. Dull night ahead. More plain chicken and boiled potatoes. Crap telly. Early bed. Can everyone wish for something nice to happen please? Thanks.

Am still not well. Fairly quiet weekend. Friday's joy at feeling better was scuppered by waking with stomach cramps and so on (I'm sure I don't have to go into great detail on here...) early Saturday morning. Friday night was OK though. Saturday had to get out as otherwise I'd have gone mad. Garry and I walked to Newtown and had a look round there. Quite good fun. Back to watch the World Music Awards (dreadful) and then in theory Twelve Monkeys. However we ended up playing on the net and hitting the Oxford and the Shift. Sunday still not right bowel-wise and so stayed here. Garry came round and we messed on the net and drank tea. Met Mat at the Oxford at 6pm-ish and I was home to watch Babe - Pig in the City at 8.30pm. Bed.

Still no better this morning so have been to the doctors. Got giardia apparently, and now have some pills to take for it. Should sort itself out fairly quickly apparently and so fingers crossed. I'll try and eat more as the week progresses and get back to the gym when I'm a bit stronger. Trying to work out the few days in the sun. Talking to Tony about it at the mo - in fact meeting him for coffee (or weak black tea as it will be for me) within the hour. A quiet week I think. I'm so ready to be fit and well. Hey ho.

Thanks to whoever sent me an e-card via CardWish. I can't thank you personally as it won't let me pick up the card. Apparently the sender has violated their terms of service! I'm assuming it either maybe doesn't like rude words, or thinks it's a nuisance card. Or, apparently, you sent more than 30 that day. Please make yourself known to me so I can thank you!!

What a difference a day makes. I feel so much better today. Slept really well last night, and over the course of the day have felt better and better. Going out to meet some of the boys for something to eat. Won't go too mad, but it's nice to feel human again. Yippee. Oh, and congratulations to niece Melissa who got 8 GCSEs yesterday - 6 grade Bs and 2 grade Cs. Mel worked really hard for them so well done :o)

Flu is bad. Not a very happy hedgehog right now. Am actually feeling much perkier than I did this morning, but am over being ill. Heading to bed and seeing if I can finally sleep. Realised I've not actually slept properly for about a week. Not that surprising given all that's been going down, but I could really do with a good night of proper restful sleep. Let's give it a go... nighty night.

It's flu. Feel crap. Have done all day. Bed now. Hardly slept last night. Have dozed on and off all day. Congrats to the quiz boys. More tomorrow.

Hmmm. Weird old day. Slept badly again. Up at 9am. Got a message from Tony asking if I wanted to do lunch. Decided to fix a small problem with the PC. Ended up taking from 11.30am until the last phone call finishing at 8.45pm. Jeez... Interrupted that for what was a nice lunch with Tony in the park. Ate pizza and finally got the PC sorted out. Caught up with everyone's blogs - made for good reading today. Good luck to all the quiz boys (currently having a quick chat with Jon) and thanks to Rob for bringing so many memories of the Tavern flooding back. The answer is 5 by the way Rob! :o) Right, going to bed in a sec as I'm for some reason very shivery, cold and achy. Oh dear. Hope it's not flu :o(

A day of leaving stuff to settle. Chats to Dad, sister Sue, Andy B and Garry. Ringing other sister on Thursday (yes Katty, that means you!) to chat and get my niece Melissa's GCSE results. Other niece Julia got her A level results last week and has got into the Uni she wanted so she's very happy. Well done Jules! Bed for me very soon. See if I can sleep better than last night.

Quick blog as I'm in an internet café as AOL isn't working at home for some reason. Had a great weekend. In short (as I'll blog more later from home) Friday had a lazy coming-to-terms-with-quitting-work day and a drunken night in the Oxford with the boys. Saturday we went 10 pin bowling which was actually a lot of fun. Of the 7, 5 of us went to have food and then Garry and Mat came back to mine. We drank 3 bottles of wine, listened to very trashy music and then went to the Oxford. And then to the Newtown and then to a club called Caesars. Fun. Drag shows a go-go the best of which involved Kylie's new single. Met a nice man called Darren, which was unexpected and fun. Met Garry for brunch at Fez on Victoria Street and then walked down to Woolloomooloo for a beer. To the Oxford and the Peter and Paul had invited me to join them at Milk + Two Sugars back in Woolloomooloo. This to help David P's friend Bruno celebrate his birthday. Kind of OK. People have said good things about 'Milk..' but it wasn't that special. Back to the Occy and finally to the Shift before home. Bed. First day of wondering what to do next. I think a few days in the sun is priority one. My brain will function so much better after that...

OK. People are getting slightly concerned about my blogging and I think also about my state of mind!! Here we go. It's like this - by mutual agreement I've left my job. Been paid until the end of the month but actually didn't go back after lunch yesterday. I feel SO relieved. I've never felt so completely overwhelmed by anything in my life. I mean I know I've moved 12,000 miles away and haven't settled in the flat and the Tony stuff and all, but the job was just too much. The boss did finally agree that maybe it was too much for someone new to the country and two completely different marketplaces, but that's little comfort. It has made me realise I don't want to work long days for big bucks. I kind of knew that already, but the ambition fairy still rears its ugly head now and again. So, what now? Answer: Dunno. I think I'm going to use some frequent flyer miles and head up the coast sometime next week and have a few days in the sun and let my brain un-fry. After that? Temping short term I reckon. Turn up, do stuff that isn't too taxing, go home. Once doing that I'll look for work. Online editing seems to be what would suit me best. The job that reported in to my last job. Oh I did pitch that to the company, but for various reasons it couldn't be done. Anyhoo, suffices to say I'm feeling better about being here than almost any time since I've arrived. Yeah it's all a bit unknown, but that's part of the fun. Oh, and I've still got cold and am coughing a lot. Best head down the pub then.

I am OK though peeps. Really. Thanks for all the messages of support from those of you reading between the lines on the recent (and sorry to say fairly dull) blog entries. Things will pick up again soon. Maybe I will too! :o)

I need a holiday. It looks like I've got the chance to have one :o)

Today's phrase is: I AM BEWILDERED - see below, meaning 2.

Main Entry: be·wil·der
Pronunciation: bi-'wil-d&r
Function: transitive verb
Inflected Form(s): -wil·dered; be·wil·der·ing /-d(&-)ri[ng]/
Date: 1684
1 : to cause to lose one's bearings
2 : to perplex or confuse especially by a complexity, variety, or multitude of objects or considerations

It's 5.30pm and I've survived the day. I still feel pretty ropey, so I'm going to go home soon and have an early night. I've had a chat to my boss and we're both going to think about work possibilities within the department or within the company, but it looks like we've realised this is too big a deal - certainly for me coming in cold, maybe for one person at all. Nicole has mentioned also me taking a bit of time out to think about what I want - do you know how appealing that is right now? We're meeting again in the morning. I've got to think what I really want to do career-wise. Now considering I've had no real idea for the last 18 years, I'm wondering whether tonight will be any different?!?

Well. Not sure how this day's going to go, but I've a feeling it's not going to be good. I'm full of cold today - what I thought was a hangover yesterday was in part this cold too I now realise. Just read everyone's accounts of Brighton Pride. I miss you guys. Special thanks to Rob, and little Rob too, for mentions above and beyond the call of duty - Rob on his blog dedicating the early part of the RVT as the 'Uncle Hedgehog' session and little Rob in an e-mail where he just said that there was a little section of the dancefloor in the Tavern that people dance around in memory of me. It made me smile. Something I'm not doing as much of as normal.

Work is not enjoyable. What should be this most fantastic opportunity has become way too stressful. Already. And it's only day 2 of week 6. I honestly don't know if I'll make it to week 7. If I leave, then I (hopefully) can temp and survive until I get another job. Dunno. I'm over having to make decisions. I just want to turn up for work, be told what to do, do it, leave on time and do gym and other stuff. I don't want to be arriving at 8.30am, feeling bewildered, stressed and unhappy until 7pm or so every night. I thought I'd be fine once I got going, but no. It's just not working. Watch this space...

Oh, haven't blogged last weekend. In brief:
Fri - down to the Oxford for beers. My mate Phil was in from Melbourne and staying with me, but we didn't actually hook up that night other than giving him the keys. Beers with the boys then meal with Tony and Andy. It was fun, though at the end, when we went back to the Oxford for one last beer, I really just wanted to be going home with Tony. Not to be. Felt a bit low. Fell into bed.
Sat - up very early. At the gym by 8.40am! Ran a bit, did the second half of my program, ran again, had brekky in town and was home by 11.30am!! Met Garry and we went to the Taronga Park Zoo, which was fun. Great views on the ferry over, and from the zoo itself. The weather was spectacularly nice for winter. Dinner with Phil and his mate Dean in a fantastic pizza place in Paddington. Down to the Oxford after that, and then the Barracks. Bed at 2.30am.
Sun - up about 10am. Phil had gone out for brekky so I pottered a bit. Managed to walk into one of the glass doors in the apartment and break my phone. Not happy. I thought the door was open - d'oh! Said bye to Phil and met Garry for lunch on Victoria Street - my old stomping ground. Big Brekky at Una's which was great and then we went for a long walk through Kings Cross and down to the Botanic Gardens. Fantastic. Lovely day too. Ended up back at my place looking for Kylie websites. Like you do!! Down to the Oxford for the Sunday session at about 7pm - Mat and Justin were there, as was Scott and a few others, and we got talking to another guy called Darryl who is very sexy but a possible serial killer. Which was nice. Down the Shift and finally on to the Pheonix which was probably a bit much for a Sunday. But fun...

Right. More later. Probably from home. This afternoon could be very interesting...

Remember this from the other day?

Day. Hell.

Shit. Fan.

You decide.

Today is worse. Much worse.

Monday morning. Hungover. In for an 8.30am meeting with my boss. Who didn't show. Great. More later. Things are OK. Not great, not terrible. Oh, and my mobile's broken. I'll tell you about that later. I'm a div! OK, boss has arrived...

No time to blog, AND I'm going bald. Great.

Too much to do. Maybe. Lots going on. Bad at blogging. Just a quickie until I structure my day. Yesterday I joined the gym. Today I have my workout program organised at 1.30pm. Yikes. OK. More later when I get going...

A better day. Up and to the doctors, though didn't sleep well last night as I was thinking about some overdue work. In the end I tipped up at work and called a meeting with my boss and asked for a bit of time and a bit more help. It was granted! I think she realised it was a tall order. It's now due Thursday last thing. Great. Manageable. Spent the rest of the day doing a list of things to do and then had a good meeting at the end of the day. Home to meet the nice electrician man who has fixed the lights, the oven and a loose power point. Filled in my second census in as many months. Food. Tony called. Feel better generally about that. Play on the net - chat to Danny. Bed now.

Damn. Just realised I said I'd call Scally in realtime mode after chatting online at the weekend. I completely forgot. Sorry matey!

Monday afternoon. Hmm. I'm hungover from last night and desperately need some food. Well the weekend came and went. Friday night was beers in the Oxford with the guys. Tony was there but we didn't really talk much. Saturday was a lovely day. Surfed the net a while, took in laundry, bought gym shoes (finally! still haven't been yet though...), had brekky in town. Wandered around for most of the afternoon just mulling on stuff. Out with Garry to the Oxford and then we decided to venture out of town a bit and go to Newtown. Beers in the Newtown first and then on to the Imperial for dancing. The music in the Newtown was like the Tavern, and we had our first hearing of Your Disco Needs You actually out in a bar! The Imperial was fun too - good music, fun crowd. Mat and Mike joined us and I finally stumbled home around 2.30am. Up quite early Sunday and chatted to a couple of people on the net a bit. Went up to Bondi to see Tony. We went for the most glorious walk along the cliffs and finally to a park with the most amazing views of the city. We also jumped the fence of a house being built and explored - I've not done that since I was a kid! Fun. Back to the beach for ice-cream and more of a talk about us. We're gonna be mates. He hasn't ruled out something more happening but I think in my head I have. For my own sanity. It was nice to spend time with him though. Hey ho. To the Oxford yet again to meet the gang - Garry, Mat, Justin, Mike, Haydn, Phil, Kev, Scott.. fun. Lots of girlie singing - particularly to things like A-ha and S Club 7. Onto the Shift as well... too much beer!!! Home and fell into a drunken stupor.

Today isn't a good day. Feeling low. Work is kind of OK, but I think the next couple of weeks are going to be stressful. I need to get back to the gym and get a routine going for the 5 weeks between now and moving. Tony offered good counsel on that yesterday. He's right too. A bit of regularity might restore some sanity. We'll see. Anyway, time for some lunch. I may blog some more stuff later ...

I refer you all to the archives of these very pages. Remember when I banged on about this? Well the situation has been rectified. We can all now sleep safe in our beds. Thanks for this link goes to Ian.

Well I'm slightly befuddled and really not in the best frames of mind. Can't really remember what I've done since the last entry. Wednesday worked late - until gone 8pm. Home, food, brief chat to Tony. Bed. Yesterday I didn't blog as Blogger was down. Work was OK . Got the content map finished. Left work at a reasonable time and nipped briefly home before meeting Tony to go to the movies. We saw 'You can count on me', which was actually very good. On then to grab some food, bumping into Denis and Justin (Brett's friends from Perth) on the way. Food was good, but less good was 'that' talk that Tony and I had at the end of the meal. He needs time out. From me. Too many things going on for him right now. He's uncertain about where we're headed, but rather than just stop he wants to clear his head of all his other stuff and then see where he's at after that. This probably means that for the next three weeks or so we won't see much of one another and, if we do, it's as friends. I wondered if this was a way of letting me down gently. He assures me it's not. He's not lied so far, so I have to believe him. Not sure I can play the waiting game though. It'll kill me. Hardly slept last night and so am a) exhausted and b) for some reason on the verge of tears. Not a great look for my weekly one on one with my boss. Still. I'll get through. I always do.

I had one of those infamous 'I think I'm a witch' moments this morning. Waiting to board the train to work I decided that if I started playing 'Eurodisco' by Bis (the extended dance mix) as I got on that it would finish as I was getting off. Result? Almost to the second. That means that of my 30 minute or so commute, the actual train ride bit accounts for only 26.67%, or 8 minutes. There's about 17 or 18 minutes walking (12ish from home to Town Hall, 5ish from North Sydney to work) and the rest of the time is spent buying a ticket and a coffee. Just thought you'd like to know!

Pinch, punch, first of the cliché. White Rabbits. Grey Hairs. Etc. Can you pull a rabbit out of a hat? No, but I can pull a hair out of my nose. Oh dear...

Two large lattés and some toasted turkish bread and vegemite (I am SO local) and suddenly the world's a better place. I feel better for the decision to move to Bondi and it being out in the open - I can start to plan at least and know that the time spent in David's place is finite. Work is better today - though this arvo am doing stuff I've not done before. I have to finalise the content map for the new TV Hits site. This has the potential to be one of the biggest sites in the teen marketplace down here and I really need to get it right. I'll let you know how it goes...

Nice to see that people have been reading the blog. Ian kind of sympathises with my unsettled feeling, and Scally is going to be in so much trouble when I get hold of him... it's so not the reason for moving!

Time for bed. Work got much better. I felt like I'd done something and learned quite a lot by the end of today - at last. I'm sure it'll all have disappeared once I've been to sleep but for now...

Home and a takeaway (very nice pumpkin chicken, rice and stir-fry veggies). Nice chats to Jonathan and Scally and then the final episode of Buffy. Also, the decision thing I've been alluding to re the flat? Well I can blog the decision now, as I've spoken to David the landlord. I'm moving. For whatever reason (and to be honest it's hard to put my finger on it) I've not settled here. Maybe it just doesn't feel like home. Maybe I need more of a change of lifestyle. Either way, I've given notice. Of course I've already been plotting. Actually one of the reasons for things not being right here is missing a flatmate. Nick was such fun to live with and it's not been the same without him. However, things kind of seem to have worked out. Charlotte from work is (sadly) splitting up with her boyfriend and their lodger also recently moved out. So, she needs a flatmate. I went to look at the place and, again for no real reason, it felt right. Nice place, nice room, own bathroom and balcony off the bedroom. Affordable. Lifts in to work some of the time with Charlie. And best of all? It's not much more than about a 5 minute walk to the most famous beach in Australia. Fantastic. I think I need to live somewhere that makes me think I've actually moved 12,000 miles around the world, otherwise I might as well have stayed in London.

So boys and girls. Further incentive to come and stay. The beach at the end of the road. Bondi. Available from mid-September...

So, 2½ hours later and the rollercoaster that has taken over my moodswings has me currently back on upward movement... Went out at lunchtime into the sunshine. Ate sushi and feel better. Have meetings for most of the rest of the afternoon, ranging from the not very interesting to the learning how to properly put stuff on the sites. Yippee. At this rate I'll be suicidal again by 4.30pm and in the most fantastic mood by the time I get home!

My strange mood of almost three weeks ago is back. Lethargy. Procrastination. Inability to concentrate on anything for more than a few minutes. Mild despair. Withdrawal from social stuff.

Still think it's a readjustment thing. I've not settled into the flat really, and need to make some decisions about what's best on that front. Work is up and down - some days I feel like I can breeze it, other days I feel like it'll never be within my grasp. Either way, I'm not doing stuff like I should. Lesson for today - lifted from Return of the Jedi I think (read in an old diary the other day): 'Don't try. Either do or don't do.' Hmmm. Gym - still not joined one and the longer that drags on the more I get pissed off with myself. I'm kind of hanging in case I make a dramatic change of plan re the flat. Though there's nothing to stop me going casually. And then there's Tony. Who is lovely. But also going through stuff himself at the moment and I'm maybe taking it all a little too personally rather than being there for him. Just because someone else has things going on, it doesn't automatically follow that they're anything to do with me. But of course I do think that and then that gives me another reason to beat myself up.

The sun is shining today, which can only help to lift my spirits. I really, really need to get off my self-pitying arse and do stuff. 'Don't try. Either do or don't do.' OK. Time to do some of the former. Doing the do. Betty Boo.

OK, so who stole the day? It's gone 5pm already and I've no idea what I've done for the day. Yesterday ended up down in Bondi for a couple of beers with Charlotte and then on to Tony's who served up some fantastic home-made minestrone. We watched The Jackal (where, for the first time ever, I thought Richard Gere was OK as an actor) and then hit the sack. This morning we had a team meeting and the rest of the day's just been spent getting my head around things to do! Sales meeting just finished and now... er, pass. More later.

Well what a weekend this hasn't turned into.Weather from hell. Rain through the end of the week continued into the weekend, with it also turning incredibly windy. Friday night ended up staying in as it was too miserable to do much else. That's the continuing theme of the weekend really. Saturday I managed to take stuff to the laundry, grab brekky out and return to the comfort of the flat. (I say comfort - everything's relative. I've not really settled down here...watch this space for impending news - it's decision time). Did some work in the afternoon - not much mind you - and listened to music. Ultravox, Shakespear's Sister, Right Said Fred (no, really), Sunscreem, Dead or Alive - ahh the memories. Having decided to postpone the Mountains, Tony's thrown himself into work and so not seen anything of him. Wasn't going to go out last night either, but Garry called and so we ended up having a couple in the Oxford and the Barracks. It's now early afternoon Sunday and I think I'm going to do some work for a bit. May give Charlotte a call and wander up to Bondi, and try and hook up with Tony a little later too. It's stopped raining, but it's still incredibly windy and could still be showery at the drop of a cliché. It feels very English and autumnal. 'Season of mist and mellow fruitfulness. Close bosom friend of the maturing sun. Conspiring with him to load and bless with fruit the vines that round the thatched eaves run.' Or something. You get the idea. More later.

Well today is almost over. Well, the work part. Good-ish day. I think. Lots to read and work on over the weekend. No partying for me. :o(

The *NSYNC thing was pretty much as expected. Beer and sushi. Film on very big screen. Good dancing. Instantly forgettable songs. More beer. More sushi. Wraps. Satay sticks. Home. Bed. Yee-hah.

Up at 6.30am to talk to Nick. We sorted out all the bills and outstanding stuff (finally!) so that was good. Good meeting with boss lady at 9am. At doctors over lunchtime. Have agreed to participate in an asthma study. Get me.

Off home to a lazy night. No plans. Need to get my head round some work stuff at some point over the weekend, but it might not be tonight. See how the mood takes me.

Jive Records Australia and IMAX Theatres Present "the" POP experience.

You and a friend are exclusively invited to the Australian launch party of the brand new album 'Celebrity' AND the premiere of the IMAX film

*NSYNC:Bigger Than Live

Thursday 26 July from 6.30pm sharp!

Hmmm. Wonder what my biorhythms say for today?

Why I oughtta... If I'd have been with the boys at the Transatlantic Blog Meet with Michael, I'd have got Kate Bush before he'd finished the lyric. Here I was this morning shouting it at Internet Explorer like a man possessed. (It remained unmoved.) It may have been in part due to the fact that I was only playing 'The Dreaming' earlier in the week - it being one of the hidden delights of getting several hundred CDs out of storage. Check out the Blogmeet pic that Michael links to too. Michael, you're looking good!! Oh, and Michael, sorry to be such a pedant, but it's 'Sat in your lap'. What he gives, he takes away... Love ya!!

The rest of Monday passed fairly uneventfully until I met Garry in the Oxford. He had a couple of mates here from the UK, and before I knew it I was a little minkered. Minker Lite. Stumbled home, ate and fell into a coma.
Tuesday was day from hell, not helped by waking at 4.40am and not being able to get back to sleep at all. In fact I went onto the net for an hour and spoke to Nick, who thinks the flatmate thing is now sorted in the UK. Fantastic. Into work and the day was just not nice. Lots of bitty things wrong, a couple of things slipped through the net and I had a couple of meetings where I just thought 'Help!' Home, chats to Kaz, Dad and Sue. It was nice to speak to everyone and hear some familiar voices. The cooker finally gave up the ghost on Monday night too, so last night was Scrambled Eggs with Fresh Basil, Microwave-stylee, with some Sweet Chili Sauce. Very nice! Chats to Tony, where I bleated on for ages (bless him!) and then Buffy and bed around 11pm.
I slept! Yay. Woke feeling better and into work. Better day here. Got my head around the Sales operation and what I have to do as E.P. and then we hosted our first live Webchat for K-Zone. The kids come come and chat to the Editor and get all their questions answered about their favourite mag! </end corporate bs>
It was actually a lot of fun and went off really well. Yay! Right, off home now - where I'm going to eat, answer some email (sorry to all of you I've been slow at replying to!) and then do a bit more work. Yes, you heard. Laters... you may get a post-work from home bleary-eyed blog later tonight, but don't hold your breath!

Day. Hell.

Shit. Fan.

You decide.

The weekend passed relatively uneventfully, and all too quickly. Friday night was beers in the Oxford with Garry - and various other protaganists appeared including Tony, though he went off to bed early-ish as he still had a day of the conference. We stumbled down to the Beresford to be joined by Jonny Boswell - great to see him, but I was a bit minkered by this point and can't remember what we talked about. Must ring him this week to find out how he was... oops!
David B was meant to come over Saturday morn to go through the flat stuff, but demurred after throwing coffee down himself. Way to go. He called at 9.10am and I took two headache tablets and slept through until 12.30pm. Garry and I decided a movie was the best option and ended up wandering down by Darling Harbour and up into town before grabbing a coffee and heading to see Bridget Jones's Diary. Good film - very enjoyable, quite funny, very British. Out for more beers with Garry Saturday night - just Oxford and singing to trashy songs on the jukebox. Home around midnight and chats on the net to Nick.
Didn't sleep very well and woke for good at 8am Sunday. Pottered about on the net before getting my act together and sorting out the flat. Think some bits are missing from my bed, so the plan to reassemble that went out the window. Also, it was miserable weather - first prolonged rain since I've been here. I had a haircut, collected laundry and grabbed a Thai curry for scran. Tony came over about 5.30pm and we hit the Oxford. Three beers with the boys then back to mine via a takeaway for Tony. Watched The Mask of Zorro with a bottle of wine and fell into bed around 11pm. Could have done without the fire alarm going off at 4.34am...
Didn't sleep well after that and so consequently I'm a bit tired. Left Tony still asleep, lucky bugger. Right, time to do some work. More later...

OK - the weekend's over and so you don't have to wait any more. It's actually not that exciting, but at least it's made a few people sit up and ask me what I've been up to! The task from last week that I hadn't done for a year or so was, in fact, ironing a shirt. Congratulations to my sister Karen for guessing correctly. However, I'm not going to divulge about which of the other suggestions I have or haven't done... and in fact my statement about having done all but one was in fact false when I actually read the suggestions in more detail!

Michael likes English words, and has a list of them on his site. I'm not sure if it's a particularly English word, but one word I like, and used for the first time in an SMS message today, is foist. Nice! Unsure what it means? Go here.

Am I a bit of a git? You tell me. Things could be worse. I could have made you all look at this...

So, your answers flooded in. Well not so much as a flood as a stream. Actually not so much of a stream as a trickle. Thanks guys and gals. They varied from the sublime to the ridiculous, the innocent to the downright filthy. Cue drum roll and hush amongst the audience. Here are the nominations for the 'What I did the night before last that I hadn't done for a year' category:

Church
Hoovering
Growing an inch taller
Going to bed early
Helping an old lady over the road
Went to the cinema
Sorted out all paperwork and filed it
Painted a wall and watched it dry
Gave myself a pedicure including red nail varnish
Wrote some letters
Did a whole pile of ironing? Even the things at the bottom of the pile that are a) out of season or b) out of fashion or c) don't fit?
Stayed in???!!!!! (Nah. Not possible.)
Took it up the butt. :-0

I'm not sure what to make of the suggestions really. One of you got it right. Excluding the correct answer, I've done all but one of these things within the last year, and I'm working on one of the others. You decide which. And the winner is...
.
.
.
.
.
.
wait for it...
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
I'll tell you tomorrow.

He he he.

I did something last night that I haven't done for ages. In fact the last time was probably almost a year ago, maybe more. Oddly enough, I quite enjoyed it though normally I bang on about hating it. What could it be?

If you haven't got your mail client set up, just send a message to daveboyes@hotmail.com, titled 'Last night I think you...'. Best answers blogged tomorrow.

David's responsible for this (though he stole copied the link from elsewhere). It's a Personality Disorder Test. He's an avoidant narcissist; I'm a histrionic, narcissistic obsessive-compulsive. Histrionic? Me? Meeeeeee? MEEEEEEE??????

Disorder : Rating
Paranoid: Low
Schizoid: Low
Schizotypal: Moderate
Antisocial: Moderate
Borderline: Low
Histrionic: High
Narcissistic: High
Avoidant: Low
Dependent: Low
Obsessive-Compulsive: High

Click Here To Take The Test

It's a funny old world. There I was, sat on the loo at work here in Sydney when I came across something I'd never even considered before. Above the cubicles, attached to the wall is a box. I hadn't really given it much attention, though I'd occasionally heard an odd noise whilst in the bathroom. No, not that. I started to examine the box a bit more closely and it suddenly dawned on my what it was. The thing is programmed to emit a spray of air freshener every so many minutes to keep the place smelling of roses. What a fantastic idea. All rise in salute to the inventor of the automatic air freshener.

Another thought. What if it's based on how much smell you create as opposed to a certain number of minutes? If not, surely that version won't be long... though it's not included as an application for this.

I found out today that Netscrape users can't the the lovely little title tags I put on my links - that's the bit of text that appears and says something like 'Ooh missus'. I urge everyone to use Internet Explorer to see the site in all its glory! Mind you, it actually only amounts to 8% of you that are using Navigator...

Lunch. Sushi. Yum. Very cheap over here, and good quality too. Big box is $6.60 which equals about 2 and a half of your English pounds. What's more it's good for you! How cool is sushi?

I'm tired. My eyes hurt. Otherwise I'm OK. Testing is dull. Looking at the eighty-seventh revision of an e-card (why can't agencies ever actually read the brief you send?) gets kind of tiresome. I'm away soon. Easy night. Food. Maybe tune in the telly. Laters...

Busy day today. Site template testing on different platforms. Was meant to be having lunch with David B the landlord, but he's cancelled. Stayed up late sorting stuff out and rearranging the furniture and so on last night - finally got to bed some time around 2am! Oddly enough though, I was in early this morning. How does that work? Also, had the worst muffin this morning. Missus. Not happy!!

Initially typed 'finally got to be some time around 2am' in the sentence above. Oh wow, that's so existential! To be or not to be? That is the question - asked about how soft my pencil lead is. Missus. You can take a horse to water, but a pencil must be lead. OK, I'm losing it. Meeting time. More later.

Damn. Considering how good my memory can be, I forgot to mention a couple of things:
Mouse mats (x4)
Cheese grater
Measuring jug

Don't even ask why I bought 4 mouse mats. I said don't ask! Unless you can work out why...

Entry before last saved. Thanks to safe mode - you can go and edit the HTML directly which I needed to as I'd rendered the edit link unreachable!! Of course this will read like I've lost the plot, as everything will appear normal to you guys. Suffices to say there were problems, honest!

Yikes. I've no idea what I've done, but most of my blog entry has suddenly become part of the title of one of my links. D'oh. Don't you just love Blogger? Though it's probably me not closing speech marks or something. I'd have gotten away with it if it wasn't for you meddling kids.

Up later than I wanted to be today. Conscious at around 7am and then felt groggy when I finally woke at 8.07am having failed to set the alarm. The walk down the the station is good for the soul though, particularly on an again gorgeous morning. My walk takes me past Hyde Park and I also get a great view of the AMP Tower (Centrepoint as was), both of which looked great in the morning sun. Big breath. Take in view. Everything seems better.

For some reason today, the last bit of my walk found me singing Rockabilly Rebel by Matchbox. Why? I've no idea. Rebel? Maybe. Rockbilly? With this hair?? I don't think so.

I've yet to work out Sydney Transport's pricing policy. For three days last week it cost me $3.00 for a day return to North Sydney. One of the other days cost me $5.20 and I think (though I may have misheard as it was my first day) another day cost $5.50. I guess it's a peak hour thing, though in all but one of those days I've travelled before 9am. Maybe they change the peak hour time on a daily basis. Maybe not. All I can work out at the moment is that the price seems more expensive after about 8.48am. Maybe I should ask. Maybe I should buy a weekly ticket. But who's to know what price that might be?

Finally for the moment THAT view. The one from the train. The Harbour was incredibly calm this morning in the bright, early sunlight. I had coffee and a ham and cheese croissant nestling contentedly in my rucksack. Perfect.

Weekend synopsis:

Friday: Quiet beers with Tony that kind of escalated. Suddenly there were about 8 of us, and quiet became a bit louder. Tony and I ate at Cafe Comity and then back to mine to crash... and crash we did.

Saturday: Woke at about 10.30am feeling a little worse for wear. Managed to just about get our act together and head off to pick hire car up for noon. Got the car, which smelt of a) cats b) garden centres and c) used jocks, and headed to Bondi for fantastic brekky at Tony's local - Brown Sugar. Green eggs - wonderful! (And no, I'm not referring to this, but to scrambled eggs with pesto - couldn't find a link for the latter!) Left Tony to work and headed to the SupaCentre at Moore Park for a supposed shopping frenzy. Garry and Mat joined me there, but our sum total of purchases were 24 tea light holders and 2 CDs. Home and sorted a bit and then chatted on the net to Danny and Wayne. Headed to Tony's at around 9pm for Thai food and then Tony worked and I watched telly and read a bit. I hit the sack at around 1.15am, Tony finally stopped working around 3.30am.

Sunday: Woke at 9.50am. Meant to be at Ian's at 10am to pick up the telly and CD player! D'oh. Rang but no answer so Tony and I wandered down to the beach and had coffee as it was the most fantastic morning. Winter. 19ºC. Go figure. Ian did then ring so Tony headed back to yet more work and I went down to Darlinghurst. Got my things!! Yay! Finally also met Terry - Ian's other half. They've only been going out together for about two years now... Got everything set up at the house and dropped Ian back on the way back to the SupaCentre. Boy my life is SO rock 'n' roll! This time I held no prisoners. I bought:
Fitted sheet set
Webcam
Plug extensions
Iron*
Ironing board*
Kettle
Bed linen (x2)
Tea towels (x6)
Vase
Lemon squeezer
Coat hangers (x16)
Plastic containers (x5)
Potato peeler
Kitchen scales
Colander
Plastic cups (x6)
Bath mat
Scissor set (x3)

I think that was it. God, it's like playing that game at the end of The Generation Game. No cuddly toy though. Dumped everything back at the ranch, dropped the hire car off, came and showered and shaved and hit the pub. Met up with Garry and Mat again, and got drunk and did lots of girly singing. Hmmm. Not a good look. Home, drunken phone calls and bed. Way to go!

*For guests obviously

Been for lunch with Bel and Charlie to a local-to-work eatery. Nice! Went to the nice deli for coffee afterwards and caught up on all the goss. Feel better generally today... thanks to those of you who sent messages relating to me feeling a bit low. Not sure what the night holds, or the weekend for that matter. Think tonight may just be quiet beers. Saturday is car hire day! May well go on a bit of a shopping spree for those bits not yet bought (possibly with Bel looking for bed linen and doonas - rock 'n' roll!) and then Sunday is the finally pick up the TV and CD player day. Yee-hah. Looking forward to that as the flat will seem much more like home. Can't wait. Need to speak to Nick the UK flatmate to sort out a few things there and I need to do the gym join thing. God, it's just gone 4.30pm and it's starting to get slowly dark. Winter eh? Sheesh.

Thanks to those of you commenting on the spelling of the last post. You know who you are. Tim Johnson. The comments were actually copied from the Harry Potter site. So there. Take it to Warner Bros. Meanwhile, it's finally happened. Grammar and spelling are obsolescent in the light of SMS messaging - it's official.

"Beater practise"

"Wand: Unicorn Hair, Yew, 9 inches!"

"Chaser practise"

"Slither in. Sorry, Slytherin"

No, it's not some new fetish night on the scene here in Sydney. I've been here...

I think I'm a bit sad. Time to go bananas.

"Still on for tonight?"
         "I sent you a message saying I'm gagging for it. Missus."
"Been at clients all arvo. See you later for a session. Madam."
         "Can't wait to get my lips around the first one. Matron."
"It'll slide down your throat a treat. Missus."
         "I like to have one in my hand and one in my mouth. Vicar."

Yes, Garry and I are going out for beers.

Ay ay ay. The times they are a-stranging. Have gone into the most weird mood starting yesterday. Don't know why, but it's here. It's kind of a mix of feeling down, a bit lost and wanting to put my head in the sand and make everything go away. I guess it's not that surprising really, given what I have gone through in the last few weeks. In fact only 3½ weeks ago I moved from the flat in Elephant into Peckham. It seems like aeons ago.

Of course there's absolutely no reason for this feeling. At all. I've moved to a country that I love, I have (what seems like it will be ) a great (but demanding) job, a circle of friends from when I lived here before and some new work colleagues, and the possibility of a partner in Tony. So, why the funk? A period of readjustment? Just getting my head around the fact that I'm actually here? The realisation that now I'm here it's not really any different than London was? Except for going out less...

It is winter though, and the most marked difference here is that this will last only 2 months of the year instead of the summer being over in a nanosecond. I need to sort the flat, get to the gym, eat healthily and focus on work - after all, I have a site to relaunch in under a month.

OK matey, pull yourself together. Show these Aussies what you can do. Guess I'd better go and a) slap myself around a bit, b) get my website producer head on and c) think about what to have for lunch.

SNAP OUT OF IT!!!

Re-read the earlier blog entry and it's a bit dull. Come on Dave, you can do better than that! Sorry, think my brain is overloaded with new stuff. I could tell you about the commute in more detail. I have about a 10 minute walk to the train station, but it's through town and I go past a number of nice little coffee bars which is great for me in terms of sustenance, but bad for me in terms of waistline (if I don't get my arse in gear and do some exercise).

The trains here are different to the tubes in London. They are incredibly regular, reliable and are double decker (how funky is that?). I only go three stops - Town Hall-Wynyard-Milson's Point-North Sydney. The best part of the journey? Crossing the harbour on the bridge. The train emerges from the tunnel and on the left is all of Sydney Harbour laid out to the Blue Mountains in the west - lots of inlets off the harbour, lush greenery, docks and wharfs, catamarans whizzing commuters to work, Luna Park amusement park on the North Side giving a sleazy seaside town feel to things, the swimming pool (even busy at 8.30am with keen athletes).

On the right side (and with a better view on the way home) is Circular Quay, home of the Opera House. Seeing that each morning is the kind of pinch-yourself reminder that you're on the other side of the world. The Quay is also home to a big ferry terminal full of yet more commuters. Oh, and loads of those street type entertainers that dress up as the Statue of Liberty and frighten small children. The harbour opens out as it heads towards the Pacific, with more docks and wharfs cityside now converted into funky apartment buildings and the Taronga Park Zoo and other fantastic things North side.

Then the five or so minute walk to the office where sadly, as already blogged, there are no more views. Not a bad little trip all in all, and a couple of nice deli's this side of the harbour too, to stave off hunger lunchtimes. Right. More tea. Vicar.

Nice night last night. I've no idea where the time went, but go it did. Home about 6.30pm after a swift commute home. Tried to get the fax software sorted on the PC at home. I can fax out OK, but have problems receiving stuff other than doing it manually, which isn't the point really. I think I may have to get another phone line installed in the flat. Went online and chatted to Danny a while, which was fun and nice to catch up with him. Tony called and came over from a late meeting bearing gifts - beers and crisps. We like that. Sat and chatted and then went out for dinner. We couldn't decide what the hell to eat but finally settled on sharing a big risotto and a big salad. Nice. Home and chill. Bed. The flat is definitely cold. Much better for having someone to keep warm with :o)

Lousy host this morning though. Unable to provide brekky,as the contents of my fridge currently run to beers, milk, yoghurt, dips and apple juice. Also, I have no sugar, precluding making of tea for Tony. Also, coz the cooktop is a) electric and b) half knackered, it takes about 300 years for the kettle to boil. We walked downtown and bought coffee and muffins. Sometimes it's for the best! Into work and have been briefing an agency to design screensavers and e-cards. Rock 'n' roll!

How do you solve a problem like Maria?

Morning two. It was cold in the flat this morning. I'm not going to get a summer for ever! Here at around 9.15am having managed a coffee on the way but bringing in a ham and cheese brioche. Mmm. Checked mail and arranged lunch with the girls (Charlie and Bel, maybe Helen). Going to read a content plan so that I can be knowledgeable when I have a handover meeting at 11am. Not sure I'm going to get used to this working lark again. Or, more importantly, this winter lark.

I think my brain is full. Next.

OK. It's 2pm on my first day at work. I guess I should be doing something, but I haven't quite worked out what it is yet! So far so good. The best start to my new job? The fire alarm going off at the apartment at 5.50am. I'd not even considered what might happen in the advent of a fire. No one else in the building seemed to be moving, though it was kind of hard to tell. The good news? Within about 5 minutes the fire brigade arrived, and turned off the alarm. The bad news? Within about 10 minutes it went off again. Great. This time I stayed in bed and sure enough the fire truck came back and turned it off again. Hopefully this won't be a regular occurrence! So I tossed and turned a bit and finally got back to sleep with just enough time to fall into a really deep sleep before the alarm went off. Joy. And it was bloody cold when I did finally get out of bed!!

Managed to trough some brekky before leaving the house, and the commute's not too bad. 10 minute walk to train, 10 minutes on the train, 5 minute walk to office. The train goes over the harbour and gives the most incredible views. I can glimpse the Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge as I walk from train to office, but sadly I have no further views once in work.

Big team meet first thing (every Monday apparently) and then, as the Pet Shop Boys would say, you only tell me you love me when you're drunk. Er I mean I've been left to my own devices. I've located the kitchen to make coffee, I've found the café downstairs to buy coffee and I've had a trip to the local deli (in the rain!) to buy great (but relatively expensive) lunch type stuff - oh and more coffee should I desire it. Ah yes, and the toilets. Found those. To get rid of the coffee.

I now have a laptop, email access (but not to Hotmail! Sniff...) and a phone. I've been through the CMS (Content Management System) with my editor and read a couple of proposals. I need to immerse myself in everything that is Youth Entertainment. Or is that Yoof? I know it'll come with time, but I feel kind of helpless in that I don't know about anything yet. Everyone else does. Don't you just hate that?

Had a quietish weekend otherwise. Beers with the boys Friday night, followed by Indian with Tony and kip at mine. Well tried to. The apartment is quite noisy through the night, just by virtue of being in town. Tony had a big work weekend ahead and needed to kip. He doesn't do noise very well in terms of sleeping. I worried that he wouldn't sleep and so neither one of us slept that well. I was up for brekky with Ian at 8.45am Saturday, which was nice. Great to catch up with him again. Brought Tony coffee back almost 2 hours later and he'd slept. He then went off to do work stuff and I pottered. Walked down to IKEA but decided I couldn't face it, so walked back again to Ian's. Saw his place (lovely!) and saw my TV and CD player for the first time in almost 2 years (even more lovely!!). Headed back to mine and was diverted into the Oxford by Garry. We then did noodles and went and say Moulin Rouge. Great film. I really, really enjoyed it. Camp as hell, good use of contemporary lyrics in a period piece, just all round good entertainment. Dizzy camera work in the opening 15 minutes made me wonder if I was going to enjoy it, but enjoy it I did. Go and see. Big time.

Went to Tony's for cocoa (no, really). No, really. Up Sunday morning and after brekky did manage IKEA. And then did laundry, haircut and headed downtown for other stuff. Teapots and mugs. I know how to have a good time. More beers at the Oxford twixt 6-8pm and then home to merry UK phone calls. Nice to chat to everyone. Bed. Nice weekend though quiet. Most bizarre thing? Realising that as I came into work for the first time here, the Tavern was just closing. How weird is that??

Fantastic! The PC is up and running - and seemingly quite fast! It's amazing what you forget and/or remember about stuff that's been in storage for so long... I spent ages looking for the modem yesterday until my ex-flatmate reminded me that this PC has an internal one... D'oh! Mind you, this is about all I've managed for the day. Still, this does mean that I'm back connected to the outside world. Marvellous.

Things I'd forgotten about in Oz:

Scented toilet paper
Cockroaches

The apartment is taking shape, though slowly. Can't wait to get the TV and, more importantly, the CD player back from Ian's this weekend. Only when I can dance round the living room in my underwear will it really feel like home...

Bought 'Bubbles' the vacuum cleaner yesterday. We are very happy together. Went out for beers with Garry (2 'R's) and Mat (1 'T') last night at the Oxford - fun, though I got incredibly drunk incredibly quickly. Had to leave around 9.45pm before I fell over. Bed by about 10.15pm and didn't wake until 9.30am. Have pottered (tea, muffins, the odd phone call) and am now going back to the flat to sort through more stuff. Today's agenda:
Empty 2 tea chests full of CDs
Re-assemble bed for second bedroom
Fully clean kitchen
Unpack completely
Take washing to laundry
Etc. etc.

It's my last weekend of freedom before work starts in earnest on Monday. Oddly the most minkering thing I feel like doing is having a couple of quiet beers. Having an early brekky with Ian in the morning, pre-IKEA. Charlie has invited me to a party at hers tomorrow for Tracey leaving so I may nip down there. Dunno. What's kind of nice about knowing less people is that there is no pressure to go out - I can do nothing if I so desire. I might just do that...

Well I see it didn't take me long to be replaced at the quiz. Thanks guys. I'm Dave, in case you've forgotten... (sniff).

I have furniture! It's like Christmastime - and I don't just mean the weather (it's bloody cold today!). All this stuff I put into storage in September 1999 - and now I'm opening box after box and thinking 'God, I don't remember that!'. Most bizarre thing I've found so far? A plastic bag full of fridge magnets. Really. Off to plan my day. Doing IKEA on Saturday (I know how to have a good time), so may just head into town and buy linen, a king size doona and a vacuum cleaner. Don't you just love moving 12,000 miles away?

Meeting good. People seem like nice people. Boy will I have a lot to learn starting Monday. OK, so I'm going to enjoy my last few days of freedom. However, I've got to be somewhere 20 minutes out of the city, after having picked up the key to the back entrance of the apartment, by 8am. D'oh. Time for bed methinks.

Right. Web site designs browsed, magazine browsed, off to meet my workmates. Most scary of all on the web site designs was the 'Meet the Crew' page - which will include a picture and profile of everyone involved in bringing the sites to life. Hmmm. My first decision as producer???

Hmm - my act did so not get itself together yesterday. I did organise the removalists, tracked down the key to my storage from Ian, organised to get stuff in the morning and arranged access to the new place with the caretaker. Not bad. I so didn't buy anything. Not a thing. Not even a sniff of a pillow (makes a change!). Ended up back at Tony's watching the tennis whilst he worked.

Am now in an internet cafe going over the designs for one of the magazines I'm going to be working on, as I have my first work related meeting in 2½ hours. In before that to meet everyone then straight in, no messing (no change there then).

Life down under? It's really happening...

Today's the day - to get my act together. Things to do:

Move to Surry Hills.
Phone electricity company.
Phone guy about new cooker top.
Phone storage people.
Phone removal people.
Phone Ian to track down other stuff.
Phone Garry, Phil, Jon, Brett, everyone else...
Go through web designs for tomorrow's work meeting.
Buy quilt (doona), pillows, linen.
Have takeaway.
Resist Tony's kind offer to come back up to his house tonight.
Maybe...

Monday morning going slow... except it's Monday afternoon and I've not long been up. Hmm, thought I'd managed to escape the jetlag - seems there's a little still lurking after all.

It's been a weird weekend. Picked up the keys to the flat on Friday night, as posted, yet I'm still at Tony's. He's been great - very hospitable and also has reintroduced me to the joy of loose leaf tea. No, really. Twining's Irish Breakfast Blend. It's the most tea-like tasting tea I've had in years.

Still can't really believe I'm here. Saturday night went to a party at the invite of Paul and Peter, and it turned out I know one of the guys hosting the party. John. Kiwi guy. And, as it turned out, I knew about 10 other guys at the party. Fantastic. Made me feel right at home. Also, one of the guys, Denis, had moved into the same apartment block as me that very same day. Someone to go and borrow cups of sugar off. Fantastic!! I flagged just after midnight though, and came back here. Sleep.

Sunday was a nice day - another great day weatherwise, and this is winter. Ended up down at Darling Harbour and was persuaded to go bungy-trampolining with Tony and Kelley. No, really. (Can't find a decent link about it either). On then to see Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (which was better than anticipated) and then home. Food and an early-ish night.

Not sure what the rest of the day holds. Should get organised. Got a work meeting on Wednesday, but otherwise just really need to sort out the new flat - get my furniture out of storage, track down Ian (who has my TV, CD player, microwave and PC), get the cooktop fixed, buy some kitchenware, start the flatmate hunt etc. I'll keep you informed.

But I'm here. And oddly, it feels like I've been here for years.

Saturday afternoon. I'm here. I can't believe I'm here. Living back in Sydney. Ay caramba.

Seen the apartment which is good. Got the keys. Moving down there later this weekend. Taking advantage of Tony's hospitality in the meantime. Already seen Garry, and bumped into a fourth girl from Capital (Tracey) who I'd forgotten was here. It's weird! Lazy day yesterday trying to avoid jetlag. Beer with David B, Rob and Tony before a lovely meal in Macleay Street Bistro. A place to note and take visitors!! Today's been great - lazy morning with brekky; long, long walk from Bondi to Bronte and back with Tony and his lovely niece Kelley; tea and cakes. Might have to go and have a nap soon. Meant to be going to a party with Paul and Peter tonight, but so far radio silence. If not, may just have a beer or two with Garry.

Minkered down under starts here... be very afraid.

"I don't know where to begin, living in SIN..."

As I think Electronic said once. Though the SIN in this case is Singapore Airport. One 12 hour flight done, one 8 hour one to go. Managed the airport without too much trauma. World's largest check-in queue. No time to think before being on the flight. Vodka, salmon, that movie with Mel Gibson and Helen Hunt (What Women Want?), and then sleep. For 7 hours. Yee hah. Didn't think I would. Awake in time for brekky and here I am.

Quick coffee and then back on the plane. It's 7.40pm local time and 2 hours further ahead in Sydney. I arrive at 6am thinking it's time to go to bed. Oh really. Jet lag a go-go.

Right kiddies. Keep safe y'all. There'll be more from this antipodean bound traveller very soon...

OK people. I'm outta here. I'll say g'day from Sydney by the weekend. Love ya. x

Aaaaggghhh! The sequel.

At the flat. Sorting. Organising. Not really panicking actually. Kind of OK. Cleaned the flat in Elephant this morning with Andy's help... it wasn't too bad. Almost had heart attack yesterday when agent's called to say new buyer was going round there last night! Fortunately landlord was very cool and mopped before they arrived. Bless him. He asked why he wasn't invited to the party. Er...

Right. Time to crack on. Loads to do. Will try and blog one more time before I go.

Thanks to everyone for all the good luck messages. Will speak and text from airport I'm sure. If no more blogging from here, then from Oz on Friday. Jesus. It's finally happening. Bye for now... Davie x

Aaaaggghhh!

Never, ever emigrate and buy a house together. There's too much to do!

Minker a go-go. Currently recovering from a night well minkered, I'm going to post something up quickly and then come back to this later when I've actually got my head round all that I have to do in the next 54 hours. Er, yes, that's all until I'm at the airport. Ay caramba.

Firstly though, thanks to everyone for making yesterday's send off such a good one. I had the most fantastic time as I think those of you that saw me will probably bear witness to! The drinks party at the old flat was a laugh and the Tavern, in its first proper summer night guise was great and I actually spent more time outside than in. Can't believe it's my last time! Managed to hold the emotion in check though... but not sure how.

Secondly thanks to all those who brought cards and pressies and so on. Serious or jokey, they were all appreciated. And thanks for signing my book - it's still unread at the old flat for the moment - not sure when's the best time to read it! Maybe my first Sunday afternoon in Oz...

Finally, thanks to all the blog blokes - David, Jon, Ian, Rob and Scally (links to the left, I can't be arsed!). They have clubbed together and bought me www.minkered.com. Also, Scally's been busy creating a whole new look to start it off - thanks to all of you guys, it's great and such a brilliant idea. Oh what fun we'll have... once I've stopped laughing at the opening animation!

Quick blog in an internet cafe in York. Since the last proper update (and what you'll get tomorrow once the new phone lines are installed in the new flat) I've done the following:
Got depressed about leaving
Been to Hope
Been to the Tavern on one and a half hour's sleep
Packed up an entire flat with help from Richie and Martyn (and NO help from Nick!!)
Moved to Peckham from Elephant and Castle
Had my last dinner with Pilar
Slept late, tidied flat and done admin stuff.
Had Danny over for impromptu pizza dinner
Won the last ever pop quiz in fairytale fashion (Jon's version) (David's shorter version)
Travelled to York
Spent time with Dad in Whitby and York...

That's it for now. More and fuller details tomorrow.

Away until Friday. More blogging then. In new fab flat though. Yippee!!

I'm up and about and it's relatively early. Drinking at Barcode with Danny and Brad hasn't impaired my ability to clean I hope - that's on the cards for today. That and packing. That, packing and the gym. In no particular order. The new flat is clean, but needs that extra (gay man) clean before we move in there.

Had dinner with Steve in Balans last night and then went back to Barcode as above. Chatted with David too. Came home before it all got out of hand. Think it was a good move. Didn't sleep well but hey... I can sleep once I get to Oz!!

I'm a homo - ner!!!

I'm sorry, I'll start that once more from the top...

I'm a home-owner!! He he he. Again. Me and my lovely flat in Peckham are together - well for a couple of weeks at least. Yippee!! Finally got the keys at about 3.30pm today - marvellous. It's as nice as I remember it, which is just as well! Other than that - spent a nice day with Brett... we had lunch together and then wandered round Butler's Wharf and Tower Bridge. Nice.

Right. Enough already. Dinner at David's (cooked very nicely by Brett) was great last night. Nice to see Chatty Paul and Dino, Little Andrew and Chris and Nigel...

More later...

RETURN OF "LEAVING DO ARRANGEMENTS"...

Everyone...

OK - I've done one blog entry, but here goes nothing. I figure if I remind you enough times you'll turn up...

Sunday 24 June 2001 - 1pm onwards
7 Winchester Close
Hampton Street
London SE17 3DQ

Eat before (cheapskate that I am) and bring a bottle. Nibbles will be provided but that's about it.

I would guess (well I in fact know) that there will be mass exodus to the Royal Vauxhall Tavern sometime between 5pm and 7pm. Be prepared!

I'll also be down at the Tavern this Sunday for those of you that can't make it - please lemme know as I might be hitting somewhere beforehand this Sunday as I've mates down from Oooop North. Also please mention to anyone else I've forgotten... oh and feel free to bring partners etc...

It's Thursday and I'm up late and haven't done half the things I should have. Correction. I haven't done any of the things I should have. D'oh. I did manage to sleep a bit better though - well slightly. Tony's recommended some orthoxicol night time pills. Apparently excellent for both of hayfever and not sleeping.. will have to check them out.

Right, better crack on. Meant to be having lunch with Sarah, and hitting the gym before heading over to David's for dinner. No rest for the wicked :o)

Tired now. Should be in bed really, and will be going shortly. Today's list of things done:

Chased up everything on the house - AOK for Friday. Have vendor's phone number to call and talk about how the boiler works etc.
Letters posted
Estate agents given written faxed notice of leaving here
Tax office letter written and posted
Block front door key chased down
Appointment with lesbian removal company (no really)
Lunch with Roger (and Danny came and joined us)
Met lesbian. Fantastic. They pack and move your entire life for reasonable rates. Booked in for Monday. Yippee!!
Over to David P's for beers with Brett and then David when he got in. Dinner on me at Café Med. Home.
Internet chats to Danny.
Bed.
Zzzzzzz.........

Popular music quiz number god knows how many. We didn't do well (not in the words of Bruce Forsyth). A shamely 14/20 - and to make matters worse, the winners got 20/20. Really. Gits. But they didn't win the money. £103 up for grabs next week. I'm so going to be there... So, questions...

We started well with Goldfrapp, covering Physical from 1981. We struggled on the Kraftwerk covers round. We pooled our collective knowledge of Kraftwerk hits (Autobahn, Trans-Europe Express, The Model, Computer Love, Showroom Dummies, Tour de France) and picked at random. We picked The Model, Showroom Dummies, Autobahn. They picked The Robots (?), Showroom Dummies (yippee!), Trans-Europe Express. 2/4. Oh.

Next came the identify the female vocalist round. MTV watching helped us identify Kele Le Roc guesting on the Basement Jaxx single, and also Macy Gray bellowing on the Black Eyed Peas' single. Better. Next came the most inspired round. More covers. This time though we plumped for, correctly, The Damned, Marianne Faithful and Tiny Tim. Well done boys. A more respectable 6/8.

What happened next? We blew the Smiths round (as it were). We didn't know the next 6 words of 'I started something I couldn't finish' were 'Typical me, typical me, typical me'. D'oh. Better-ish on the new releases. Jonathan's round. He got Steps and You'll be sorry, Muse and Marti Pellow (though not the titles), We did know the title of MP's song was 3 words, but didn't come up with Close to You. Or Muse's New Born. We got New Love. Close but no cigar (as Thomas Dolby once said). We came good identifying I Monster and knowing the connection to All Seeing I. 9/13. Respectable. (Cue singing from David, Jonathan and Dave).

Next, the Richard Cheese round. Cheesy covers. We missed Papa Roach, but got both Garbage and the Dead Kennedys. Finally into the 90's intro round. Somewhat skillfully we identified Lenny Kravitz (Are you gonna go my way?), Blur (Chemical World) and the Breeders (Cannonball). True to form we guessed a year too early, 1993 being correct. 14/20.

Must try harder.

Next week my pretties...

Pop quiz ce soir. But what about the rest of the day I hear you ask? Well, as per the note before last, I had shit to sort. And I didn't do that badly.

Gave notice on this place to the agent (letter to write).
Gave notice on this place to the landlord.
Paid bills, cancelled standing orders and updated house accounts.
Spoke to tax people (letter to write).
Birthday card to Alistair.
Made doctor's appointment.
Let man in to survey apartment.
Did the gym.
Ate too much - sushi, tuna and pasta bake, gruyère and caramelised onion bread, apple juice.
Shaved.
Met Stevie P, Baby Tom and Footballer Lee in Barcode.
Pop quiz. Oh really...

D'oh. My template has disappeared. Anyone else having the same problem??

Drowning under a sea of life admin calls and paperwork.
Got to give notice on this place and close off all bills, direct debits etc.
Got to replace the front door key of the block that got thrown out with the rubbish.
I need to chase up a tax rebate and declare myself non-resident for tax purposes from the end of the month.
Got to set up all the bills and direct debits for the new place.
Arrange to meet/speak to the vendors to see how things like boilers and so on work.
Change addresses to the new one in Oz where appropriate.
Arrange to move - get a man with a van or hire one myself (I vowed NEVER to move myself again but...).
Sort out a will.
Give clothes to charity (not all of them).

I'm sure there's more. Actually that doesn't sound too bad. Oh, and I'm off to the gym today too. Yippee.

Right then - let's get on with it...

You know something? Since I've lived in London, I've always been curious to see what the London Underground map would look like if drawn to scale geographically, rather than the fantastically designed but ultimately misleading version we're all familiar with. I've even considered doing it myself, tracing over pages of the A-Z and completed with coloured pens. Sad, eh? Well now I don't have to, thanks to David. Click here for the map, and whilst you're at it, read all about David's walk across old London town. My life is now complete.

Another weeking packed choc-a-block full of minkering. Saturday night had arranged to meet up with Danny in Barcode (for a change). Dave from Brighton was in town, and soon there were us three, Dan's friend John (very nice indeed!!), Mark, Rodge, Tom and a mate of his. Several beers later we decided to hit Crash - well it seemed only fair. By 12.30am there we were - dancing and laughing and generally having a good time. As if by magic, Darryl was also there, and he persuaded me to go to Trade - well it seemed only fair. By 6.30am there we were - and we stayed havin' it large until midday - well, Darryl left a little earlier. Finally made my way home and chatted to Nick. Forced some poached eggs down me and managed a full one hours sleep before Nick came back from the gym and it was time to go to the Vauxhall.

Another fun night - lots of people there, though some of the usual crowd away on hols and so on. James (Tony's ex) turned up as a nice surprise and Stevie P and Richard made an appearance later. The music was great for some reason last night. Marvellous. Finally home just around midnight and quick emails before bed.

Today's been a bit of a nothing so far. Up, email, shower, nice chat to Tony. Working out what to do with the rest of the day now my head's a bit less fuzzy. After all, I've only got to pack up a house, move, rent out that place, close down all my affairs here and emigrate. Should have that sorted by about 3pm then...

Saturday night's alright for... blogging.

We will be remembering 8 June for a number of reasons. Apart from birthdays previously mentioned, it was also Andy's birthday and he called from Sitges to say he was having a good time. Bless. Also, waiting for me in my inbox was a job offer from Pacific Online in Australia. Hence the note below. Fantastic. Am very excited. Looks like I'll be starting that on around 9 July. Have two specific sites to look after - TV Hits and The 'K' Zone. No, really.

Also, I finally exchanged contracts on the flat. I'll get the keys on Friday 15 June and will probably be spending most of next weekend moving. I need a man with a van I think! So, everything coming together nicely. Only bit of bad news is that Garry isn't going to be my flatmate in Oz, as he can't wait the three weeks until I arrive before getting an apartment. Shame. Was looking forward to it, but I guess I'll have to find someone else. If that's all I have to do there, it's not going too badly!

Booked my ticket too. 27 June, 10.15pm. Ay caramba.

Met Danny for lunch, had a haircut, hit the gym with Nick, had some scran and hot footed it back into town to Barcode. Met up with James (Tony's ex) for beers and a good time was had by all. Other protaganists: Nick, Little Stuart, Little Ian, Architect Rob and his mate Brent. Stayed in Barcode until late and finally home. Not alone... :o)

Up this morning. Lovely brunch at Mike and Nick's with Jason. All lovely men. Home and veg out. We like slobby days. Away to ablute. Laters...

Dave Boyes
Executive Producer - Youth Entertainment
Pacific Online

Nice ring to it, don't you think??

:o) Big time.

It's birthday time - Happy Bidet to my nephew Andy who is 25 today, and to my niece Melissa who is the grand old age of 16. Have a great day guys... Love from Uncle Hedgehog xox P.S. Mel - hope the GCSE's are going OK!

Strange day today. Couldn't get going. Couldn't even be bothered to be apathetic. After the interview I kind of flagged. Messed about on the PC for a lot of the day. Did lots and lots of emails and finally got the leaving do mail out and up. Loaded some Web Design stuff on here tonight. In between did bugger all really. I must do stuff tomorrow. Lots and lots of stuff. Looking forward to having very little planned for the weekend. Drink with James Mc Friday, lunch Jason, Mike and Nick Saturday and beers later on with Danny and Dave. Tavern Sunday. Minker lite. Marvellous. (The state I'm in, not the Sunday night at Sub South where I'd be in a state - there is a difference).

I also need to get this thing out of diary mode and back into true Blog mode - gone are my obtuse links, my witty (well sometimes) ramblings about god only knows. All play and no work is making Little Dave a dull boy. I now know what I got out of working at Chrysalis - the time to blog. The time is now.

LEAVING DO ARRANGEMENTS PART ONE

Everyone... I've done an e-mail out, but there are bound to be people I've forgotten! Keep watching Minkered... for more updates, but plans are as follows:

24 June 2001

Venue to be finally confirmed, but it'll most likely be at this flat in Elephant followed by a trip down to the Royal Vauxhall Tavern. Bring a bottle to the party and eat, as we'll be too minkered to be messing around with food! There'll be some nibbles mind you...

If you can't make the 24th, let me know as I think I'll try and do a smaller get together for those that can't on the previous Sunday, the 17th. If you can't make either lemme know and we'll arrange something else. Oh, and in a shock move I'll be at the Tavern for the next 3 Sundays so you can always get me there...

Let anyone else know you think I may have forgotten!!!

OK - here we are. Fresh from second interview for job in Oz I'm ready to blog. Interview was OK - probably not as good as the first, but we'll just have to wait and see...

Last night's list - those questions answered.
Andy from Manchester - lovely man. Is going to turn out to be a good friend I think/hope. Bless.
Brett and David P - currently in Amsterdam until Saturday. All seems well - both lovely guys and hope they make a go of it! Selfishly that means that they'll probably be in Sydney (or at least Oz) so I get to see more of them...
Uni leaving crowd did turn up on Saturday save Soph. Good to see everyone and their gaggle of kids!! Thanks again to Lisa for hosting it so graciously.
My niece is 18. Yikes. Mind you, my nephews are 27 and 25 by the end of the month so I'm kind of used to it. Poor old Uncle Hedgehog...
Heaven... Queue hell, so didn't make it. Good job, as the guys didn't stay long. Not great apparently.
Tavern was fun on Sunday. Gym before which was great, but I did feel v. minkered. Might have been that, might have been lots of mates, might have been the 'only 3 more to go' feeling. Might have been having Brett there minkering for Western Australia. Either way, couldn't stop at midnight and hit the LA3 with David O and Baby Tom. Fun there too and so we hit the Orange. I've yet to work out why. Home at 10am. Yikes.
TUC biscuits. Philadelphia cheese. Peanut butter. Coffee. Yorkie Bar. These are the diet choices of one so minkered.
2 days all points north (including Watford). Deposit monies paid - waiting to hear about completion date. Fingers crossed for June 15.
The local (ex-)vicar in Dunnington is actually a friend of the family, and he does indeed imbibe and use the odd expletive. Good for him.
Gin. :o) Will be sticking to voddie mainly still...
Leaving do confirmation - I'll get onto that right now. Looks like 24 June (venue to be confirmed) with those unable to make that having a secondary leaving do on 17 June. After both and indeed this Sunday you can catch me at the Vauxhall too. Oh, and you can check down there on 1 July. I won't be there (sniff).

OK kiddiewinkies: tomorrow's exciting instalment will have us back to real time again. Things to gladden your day and put your hat at a jaunty angle will be:

Andy from Manchester: just what is happening?
Brett from Perth WA arrives: will he and David P sail off into the sunset?
University friends: did they turn up at Lisa's on Saturday?
Did I make it to my lovely niece Julia's 18th birthday party?
Heaven Saturday night - Heaven, or Hell?
Tavern Sunday - why was I so minkered, and how the hell did Nick and I make the gym beforehand?
LA3/The Orange. Why oh why oh why?
TUC biscuits. The new gods.
Flying visits to York. Why are solicitors so slow?
Why was the local vicar drinking and swearing with me and my Dad in the local last night?
Have I finally exchanged on the house? If not, why the hell was I in Watford? (If so, why Watford anyway?)
Finally, I have rediscovered gin. Oh dear. (Sob!). It made me watch Jumpin' Jack Flash tonight on Channel 5.
There is no hope.
Except for 16th June, when it's on again in Brixton apparently.
Oh, and leaving do email confirmation in the morning.
After my job interview. I know how to pack a lot in.

Laters guys... and apols once again for breaks in transmission. It's not that easy to buy a house and emigrate and look for work and flatmates in two countries all at once!! Hey ho. Life could be worse...

Zzzzzzzzzzz........

Yes. I'm back. Almost a week since last posting. Well, there has been a post strike in the capital. Groan. More later - this to see if it republishes to the right day (there have been problems with Blogger you know)...