OK. This is something that occurred to me on the train yesterday and I didn't get chance to blog it yesterday. I'm wondering if this'll start a meme but if so I'm not sure I want to put my hand up to say that I started it. I was listening to ABC's fantastic How To Be A Zillionaire from 1985, as there's a track called 15 Storey Halo that I've been trying to mix into some other stuff for my 'songs from now and then' stylee mix CD. However as it came on yesterday another thought struck me, and it was this. If I were ever to do drag (unlikely I think, but living in Sydney you should never say never) this is the song I'd love to do drag to. If you know the number, then you might be able to see (hear) what I mean. If you don't know the song, try and find it somewhere and listen to it with parading drag queens in mind. It's almost perfect - big, bold, brassy, upbeat and so almost overproduced you're left breathless by about halfway through the song (when the barbershop quartet harmonies kick in - I told you it was almost perfect!). It kicks off with a stomping beat, followed by some audacious brass stabs and a few Latin tongue-rolling rrrrrrrrrrr's. The bass rolls in like thunder in the mountains (though look where that got Toyah these days) and we're off. It's almost a big band style number updated for the 80s but still sounding good today. I'd be happy to hear it out in a club (but that's probably just me!).

"Bottle blondes and beachboys might marvel at the size
But honey something that big you know the best don't advertise
Has no-one ever told you you gotta body build to last?
But with that 15 storey deadstop you're going nowhere, and fast
10-20-30-40! 15 storey halo! 10-20-30-40! 15 storeys high!
10-20-30-40! 15 storey halo! 10-20-30-40? 7 miles wide! 7 miles wide!"

Great drag queen lyrics. I can picture the dance steps (lots of tap as you back away, fingers snapping), the hand movements (I wonder what you could do for 7 miles wide for a drag performance??) the whole shebang (no, not Ricky Martin. But then again... it's kind of Latin-y...). 2 minutes in and the song's still bowling along at 100 miles an hour at this point (you'd have to be a fit drag queen believe you me) and then we get a bit of a change. We drop down to an almost spoken next bridge:

"And so you meet this guy a regular Galahad
A real house-trained barbarian
And so you drop him like a bad habit
But anything that comes along you grab it (you grab it!)!"

This is sung with close harmonies and the song explodes again on the final "you grab it!" building up into a huge crescendo followed by some repeated lyrics and harmonies backed by sweeping synth chords as the song finally loses some of it's energy and calms to a much slower end (I'm not surprised, it's probably knackered at that point - if I were dancing to it I know I would be!!). It would probably need to fade just after the crescendo in reality as I think 5'30" is probably a little too long for a drag number. Maybe not. Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself, as it's not like it's going to happen is it? Is it?? Is it??? Maybe I should offer to produce it for some local drag queens - I kid you not there's so much oomph in that song it'd knock any crowd dead.

So, if you were to do drag (or have done), what song would you do it to and why? Comment away please.

In a moment of realised illiquidity this morning, I grabbed a handful of coins as I fled the house to enable me to buy breakfast. I really wanted coffee, juice and toast. The total of all of that at the cafe downstairs? $6.00. The total of my change? $6.10. :o) Happy Jan.

OK. A quick round up to bring us up to date on this autumnal Tuesday morning. Wednesday did end up to be a night of cleaning and tidying. We've heard nothing from the real estate people other than them leaving their card so am assuming all was OK with the inspection. Thursday night... ah yes. Very quick beer with Jason and Tim (and Garry as it turned out) at the Colombian before going over to Rich and Russ's for food and Charmed. Ah, back in the old routine (except for this series being shown on a Thursday instead of Tuesday). Russ did a great Thai meal - fishcakes and then chicken curry and the four of us (Steve Atkins joined us) got pleasantly squiffy on some nice wine too. Marvellous. Friday was more of the same. I had coffee with one of the many David's at Comity at 6pm, before joining Rich and Russ and Adrian at the Courthouse for cheap food, whence we wandered and coffeed and wandered some more. Home at 10.30pm and that was that! PC/music stuff and bed around 1am.

Le weekend: fairly uneventful. I had such events planned, but they weren't to be. The gym relaunch. Woke up, felt a bit woozy so decided not to go. Finally headed down to meet R'n'R, Adrian and Michael in Kings Cross for a bit of a change of locale. We had a bit of a mooch round and then had another coffee down there. It was all getting a bit much so we adjourned back to Rich and Russ's and then took a drive out to have a look at progress on their new flat and a quick shop at Marrackville. (It was all go, trust me). Home and veg out. Steak, the Bill, chats to Garry - which culminated in a late let's go out for beers. Out at 11.30pm, home again at 2.30am - Shift and very, very briefly to the Phoenix (so not in the mood).
Sunday was meant to be healthy too. I failed. Jason texted me at 8.30am to say he had no balls and did I have any? Tennis was off then. We decided to play later and both went back to sleep. I woke at 11.15am and waited for him to call with rearranged time. He finally called at 3.30pm, by which time I'd messed around with music and the PC, and turned down an offer to go to the movies. (I should have gone!). Jason then found out that the courts were all booked and so that was the end of that! Bored by this point I did the only sensible thing and went off for an internet shag. Of course as soon as I turned my phone off, the calls came flooding in... Pete, Dave, Rich - all wondering about catching up for beers. Bugger. Hey ho. In the end I met up with Pete and R'n'R in the Shift. Canadian John was there too. Fun night. Home not long after midnight.

Yesterday. Got a couple of dullish days at work. Concentrating on re-setting up my flights (all my flights changed numbers and so all my special eventing parameters become invalid and need re-doing) to perform in certain ways. Very systemsy. Very monotonous. Should alleviate some of the day to day grunt when all's done though. More mixing last night - should have a couple of CDs ready to launch on my friends very soon. One's a mix of 80s/new electroclash stuff, the other is recent dance stuff. Looking forward to feedback! Had a good long chat with Dave about Buddhism and hiking; caught up with UK mates on the net; stumbled on an old work colleague too - most bizarre. Stayed up too late. Tired now. Sore eyes - and lots of computer work today. Joy.

Hmmm - I'm not sure which is the more grey: the rain-filled sky or my overdue for a haircut hair :o)

My opening gambit (and no, that's not something Joanna Lumley ever said to Gareth Hunt in an episode of the Avengers in answer to the question "Where shall I put my hand Purdey?") on the last post prompted a surge of comments. Well one. Recently, that classifies as a surge. David spotted my Undertones lyric and it sent him into a flurry of nostalgia. This give me an excuse to do two things: also get nostalgic and remember just how good the Undertones were - go see their official website and remember such classics as It's Going to Happen, Julie Ocean, Jimmy Jimmy etc; and sneak in a link to The Jeevas, my nephew Andy's band fronted by former Kula Shaker frontman Crispian Mills. There is a reason for the link - I caught the Jeevas live whilst back in London recently and they opened the set with You've Got my Number (soon to be appearing on their forthcoming long player). I'd not heard those opening bars for a number of years, but I knew instantly what the song was and it sent shivers down my spine. The crowd went wild :o)

Wednesday week she loved me. Wednesday week never happened at all...

Dull, duller, dullest. Having the greatest of difficulty getting back into the swing of things since holidaying in the mother country. It's no great desire to come back - not at all, but more of a general fuck-you to all things routine and mundane. Bored of work, bored of things outside of work, no cash, no enthusiasm. I can only seem to find the energy to sit around and discuss how dull I'm finding everything. It'll pass. I'll kick myself out of it very soon.

Meantime, things trundle on in limbo.
Monday - dull day at work plus suffering the weekend's excesses. Food at home; PC play; attempt to re-mix the music files I'd lost; anger when I couldn't; read; sleep.
Tuesday - dull day at work plus still suffering the weekend's excesses. Food at home; beers with Gary on the strip; home; PC play; attempt to re-mix the music files I'd lost; partial success; read; sleep.
Wednesday - dull day at work so far. Plans to tidy the flat (the owner's coming for an inspection tomorrow); food at home; PC play; yada yada yada.

Bored. Listless (and you never normally find me without a list). I need to get back at the gym, and going on Saturday for the official relaunch. Catching up with people over the weekened and hoping to fit the beach and a game of tennis in there. Things could be worse I guess.

Tell me why I don't like Mondays. Coz of all the weekend minkering of course! Let me cast my mind back to Friday night and see what eventually eventuated. Coffee with Adrian was had Friday night after popping home from work to get changed and sorted. We then had another coffee as the street was busy being Mardi Gras time so we sat around oggling the men. Can think of worse things to be doing... From there met Jason in the Colombian very briefly before heading down to the East Village Rooftop Bar for Andy Palmer's 40th birthday. Relatively quiet on arrival, it soon filled up with plenty of familiar faces. We ended up staying until not long shy of midnight before heading down to the Barracks as we couldn't let it lie. Spent lots of time with John, Bruce and Allan, Tim and Ross and Dave. Drunkenly home around 2am-ish and fell into a stupor.

Saturday was a weird old day. I was in a weird old mood which kind of festered the more the day progressed. Up at a reasonable time to go and check out the new interim gym (ours is closing for 6-8 weeks whilst it moves location). Back to meet up with the boys for brekky as Russ and Rich flew in that morning from Bangkok. Great to see them again - it seems so much longer than 2 weeks days since I'd left them in Blighty. We did more coffee after that and then just pottered a while. I felt the need to lock myself away so was home by 3pm. Did lots of laundry and stuff and organised for an acquaintance to pop over to further our acquaintance... and waited and waited until finally realising that he wasn't going to show. Bugger. Hate that. Hate it even more when you're in such a vile mood and just want some good old fashioned uncomplicated sex to get it all out of your system. Any road up. So I just pottered more until a message came through from Reed - a friend of Tom and Jake and Richard from the UK - saying that we'd met at the Vauxhall whilst on holidays and that he was in town and did I fancy a beer? Cool. I'd already made my decision that I wouldn't go to Mardi Gras, and a couple of beers instead sounding like just the thing. Didn't see the parade either - think I was just a bit party/gay-ed out after all the clubbing and stuff back in the UK. So beers at the Shift and the Barracks. Nice to meet Reed properly and we had a bit of a laugh. Home by 2.30am for me.

Set the alarm to do Recovery at the Shift for 7.15am, but was too bleary eyed when it went off to actually move until about 8.15am. Got to the Shift about 9am and things were still relatively quiet. Pete and David were first to arrive about 9.30am and then more and more people I knew arrived from the party. It was good apparently. The Shift was also great fun. Spent time with Rich and Russ and then time with Gary. Finally it was thinning out around 4.30pm so Gary and I reconvened downstairs. Chatted to a few more friends and then Garry arrived. Gary left. A few more people arrived. Rich and Russ turned up. A guy called Trevor (who I'd met in a drunken snogfest at the Shift the weekend before Christmas) arrived. He asked if he could take me home. Who was I to argue?

Tired and a bit bleary eyed. Probably a belated hangover from last night. Beers with Jason turned into further beers with Allan and John; and then Pete; and then pizza; and then the Oxford; and then the Barracks with lots of people. Home around 1am so not too bad. Have been wishing the day away today. Not the best thing really but it's almost hometime and therefore almost coffee with Adrian time. Pete and Tony have kept me going through the day with email missives - most everyone else I know and email regularly is on holiday today. Andy Palmer's birthday bash tonight. And then we'll see what else the evening brings...

Thursday afternoon. 3 posts in 4 days. Surely some mistake? Soon they may even have quirky links back in them. One step at a time. Actually I went back and was reading my blog from 2 years ago - I missed Minkered's 2nd birthday whilst in a heap somewhere in Blighty: it used to be so much more fun! I'll see what I can do. Meantime... no gym last night. I said I felt like being reckless. Well not quite reckless in the end. Got home and Garry and I decided to do beers. It was fun, though I've realised why I don't really have any great desire to go back regularly to the Oxford (vile, 1 beer) or the Stonewall (viler, couldn't even bring ourselves to stay for 1 beer). I wandered home a bit merry by about 10.30pm - relatively sensible. The same can't be said for Garry who rolled in sometime around 2.30am. Good boy. Have not had any interest in work at all today. Am treading water until post Mardi Gras when my mind may be a little more focused...

Beers with Jason tonight in the Colombian. No gym for Davie... it's Mardi Gras time. Let's have some fun!

Wednesday afternoon and I think the late night at the weekend is catching up with me. Actually it's overtaken me, turned round and is currently slapping me across the face with a wet haddock whilst laughing maniacally. Great. Well not a great deal to report. Monday night was a very quiet time. Chats to Garry; Pete popped over for a cuppa; beans on toast; quick internet play and bed before 10pm. For the best.

Yesterday was a slow day at work, rather like today. Willing the time to disappear didn't really seem to help and I busied myself with spring cleaning my hotmail account. A nicer evening. Met up with John for coffee - who is seemingly a very nice man. Bright and fun. We had a good chat and then once done I joined Garry in the Colombian for his birthday drinks. Caught up briefly with Brett and Brendan before joining Garry, Mat, Richard, Jeff and, somewhat weirdly, Darrin - a guy from Brisbane I know only from chatting online. We had a few beers and a bit of a laugh and then I decided I'd had enough and needed food. Pete joined me for that and then home time for Davie. Bed around 11.30pm when Garry came in.

Up early ish today as the TV repairman was due at 8am. And no, he's not cute. This repair has been going on since November, but finally all of the speakers have been replaced and I now have fantastic sound on the TV. He's taken the CD player off to replace the mechanism too, as it's been slipping a while. So, by the weekend I'll have a fantastic CD player that doesn't skip and that sounds fantastic. What I won't have is any money. Total cost of repairs, parts and labour? Try $1300. Bugger me. I've just been paid yesterday. I have exactly that amount free on my credit card (having transferred most of said pay). That leaves me with about $200 in the bank and about $100 in my wallet to last 2 weeks. Over Mardi Gras. And I am Old Mother Hubbard in every sense of the phrase. So, quiet times ahead it would seem. Very quiet times indeed. Lots of staying in and playing music and watching DVDs with fabulous sound at least. And I'm miserable about the lack of Barracks recovery. And now I'm back I'm getting more and more interested about doing MG. Bugger. Watch this space. Back at the gym tonight, though I fancy just doing something reckless. Oh dear. Lock up your daddies.

Monday 3.05pm. Rough as a badger's arse. Actually that's not true. I deserve to feel like that but in fact just feel a little jaded and scattered. 5 and a bit days back home - and quite a bit I've managed to pack into that time let me tell you. The morning I arrived back after my 36 hour Tokyo trek I thought I'd flake out. Not so! Seems I'm made of sterner stuff (or at least I've conditioned my body to survive on almost no sleep like some bizarre SAS training ritual). Instead I grabbed brekky from the local café, made lots of phone calls (Adrian, Garry, Gary, Dave, Pete) and did plenty of washing in the new machine that Garry had organised in my absence. Marvellous. Then it was out for coffee with Adrian at 5pm, segueing nicely into beers with Gary and Mark at the Colombian just after 6pm. Held out until about 9pm and then it was quick eat then home. Bed around 10.30pm ? well done me! Thursday was the start of the old routine. Into work which was quite nice - think it was just the novelty of being back though. Thursday night was drinks with Jason at the Colombian before he went off to tennis, also bumping into Dave. Dinner with Adrian then back for a quick beer with the aforementioned Mr Puls. Back to the ranch before bed post internet shenanigans. Friday wasn't so great. As alluded to earlier I think the reality of being back started to kick in and so things certainly weren't as rosy as they had been. Friday night was beers with Jason and then dinner at the Thai place opposite the Colombian. The gang was going off to Manacle so we went round to Tim's for a beer or two. You'd have been proud of me - in spite of numerous efforts to persuade me to join them, I refused - preferring to save myself for my 'official' relaunch at the Azure (Harbour) Party on Sunday. They all toddled off the Taylor Square, I went home. Yay for Davie!!

Saturday morning was up and about in time for Video Hits. Gary popped in for tea and biccies and we ended up spending the best part of the day together. Brunch, coffees and meandering up and down Oxford Street in and out of Shop Yourself Stupid seemed to be all the rage. Swopped one coffee partner for the next as Dave and I caught up at Pelago's in Victoria Street. Wandered back to Potts Point where Dave entertained me a while (and vice versa!). Back to Oxford Street and if it's Saturday night it must be beers with Pete. And Colin. And Ant and Michael who happened to be passing. Showing remarkable restraint more than once in a few days I bowed out early and headed back to the house around 10pm after stuffing my face with Hungry Jack's. Sunday was another 9.30am start, with not much actually done though save brekky with Pete, a quick trip to Adrian's and another coffee with Pete and Crusty. Made myself beautiful for Azure and headed over to Dave's for pre-party vodka. We listened to music as a couple of people came and went and then it was time to head down to the party itself. It really is the most incredible location. For those that don't know, the Harbour Party as was (Azure Party as now is) is set by the side of the harbour in the Botanic Gardens with views of the city skyline, Bridge and Opera House. So imagine if you will that as an outdoor clubbing environment - great music, sexy men and great views. Oh, and the rain held off. Yippee! Once we got there Dave, Mark and I went out separate ways as wanderlust took hold. In fact I couldn't settle into dancing even though the music was OK (Paul Goodyear's set). However I did manage to settle into Mandy Rollins' set, which was more Bad Doggy and much more my cup of tea. In the interim I just meandered about, taking in the ambulance and catching up with lots of people that I'd not seen since the holiday. Fun. About 8.30pm though I was in a loved up melee with Jason, Tim, Stewart, Ross, Patrick and a few others coming and going. Great fun. The views change as the sun goes down and the light shows and shows kick in. Marvellous. Of course we couldn't let it lie and so as it shut at midnight we were already planning our assault on the next venue. The Phoenix. Dave was there and Jason came and joined us too. Not satisfied with that though we ended up at the Shift and despite a 4am curfew I only left at 4.50am because Dave told me to! Thanks mate. I'd have most probably still been there otherwise! Still minkered I played on the internet a wee while and finally fell into bed around 5.40am. Up at 7.30am and so work hasn't been the most focused I've ever been it has to be said. A quiet week on the cards I think. Not going to go to the Mardi Gras party next weekend. I'll go to a recovery but that's all. Think it's probably wise...

Friday afternoon. At work. I think the reality of being back here is kicking in. Oh dear. The good news is that I seem to have escaped the whole jet lag thing. Not sure how, but not going to complain too much. Maybe sleeping at random for 4 weeks has had something to do with it. The run up to leaving was pretty frantic, with sleep being snatched at the following intervals:

Thu 13 – 4 hours sporadic sleep, perched on bed edge with lots of snoring (Rich!)
Fri 14 – 9 hours (the most in a long while)
Sat 15 – none
Sun 16 – 4 and a half (interrupted only long enough to switch off the alarm at 6.30am)
Mon 17 – 1 hour (on the flight to Tokyo)
Tue 18 – 3 hours (at Tokyo airport)
Wed 19 – 4 hours early morning (flight from Tokyo to Sydney) + 8 hours overnight
Thu 20 – 6 and a half hours

So, if you’d like to avoid jet lag, please sleep in the preceding pattern. OK. Think it’s time to leg it, as everyone else in my team has gone, including the boss.

Back with a few more coins to retype Friday through until now as promised... though I have had to court the evil that is Starbucks to get the coins. So, post Pilar I went and got my hair cut and then met Stevie P at old work. Chrysalis now looks like a real radio station having expanded into a new building and had a makeover - very professional. Went to Bob's for beers (Bob's being the local after-work bar) and spent the night chatting mostly to Lisa and Angela. Off with Steve to Earl's Court for nosh - it was going to be Balan's but we settled for Pizza Express in the end. Tired and a bit merry we headed home - there had been talk of making a night of it, but we crashed.

Saturday must be go and see the apartment day. Nice to see the old place, and to catch up with Nicola and to see how well they've been looking after the place. I knew they'd be OK, but it's still reassuring. Took lots of photos! Off to Wimbledon again - I've done a fair old tour of the suburbs this trip that's for sure - this time for brunch with Sal and Gus from Borders. Back into London for a long overdue clothes shopping spree and then back to Balham. If it's Saturday it must be XXL - though this time it was prefaced with a very nice dinner at Jon and Mark's. XXL fun again - Danny and his friend Michael met us there and also Max and DL turned up. Fun. Thence to Trade, for their one off Valentines Day Party. It was great for the boys to see Trade is it is unique. Met up with Kay and Tara and crew and had a blast. A very minkered one at that. Stumbled out of there around 11am and then on to the Vauxhall Tavern via Jon and Mark's and Balham for me. No repeat of the late arrival this time and so one by one the gang all arrived until it was going off. Great fun. We were almost partied out and so only made it briefly to Chemistry at Crash for a last boogie. Home around 4am I think and bed. Slept through the alarm and so didn't even get chance to stand by for the earlier direct flight to Sydney.

What a great holiday. Big thanks for Rich and Russ for making it so much fun and for all the gang back in the UK for making it extra special. I'll rant on at length about what I thought about being back in London etc., but for now it's almost time to go through to the departure lounge. A bit of reading I think. My body clock is so all over the place from this week that I've no idea what time it currently thinks it is. I'm hoping I'll confuse it so much it'll almost be back to normal by the time I land tomorrow morning!

Bugger. Just lost half the last post and no more coins for the moment. I'll be back later to retype Friday through Sunday. Bugger, bugger bugger.

Er. Who? What? Where? What the hell happened to the last 3 and a half weeks? Someone's been creating little ripples in the space time continuum again haven't they? It's the only possible solution to us seemingly just leaving for England and me now sitting here at Tokyo airport where I have a lovely 9 hour (count 'em!) stopover before the connection down to Sydney.

The rest of the time in York went as described. Lovely to see Bob, Con and Carol though everyone's starting to look so much older. Life goes on I guess. Was slightly worried about Dad driving back from Scarborough as he was almost falling asleep at the wheel and hadn't changed the insurance so I could drive. That kind of thing really worries me as it's stuff like that which could be the end of him - let's hope not though. We stopped for coffee on the way back and then just hit the pub later for a couple of pints. Thursday was more relaxed. Up to the cemetery as I mentioned in the last post and then into York for lunch. And that was that. I'll fill in some more details about my attitude to York in another follow up post, but suffices to say I was breathing more easily as the train pulled out of the station. Nipped back to Balham then out to meet Andy and Sue for dinner at the Union Café. Very nice too and great to see them both. I then decided to meet up with the boys at Central Station to see what was going down. As it were. And people were :o)

Went back to Jon and Mark's with Rich and Russ as it was easier than doing Balham. Had to be up and off early in the morning though as I was to meet Pilar. We eventually ended up meeting in Wimbledon and having lunch at Est Est Est. Very nice. Lovely to catch up with Pilar too - good old talk about life, the universe etc.

Lordy lordy lordy. Rapidly running out of time and money! Where did I leave you all? Ah yes, last Friday. Had a lovely dinner with David and Brett and before you could say beer monster we were in Barcode. As were lots of others. Suddenly as if by magic we were at Sleaze at Crash again. And yet again it was fantastic. And yet again we ended up at the Orange. It's all a bit hazy (I wonder why?). We had Dez with us this time as we finally managed to hook up with him after a few false starts.

Saturday was a day for seeing sisters, so I arrived back at Steve's at around 10am expecting to find loads of messages saying 'Where are you?'. Fortunately Karen had had her leaving do the night before and so they weren't up and about either. Headed over to Richmond and met sisters for brunch. Scrambled eggs and toast was about all I could manage. Went to see Sue's new house and saw Jules again which was lovely. Back to Balham and out to XXL for the second week running. Dez was there, as were Jon and Mark; Tony and Roger; Steve and Audrey, Andrew, Max and DL... and again it was great. Fun men, fun music. Fun! And of course we couldn't resist the lure of Beyond for another night. Hey ho. What are we like? Again it was great. Max left early and so I snogged DL for a while. Can't remember being so twatted in ages! Finally stumbled (quite literally folks) out of there around 9.30am and back to Steve's. Who was of course in major sort out mode and full of the joys of spring! I finally had some kip from around 11.30am and woke around 4.30pm, having missed lunch with Danny and Rob and Wayne. Bugger. Headed down to the Tavern and of course were too late to get in before the show. How's this for dedication? We queued for almost 3 hours to get in. Mad. But once in... ay caramba!! All the gang were there. And then some. The lovely Richard who I snuggled with on the sofa at Sexy's Dave's in Brighton was there. We got reacquainted.:o) Sexy Dave himself was there too - flown in from Stuttgart specially bless him. Fortunately the time seemed to last forever. At one point I was in the middle of Dave, Brett, Rich, Russ and Adrian and I swear if they'd have all moved out of the way quickly I'd have keeled over! Still, well worth it. Finally we were kicked out with the trash and decided not to go on. Yay. Back to David and Brett's where I collapsed in a heap after a cup of tea.

Slept until 10am Monday morning. Brett came back from the gym and eventually headed back to Balham. Had lunch with David O in Kennington and then dinner and a few drinks with Danny in Clapham. Bed around midnight. Up to York yesterday. Lunch with Dad and then a relaxing afternoon. Out for drinks with Nels last night which was great. Good to see him after so long. Weird we've known each other for 33 years or so... Today it's into York for an update on here and then lunch with Dad, Uncle Bob (yes Bob really is my uncle!), Auntie Con and godmother Carol. Yippee. Then the local pub tonight with Dad as it's my last night here. It would have been Mum's birthday tomorrow so Dad and I are going up to the cemetery tomorrow to give it a spruce up and leave flowers and stuff before I head back down to London. Glad I'm here tomorrow as I think it'll make things a bit easier for Dad. Hey ho.

Right. That's it. Time to go and buy some clothes I think. More later. I'm actually now looking forward to getting back to Sydney and some sort of normality.... honest!

Way too quick, but here's a brief synopsis - there'll be a full update after the weekend...
Did my time in York and ended up back in London a week ago via Peterborough for a snatched lunch with Charlotte. The weekend was a bit of a haze, but featured Taboo, the Boy George musical, Central Station (a bar for those Aussies wondering), phone nightmares, dinner with the university crew (good fun), on to XXL to meet the boys (also great fun and a Dave speciality memory trick on one bloke I met 4 years ago), a trip to Bermondsey (!), my sister's birthday bash, the Vauxhall again, LA3 and the Orange and finally a day of rest (Monday).

Tuesday we hit Dublin which was a bit disappointing, but then who would rate Sydney after a Tuesday and Wednesday nights? The place itself has some cool bits, and we ended up doing a bit of a trek down the coast to see some proper scenery which was great. It's now Friday and a day of sightseeing once I've sorted some money disasters out. We'll get there! Seeing David and Brett tonight and then day with sisters tomorrow then probably XXL again. Sunday is the Tavern and beyond that.. who knows!

It's weird. Arriving here feels like a holiday with Australia as home. That's the first time it's felt like that way around. Sure the scene here is fantastic, and it's really great to catch up with the gang again, but the quality of life that Australia offers is much more what I want. Overall anyway. I'm in for an interesting time over the next few days as something's brewing with my sisters in terms of a big argument I think. We'll see. I hope not.

I'm hating it here in York I have to say. It's great to see my Dad, though as I mentioned earlier it does do my head in after a little while. I need to be more tolerant though, that's for sure. I'll never lose it with Dad but I wish he'd do more with his time - no real hobbies and so on. I don't think he's happy, but he's unwilling rather than unable to do more stuff. Talking to him about it draws a big blank. Hmm. See what sisters suggest. York itself is so smalltown it's untrue. I look at the people here and want to scream at them to spread their wings and see something of the world. Beyond Club 18-30 holidays to Ibiza that is. I can't believe that some mates still live here, and have done most all of their lives - are they happy? I guess that's not my call. I just know I could never be here. OK, more thoughts from Chairman Mao soon.

So Tuesday morning came a bit too early and soon I was at King's Cross for the 10am departure to York. Read all the way whilst listening to music and soon I was here at midday. Lovely to see Dad again, though within 10 minutes he was driving me mad! I must learn to be more tolerant and realise I won't see him probably for another 2 years. Calm your short temper Boyesie! I've been OK with him actually - the short-temperedness is all just in my head... so far! Wandered back into town in the afternoon and had a look for a phone battery for me - no go. Oh well. I'll struggle along with this crappy thing until I can borrow Scally's spare one tomorrow. We were going to go to Betty's (my favourite eatery in York) but it's closed for refurbishment (how dare they!) and so we hit home. Helped Dad re-jig the living room as it's just been painted and so we sorted all of that out. Down the local pub with Dad later as there was a darts match on (hold on to your hats everyone!). I lasted a couple of pints before deciding to head home before falling asleep (not a good look). Yesterday I came into York to update this, but Blogger was down so I shopped a bit (£10 work trousers in the Gap sale - yay!). Met Dad for lunch then home again to finish the living room - we re-hung all his pictures (yes, I'm handy with a hammer too!) and tidied around. Went up to the cemetery to see Mum's grave and check on the flowers and stuff. Still feels a bit unreal. Dad went to the pub but I was too knackered so a relatively early night with my book for me. Into town today and so far about an hour and a half of typing later... oh, and it's snowing!! It snowed overnight and is still going. So very cold. York looks beautiful however. So, to Betty's for lunch as it's back open again today and then later to the local pub quiz (I know how to have a good time!). Heading back to London in the morning and meeting University crowd Saturday night and sister Karen's birthday shenanigans Sunday pre-Vauxhall. OK. That's the diary entries updated. But what's it really feel like to be back?

We arrived into brilliant sunshine, though it was a bit cold. We tubed it back into London proper, and after a couple of false starts got into Steve's lovely new house in Balham! The original idea was to sleep, though we were all too excited and so after two cups of tea it was into town. We got Rich and Russ booked on a 2 day trip to Paris and then went and got food at Pizza Express - one of my favourite old haunts. Then - let the games begin! To Barcode where we were joined by Scally, Jonathan and Mark - with regular updates from Steve as to his exact whereabouts. We detoured across to The Yard and then to Comptons, where things started to hot up a bit. Steve joined us, as did Jason (the Vauxhall landlord) and we had some fun with Neil (the Compton's landlord). Back to Barcode and suddenly the gang's all there. Danny, Darryl, Steve and Audrey, Tom and Jake, Stuart, Andrew... much more like it. So of course we got caught up in the hype and decided to go to Sleaze at Crash. Fun. Lots of sexy men and good music. Busy too. Of course once started, we couldn't stop and soon we were at a new venue for Orange (just the other side of Vauxhall Bridge from Crash and the Tavern). It was us three and Darryl though we bumped into a couple more people too. Everything was flowing just fine, and again the music was great. As if by magic it was suddenly about 8.45am - er how did that happen? (As if we didn't know!). We left somewhat disorientated and landed on the war zone that is currently Vauxhall Bridge roundabout. Ever tried negotiating a major London roundabout whilst completely minkered? No? I don't recommend it. Finally, having circumnavigated it almost fully once we hit the tube and slowly returned to Balham. Russ wasn't feeling too well by the time we hit home and so we put them to bed pretty immediately after a cuppa. I had a bit more of a catch up with Steve and also finally hit the sack...

Saturday later: we woke around 7pm, and we were meant to be at Scally's for his Burn's Night party at 7.30pm! Oops. We gathered our thoughts and bit and as if by magic Richie had joined us too. Great to see him. So, off we toddled to Brixton in a lovely cab ready for David's party. And what a fun night it was! Scally had kind of lined up a blind-ish date for me - Martin. How sexy??? Sadly he wasn't interested in that way (bugger) but we did bond over me cutting his shirtsleeves off. (Don't ask!). David served up lashings of haggis, neeps and tatties and me, Rich, Russ and Richie worked our way through 1.125L of 50% proof Smirnoff. And not slowly either! I ended up snogging the 50 year old very sexy Daddy dressed in police uniform. Er yes. It was a Burn's Night party, so not sure how that outfit worked, but I wasn't complaining! Anyway, soon it was time to mosey and so we hit Crash again - this time for the normal Saturday night. It was great. Lots of people there too - Steve, Big Steve, Jason, David Ogle (oh no, that was last night!) oh I can't remember! Anyway - more great music (why is it seemingly soooo much better than in Sydney) and more sexy men to snog and dance with. Of course we were now on a roll and so went again to the same new venue as the night before - though on a Sunday morning it's called Beyond. And it's incredibly busy. And just fantastic. We bumped into Mark (Gizmo) initially, and then all of Nick's crowd - Chris, Colin, Kay and Tara - and boy did we have a blast. Richie was the most minkered I've ever seen him and we just had a blast. Finally we had to leave coz of a security alert some time around 11am Sunday. Probably just as well as we had no intention of leaving! Back to Steve's for cups of tea and we decided it wasn't worth sleeping. Onto the Vauxhall around 4.15pm and there we waited, vodka and red bull in hand for the gang to arrive. And oh how they did! By the time Dame Edna graced us with her presence on stage there were a million of the old gang there. Just fantastic to see everyone again. Rob, Wayne, Tim Red Shoes, Ian, Baby Tom and a few more we hadn't already seen I'm sure. The boys had a blast - the music was again fantastic and the crowd as up for it as ever. The boys were whisked away to the LA3 (la Trois sweetie) by Chris at around 10.30am though I hung around with Steve until about 11.30pm. Down to Old Street and off we went again. Upstairs funky, downstairs more electronic but either way fun. We'd had enough around 3.30am (we hadn't slept remember!) and so we finally made a move. It was mild and so we decided to walk the streets from the city back into Soho to get a coffee but most places shut. We ended up on Waterloo Bridge around 5.15am just looking at London in the dark - fantastic. To Waterloo station for coffee and panini and then back to Steve's for about 6.30am. Sleeeeeeep. At least for a wee while. Up around midday - Steve was working from home so we had brekky and chatted a bit and then hit London town again for the boys to pick up their Paris tickets and for me to get my train tickets. That done they hit Jon and Mark's and I went back to Steve's for some dinner and an early night (after Cornonation Street!) What a weekend!!!!

OK - let's get you all up to date before I launch myself into what has happened since our arrival almost one week ago to currently snowy England. The week of dinners was lovely: thanks go out to Tony and James; Charbel; Dave and Jason. Great food and company at every one. A bit more than that with Jason on the Friday night, but you get that (and very nice it was too!). Saturday night was Pete Lindhe's party where a good time was had and too much white wine was drunk. Ostensibly to keep Rich company (yeaah right!) I went to Transcend at the Shift along with Pete N - and stumbled out of there having had a great time somewhere around 4.30am - how did that happen?? Managed to just about keep myself noice until Bad Dog - there was a bit of sleep I think, but not much. Bad Dog saw me meeting Pete and David round at Gary Jones' place for pre-party beers. Down to Waverley in the sunshine - and the party was a good as ever. The weirdest moment? The DJ playing a mix of two songs that I've just mixed on my PC at home - and they're not even that well known! Odd. From there to the Phoenix. And then Arq. And then back to the Phoenix and bed around 5am, just in time to sleep for 3 hours before work. Ugh. Not good. Rough as a badger's bits all day. Dinner with Rich, Russ, Adrian and Steve that night. Tuesday just hit the gym - work was busy the last 2 weeks so it kept me out of mischief. Wednesday met Gary and Michael for a post work coffee. Mark of Mark and Carston was there too as they all work in the same building. That coffee turned into a beer at the Colombian (did we have an alchemist amongst us?) and suddenly it was 9pm and I'd not packed. Home. Jason popped over to help me pack. :o) Well he helped me pack something!! To bed. Work on Thursday and then sprinted home, finished packing and to the airport. The flight was a bit tight, but as it turned out I was check straight through to London and Russ managed to blag us into the lounge. Lots of champagne later we got on the flight and it was great. We all got some sleep; Singapore was stress free and we all slept a bit more until London. We've arrived!

Off to the airport in 20 minutes. Oh my god. Some stuff to update, but mainly catching up with mates before heading back to the Uk for almost 4 weeks. Oh, and Bad Dog. Lots of fun. More from Blighty!

Oh, really. Jason's just told me that he's leaving work early to get 'bits of him pierced'. Yikes! Which, what, where? He's offered to show me on Friday. You probably didn't need to know that. And Jason, if you're reading this, sorry mate - the world needs to know :o)

Almost a full week since I last posted. And what has happened in that time I hear you cry? Well, this and that…

I swam with Gary down at Cook and Phillip last Wednesday and it was a bit of a larf. Knackered after hald a kilometre though! Hope to do better next time. We had a couple of beers at the Colombian and were joined by Pete Lindhe. Pete Nash and Crusty finally turned up, but with no specific birthday plans for Pete’s drinks so Gary and I did T² and then one more beer before home. Thursday was gym at 6am (no, really) then more work and finally more play. Home via the supermarket to get potatoes and a weird bump into Dave after having a strong sensation of going to bump into him. Home to cook potato salad then onto Tim’s for a BBQ – I am so Aussie. It was good to see people outside of the normal pub/club environment for a change. Lots of the usual gang there, plus a couple of cute interlopers – one of whom, Jason, right at the end said that he wanted to take me home. Well he only had to ask! Read on – there’s more…

Friday we decided to do something different and we half succeeded! The day was spent just getting through work and trying to track down Jason’s details from Tim and Adrian – culminating with an exchange of SMS messages in the afternoon. Later – 11 of us went to Newtown for Thai. It was great fun and good value - $13 each for decent nosh. We then went to the Newtown for beers and then, as if by magic, we were transported to the Imperial after a brief trip round all our houses. Very girlie dancy music and lots of fun later… it was 4.30am and we were headed home. Well we almost succeeded! At least we managed to stay away from Oxford Street. One step at a time…

Saturday morning didn’t really happen. Brief chat to Garry, then down to have coffee with the boys. Instead Pete L and Steve were at Rich and Russ’s and we took an impromptu picnic down to Mrs MacQuaries Chair. Very nice. Lazed there a while before going back to R’n’R’s and finally – after a brief lull – down to Jazz in the Park at the Domain. It was fun! Adrian had met Darren down there earlier and saved us lots of space on the grass and about 16 of us took yet another picnic and wine and it was great. Very relaxing. It almost rained but didn’t. Finally left there at 10.30pm. A few others were kicking on, and there was the temptation to go and see if Jason was with Tim at the Phoenix, but in the end tiredness got the better of me and home I toddled.

Sunday was an early up as Adrian had offered to drive us out to Birkehead – a shopping mall. We did that via the Ves-bar for brekky and via Balmain on the way home. I then had a little doze, did the gym and then went to meet Pete at the Green Park – he needed some consolation as he and Crusty had just split up. A couple of beers there. Jason was there with Tim and Ross, so we had a quick snog and said we ought to catch up. I hope we do very soon! From there to the Palace. Great fun. It was the Touch Footy Fundraiser. Marcus and Brett in drag was very scary and took me a while to place them. Brett looked uncannily like Tracy Ullman. With a handlebar moustache. The gang all there. Down to the Shift with Steve, Dez and Andrew. More fun. Walk home with Andrew. Bed.

Yesterday was a bit of a nothing day. No gym so that was a blessing. Work was busy but I spent most of my day doing social emails. Email flirting with Jason – he seems very nice. Date on Friday. Calls from Adrian, Pete and Dave. No gym last night either, but instead took Pete out to dinner to try and keep him occupied. T² and then coffee. Home and bed for me – but not until I’d spent ages messing around on the PC, burning CD’s for all and sundry.

Woke today with the old swollen eyelid thing again. Great. Didn’t sleep well coz of a mozzie in the room – and that’s been the case most times this has happened. Is there some sort of link? Well I’m off to the doctors later to see. And then briefly meeting Gary to give him his CDs and then to dinner with Tony and James in Bondi, which will be great. Got a nice week lined up actually – dinner with Charbel tomorrow,; cooking for Dave Thursday; date with Jason Friday; Pete Lindhe’s birthday party Saturday and Bad Dog Sunday. Very social :o)

The week in brief so far...

Actually not much has happened so far so this will be quick and dirty. Ran at the gym as predicted on Monday evening and then cooked for me and Garry. Ended up ditching the life admin for some music mixing on the PC. Sat down for a few minutes and was still at it 3 hours later. Hmmm. Was really pleased with the results though - got about 25 mins of good stuff laid down and still a few ideas left yet. Am mixing new electro sounding stuff with a few 80s tracks and it seems to be working. The main difficulty is that as they're not necessarily dance tracks it's much harder to seque in and out of tracks. I'm getting there though, and I'm starting to understand what it must be like to DJ. There was about a 15 minute period when I had a couple of epiphanies about the perfect track to play next and the feeling of vindication as they worked in perfectly was fantastic. Real butterflies/adrenalin stuff. Also knowing in my head that a couple of tracks would work but not getting it straight away - and persevering until you get it right - good stuff. Not sure I'd have the balls to do it live and with vinyl, but I guess it's about practice and confidence. Dave the DJ said I should be a Dj in that I had an arrogance about wanting to inflict my music on other people. In that he's right - and so when it's done and ready I'll be sending copies to anyone that's interested!

A quiet day at work yesterday and then gym again - run, chest, abs. Home to leftover pasta and then more messing around on the internet. Today was ridiculously hot and humid. Skipped up to Mascot to break up the day and now it's off for a swim with Gary. Then dinner and hopefully birthday drinks with Pete if he ever calls. Am lining up lots of dinners and stuff for the rest of this week and next as it's going to be a while before I see everyone again. Well it's almost a month! And trying desperately to organise the time in the UK too...

Oh, and I haven't forgotten the promised 2002 in review and hopes and aspirations for 2003. Keep your eyes peeled!

Already it’s well over 5 days past New Year and I’ve not blogged a jot. Or jotted a blog to be fair. So, here goes. Welcome to 2003…

We did indeed get let out early on New Year’s Eve – around 3pm in fact. However I’ve packed such a lot into the last few days that I can’t actually remember what I did that afternoon! Actually I remember – I did go to the gym and I think I did try for a disco nap but only managed about 30 mins… Finally I got myself organised and headed to R’n’R’s for the fireworks. Arrived smack on 9pm and up to the roof we went. And stayed. For about 30mins of nothing. Until we found out they’d been cancelled due to wind. Or some such nonsense. Russ had gone to Tim’s but Rich and I didn’t really want to so we grabbed Keith (Russ’s mate from Perth) and headed down to the Shift at around10.45pm. We’d decided to eschew Pride (Gold theme; girlie music; girlie, mixed crowd; ticket price $95) for Indulgence (Leather and denim; harder/hard music; older, predominantly male crowd; ticket price $25). I wasn’t 100% convinced as often those parties are a bit too full on and the music in particular can be very inaccessible. However I was more than pleasantly surprised and in fact had a riot. Walking in to the sound of ‘Shiny Disco Balls’ seemed to augur well for where the music was going to be at, and I have to say it was perfect for me. The DJs seemed to realise that New Year is about celebration and having fun rather than anything seedier, sleazier or darker. We’d also realised that most all our mates would be at Indulgence – and lo, they surely were. The party foursome of me, Rich and Russ and Adrian were aided and abetted by the lovely Pete and Crusty (my ex David Bassett) and Tim; and there were several others who came and went – Rod and Tony, James and Kim, Andrew and Tim, Alan Bright, Craig the vet (woof!). Too much fun. All good things must, er carry on and so once the Shift was drawing to a close we were up and off and at the Barracks. The frivolities continued long into the morning – I’ve lost count of who else came and went though Tony was a welcome addition to the fray, post Pride. Ah yes, and Brent. Mad. Great snogger. There was a slight hiccough in proceedings around midday, when half of our crowd left, in fact only really leaving Tony and Tim and I. We decided a beer at the Oxford would be good. Wrong. It was vile. Tony went on his merry way and Tim and I did the next best thing – we decided to go to Arq. However in the end we just went back to the Barracks until 3pm, picking up Triple F Steve on the way. Then we decided to go to Arq, as it was closing at 4pm – ‘just for an hour’. It was fun and in the end stayed open until 5pm! At that point we decided to just have one drink at the Shift… and were still to be found there at 9.30pm. Oops. How much fun? Tim did in fact leave but Steve and I stayed and chatted to two lovely guys – Dave and ? – until finally it was time to call it a day. Mad. Fun. One of the best party New Year’s in recent memory.

And so into work the next morning. Oh yes lovely readers. No respite for me. I somehow made it through the day and didn’t do a great deal that night. But I think I did coffee with someone. Somewhere. Probably. I seem to remember dinner with the boys. But where? Who can say. Friday was much the same. Work but not overly hard. Home. Gym as it’s always empty on a Friday. Stayed in! Yay. Played with some music mixing stuff. I need to put it all onto one CD though as currently it’s a bit all over the place. Watch this space. Saturday was a very relaxed day. Finally wandered into town at 1pm to meet Adrian, who was already with Rich. We wandered down to Victoria Street for coffee for a change in the sunshine. From there to truck for another coffee and to be joined by little Michael. From there we picked up Russ and pottered up and down Oxford Street almost as far as Paddington. Very chilled. We all went our separate ways for a little time before I bumped into Pete whilst eating at the Milk Bar. The boys came back but we finally went our own ways again. I had some nice pasta at home and then hit the Barracks much later. Drinks with Steve and Anthony and then the Phoenix. Fun. Some of the merry band were there – Dez, Andrew, John and Bruce, Murray… and the music was fun. For a change. Stumbled home in the early hours…

Sunday woke at around11.15am and it was glorious. Rich and Russ weren’t speaking so after a little drama I took myself off to the park to sit in the sunshine. Did Alfred Park and then Victoria Park then home. Gymmed with Andrew and then home and to the Palace. Nice to see Dave again after the Christmas break, bless him. Chatted with Dave, Brett, Dez, Neil until Pete and Piggy arrived, and then finally Rich. We hit the Shift and had more beers, snuck out for pizza and back for more beers! So much for a quiet night. Finally to the Colombian to drink a bit more and chat some more to the lovely Dave…

Home around 11.30pm. Sleep. No gym to get up for (though the downside of that is that I have a 6am session on Thursday – joy!). Into work today without the buffer of that Christmas/New Year relaxed attitude. However had a sociable morning emailing and chatting on the phone and I’ve managed to do all my work and still have time for this. Will head to the gym tonight for a run and then food and hopefully some life admin – it’s long overdue!

It's New Year's Eve and I'm hopefully going to be let out early from work to go and start the festivities. Yesterday I went home and had a sleep before having dinner at T² with Rich, Russ and Pete. $5 steaks there really are fantastic value. Then for coffee and then walked back with Pete. Bed relatively early. Garry woke with jetlag at around 3am, and that's when the open plan style warehouse apartment isn't such a good move. Although he was quiet I could hear him pottering about and smell the toast. I just managed to drift off about 20 minutes before the alarm, allowing for that completely groggy feeling to take hold this morning. Joy.

Been emailing Gary all morning with song lyrics and managed to get Pete to buy his and Max's Indulgence tickets so everyone's happy. Yay. I will try and get to the gym before tonight, but it closes early and to be honest I might be better going for a disco nap. Gonna head to Rich and Russ's and watch the 9pm fireworks on the Bridge before going to Tim's for pre-Indulgence drinks. I hope it will be fun... I think it will. Coming soon - 2002 in review and 2003 - goals and aspirations. In the meantime

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

If you get here, read below for Part One before continuing with this update! Please. If you want to. Oh please yourself!

Part Two: I left you Monday morning heading into work. Both Monday and Tuesday were quiet days at work as most everyone was off already. Uneventful days, hardly worthy of a mention. I dragged myself to the gym Monday night as I'd missed my session with Liz. I actually can’t remember what I did Monday night at all. Maybe food with Adrian? Who can say. Christmas Eve I finished work and went for beers with Gary and Raph in the Colombian. Also present were David Bassett and Pete, and so a fun night was had. Home quite merry and after quick internet chats it was to bed with me.

Xmas day was a nice day. Up early to walk to Adrian’s by 8am. Darren (who Adrian met on Saturday night and who I had bizarrely been chatting to on the net for a couple of weeks previously) drove us up to Bondi and we did the Bronte walk. Headed back and then to the beach at Redleaf via Adrian and Fred’s place who’d kindly organised a picnic. Lots of people there – Pete and Paul, David and Jayson, Robbie in our group – Stephen and Kerry and square jawed Michael in the next group and then Scottish James and his bunch one group further along. It was nice. The sun came out intermittently and it was a very relaxing afternoon. Headed home about 4pm and was at a bit of a loose end when Stephen from Saturday night happened to head over unannounced on the off chance I was around… lovely! Rang UK people various later and hit the sack about 12.30am.

Boxing Day was a washout. Rain, rain, rain. I pottered in the morning and then braved the rain to walk to Una’s for brekky. Did a couple of bookshops and ran into square jawed Michael again. We had a coffee – he’s a really nice guy. We chat a quite intense chat about relationships and goals for the New Year and stuff. He’s gone north to Tropical Fruits, but on his return we’re going to a movie… Headed to Hum where I chanced upon Gary and so we had coffee. We walked down to Hum and then I left Gary to meet Max and I headed home, via Oxford Street. I was in the most foul mood and so I didn’t really want to stay in. At 7pm I went out for another walk and returned some almost 3 hours later having walked to Oxford Street again, then to Newtown and then back to the apartment. Took myself off to bed.

Worked Friday but it was a lazy day. Arranged to meet Pete for food and beers later, which we did and which was fun. In between there was another visit from Carlo, who was the guy that had popped in the previous Saturday. He was working round the corner again :o) After the Barracks I decided on a whim to hit the Imperial as there was a guy from the UK who’d messaged me on the net saying he’d be there. He was. He was also cute. Bit of a snogfest then home!

Saturday was a bit of a nothing day too. Tried shopping but got bored of it. Tried cleaning but couldn’t be bothered. Didn’t feel like the gym, so didn’t. Not sure what I did really. I know I picked Russ up from the airport around 6pm, but beyond that… I think I did coffee with Adrian, and also Gary again. Later… met up with Russ, Triple F Steve and Keith at the Colombian. It was too busy so we hit the Barracks. Pete the English guy from Friday night was there, as was his brother and another guy off the net who I’d chatted to but never actually met. Very cute. Lots of fun. Gary and Max were there too, and Gary was very, very drunk. Kind of like I imagined myself to have been at the Palace after the housewarming. On to the Phoenix which was fun. Adrian was there and also lots of sexy men. We danced. We had fun. I took a very nice man home…

Sunday slept until about 10am and finally got up. Met Russ and Keith for brekky then Adrian joined us and we went for a walk down to the wharf at Woolloomooloo. From there to meet Gary and Max for a quick beer before heading to Bronte and Gregg’s BBQ. It was fun. Other guests included Matt, Julie, Alan Bright (who I didn’t know knew Gregg and Matt) and Gary and Rocco. Nice people. Nice house. Nice food. Nice music. Fun. Shared a cab back with Alan, Gary and Max and was tempted into the Shift. Russ, Rich and Adrian soon followed and it was mad! Lots of people there that we knew. Lots of flirting. Kept us occupied until gone midnight and I had to go home. Finally. Mad weekend. I need some sleep!

This post is the first half of an update. I started this last week but didn't get to publish it. This covers up until about 2 days before Xmas. There'll be another post bringing us right up to date after this!

Part One: And quite a lot later I’m back. What is going on? I know I’ve said this before, but I’m determined to make more of Minkered… in 2003. Realistically though, probably not until the second quarter of the year as the first two months will be holiday and then Mardi Gras, and hopefully Danny’s here for Easter so we’re looking at May. Actually it’s coming in to winter time I guess then so maybe that’s a more realistic expectation. I’d like to do some proper web design study too, so maybe I can dovetail everything – now wouldn’t that be marvellous? My god – I think I’m a little early with my New Year’s Resolutions!

I last left you properly the night of Michael’s meal, which turned out to be rather pleasant. Drinks at the Colombian, followed by very nice Japanese at Hikaru – a restaurant on Oxford Street I’ve often looked in but never been in. The original plan was to kick on, but after 3 schooners and most of a bottle of wine my tiredness got the better of me and home I went.

Waste of a morning on Thursday as I attended the most mind-numbing meeting I’ve ever been to. Still, it was a morning out of the office and made me realise how dead it is out here in Mascot. Transfer to the city please. Thursday night was a date with Marc. American Marc. Marc ended up out with us lot at Bad Dog and sprung a surprise dinner invitation on me at Arq. He came to the house, we had beer, we went to dinner (Japanese again, same place!), we came back to my place, we talked and lost ourselves in the Mathmos projector image for ages. A really nice date. Except I don’t fancy him. My head’s still elsewhere I guess and so it’s going to be a while before I can really expect to move on. Evenings like that can only help though – proof that there are decent, fun, intelligent single men out there. Friday was work, gym, food, drop Rich off at the airport (the boys have left me for Christmas! Sob!!) and an early night. Yes, you heard me. Saturday was a bit of a waste of a day. Up early but didn’t do much. Met Gary and Max for lunch at the Courthouse and then was so uninspired I went home again. Ended up chatting to someone on the internet that I’ve been chatting to for a good year or so and as it turned out he was working close by… :o)

Went to the gym but as soon as I started my first exercise I came over all queer (matron). So I binned the gym and met Adrian for coffee instead. We decided we’d go out to the Phoenix late, so home and chill until about 11.30pm. The Phoenix was interesting. I’ve never ever picked up as quickly as I did that night! For those of you that don’t know, the Phoenix is a basement bar/club, and I managed to picked up 4 steps down from the front door. Good work. Very time efficient! Stephen is someone with whom I’ve flirted for about 3 months on and off, but haven’t seen around for ages. A timely re-introduction then. We stayed and danced with Adrian and soon lots of other people were there. Marc from Thursday’s date. Dave. Lots of others. It was a fun night. We finally left around 5am and headed back to the ranch… from where Stephen finally went home after brunch around 3pm. His partner lives in Norway – it would seem I’m on a run of meeting people whose other halves live in Northern Europe. Great.

Thence I headed to Bondi for James’s birthday drinks at his and Tony’s place. It was fun – a few beers and vodka shots. Chats to Pete, Rod and Tony, Tony, James and a few of his mates, the guys I met at the Sci-fi Exhibition… and then to the Colombian. Lots of chats with Andy P, John, Alan and Murray etc. Fun. Had the realisation that I'd actually snogged John the first time I'd met him to not realised subsequently that it was him. Oops. Stumbled home later than expected around 10.30pm. Was woken at 5.25am by Garry ringing from the Vauxhall and holding the phone up whilst Dame Edna was singing Top of the world. Fell back to sleep and was woken at 6.20am by Liz cancelling my personal training session. I was quite relieved!

Can I also just say that I've done nothing about Christmas. Not a thing! This from someone whose Christmas present commitments are on the other side of the world. Oops. Better get my skates on.

And then suddenly it was Wednesday of the week after. What’s going on? Time is just whizzing past. Last week can be summed up mostly in two words – work, gym. I was very good last week and went not only Monday, but Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Scary. I worked the whole week and was pretty busy – again a good thing as no real chance to focus on much else. Martin came over Tuesday night for dinner as he’s recently split up with his man so we had a good old natter about relationships and behaviour and so on. Interestingly for me it made me think about my time with Tim and how we were together. Funny how time away from something changes your perspective on stuff. I really do think I’m way more ready for a relationship than ever before – however it takes two to cliché…

Garry headed off to the UK on Wednesday night – lord only knows what sort of time he’s going to have! I think I might be able to guess though…

Had dinner with the boys one night too – can’t remember which. Certainly on Friday after the gym as Rich came down to our gym with Adrian and we ate afterwards. We also headed out for beers later that night – Beresford/Barracks which was fun. Relatively early to bed. Saturday didn’t turn out to be the day of doing stuff that I’d hoped as I woke in a foul mood. Kind of anxious about Bad Dog and the whole Dave thing. In the end I just got some washing done and then met Adrian for outfit shopping. We met the boys and then I met Adrian back at the gym. Got ready and we headed for Marrackville, smack on time. As it turned out there was a bit of a queue and our outfits seemed to meet with approval from the crowd. We were wearing red hipster trunks, black singlets, tinsel round the tops of our boots and flashing reindeer antlers. Obviously. We had some photos taken early on and then everyone arrived and the party kicked off in full effect. Lots of people we knew and great music as ever. Dave arrived after a little while and was just lovely – nice as ever and it was good to know (I think!) that last week’s chat isn’t going to stop us being mates. Still fancy the pants off him mind you. So, lots of dancing and before we knew it it was about closing time. A few of us headed off to Arq and there we remained until gone 9am. Couldn’t rest at home so listened to music and then met the lads for lunch. Finally did the Palace. Chatted to Dave briefly as he was working and spent some time with Des, who as it turns out is going to be in the UK the same time as us boys. That’s going to be some fun… Home and bed around 10pm.

Gym 7am Monday and then work. Round to Rich and Russ’s for dinner with Andy, John and Ken. Fun! Worked my nuts off yesterday and then rushed home via the supermarket as Tony was coming for dinner. We had a lovely night – it was good to talk to him and I’m glad we’re mates again properly. Bed soon after.

Today’s been a little less hectic at work and only spoilt by a fire drill just as I’d warmed my lunch up. Bugger. Out tonight for Michael’s (Adrian’s Michael) birthday meal. Now the temptation is to carry on after the meal as I’ve a meeting in town at 10am and can go straight there. However I’m representing the department to a cruise company so probably shouldn’t go in still minkered. But it is almost Christmas… Right, time to phone Dave. More later.

OK. Who's stealing the days (and nights)? Surely it can't be Monday evening already when I last posted on Wednesday? Apparently it can. I think there's a rip in the space-time continuum down here somewhere...

I did gym Wednesday and not much else. Did a bit of mixing - it's way cool. Watch this space for some music to come. Hopefully. Thursday and Friday were both busy at work. Thursday night I went into town looking for an excuse not to go to the gym. Ostensibly to Christmas shop I got there and couldn't be arsed, so bought a Swiss ball to use as my computer seat at home and met went round to see Russ and Adrian instead. Much more fun. And we had dinner and then I went back to Russ's for tea and sympathy. Actually I'd been a bit miserable but was in a better frame of mind as I left Russ's as it threatened to rain. Friday night I stayed in. No, really. In bed by 11pm.

Saturday I'd arranged to meet Sexy Dave for brekky. He called mid morning to postpone until 1.30pm so I did laundry and went for a walk down to Potts Point before heading to Zinc. We had an interesting brekky, basically starting off with me telling Dave that he's really got to me and I can't stop thinking about him. Your average Saturday really. Long story short. He already has someone he's going to give things a go with and thus wanted nothing more than some fun. I was up for a bit more. Problem. Anyway it's resolved and hopefully we can get on with being mates as a) he's lovely and b) I'd like that. Hope he does too. We share a lot of interests - least of all music - and it's nice to have someone like that to witter on about it with. Such a shame we had differing views on Christmas trees... I'm glad he's found someone special though as he's seemingly lovely and it gives us all hope that nice guys find nice guys...

Went for a walk and then met Martin for coffee before hitting the gym. Down to Bondi for the office Xmas party which was actually a lot more fun than I thought it would be. Kicked on to the Phoenix to meet the boys. Also more fun than I thought. Finally home around 5am! Yesterday was a bit of a waste of a day. Spent most of it playing online and with music stuff. Finally dragged myself to the Palace via Hungry Jacks and chatted to Strati for a while. To the Shift and had some fun with Gary Jones, Des and Kevin. Home. Bed.

Gym at 7am with Liz. Felt good! Work today was busy again which is great - keeping my mind occupied. Home and shower and ironed. So rock 'n' roll. Shopped and then home for soup and cheese on toast - yum. Just what I needed. Queer As Folk, brief chats to Scally on here and now bed. Nighty night!

Oh and Scally - the vodafone thing was real. I won a movie pass. Yay for me!

It’s Wednesday already. How did that happen? I’m going to skim over a few days in short-hand as not too much has happened. However, Sunday’s housewarming will be covered in a bit more detail. As much of it as I remember that is…

Friday. Worked. Gymmed. No one was up for much so I kind of decided I’d head out for a beer around 10.20pm. Walked up to Oxford St, but everywhere was so quiet I decided to bin the idea and head home. So I did. In bed by 12.30am.

Up relatively late considering I hadn’t drunk, but just in time to let the grocery delivery man in. Shopping off the net you know – it’s the only way. Pottered about and can’t really remember what I did – but I know eventually I ended up at the Milk bar for a late brunch with the boys and Adrian. The rest of the afternoon is a bit of a blur – can’t have been too interesting. I know I did the gym later and then went over to the boys place for dinner risotto!) and that Pete Linde was there too. I know there was vodka, and I know I drank way too much of it. Stumbled to the Phoenix and wandered round once or twice before realising I was too drunk and should head home. I did.

Sunday woke with a bit of a sore head. Got brekky for me and Garry and we got the place ready for the party. We were ready by midday. People weren’t coming until 2pm! People did start and arrive and soon the party was in full swing. By about 6pm I was so trashed I have no recollection of anything much else that happened. Actually I remember being at the Palace being told by Dave the DJ to go home as I was drunk. Understatement. I remember nothing else until Monday morning and waking to the realisation that there was no way on god’s earth that I’d be making my gym appointment. Oops.

I did find out later though that apparently at one stage at the party I had my hands held behind my head, was being force fed Milky Bar and fruitcake and very evidently enjoying it. According to reports on the state of the front of my trousers. Oh dear. Also various reports from the Palace have me almost falling over but standing (kind of) by the cigarette machine making a nuisance of myself to Dave whilst he was trying to DJ. Sorry mate. Word on the street though was that the party rocked. Thanks to all who came (whoever you might have been) and thanks to the people that thanked us for a good time!

Monday evening was tidy up time. The place wasn’t too bad, but we were over it by the final mopping around 7.45pm. Garry went to bed and I got noodles, played on the PC and hit the sack around midnight.

Yesterday was quiet. Work’s been busy which has been great. Played e-mail tag with Gary all day and then met him at the Colombian for beers after a half-hearted gym session, where I’d bumped into Andrew and we both just took one look at each other, burst out laughing and wondered if we should hide our heads! Gary and I had a nice night – beers, food at the Courthouse and chats about all and sundry (mainly men, music and m.. m.. oh I don’t know.. miscreants!). Home a little merry. Internet. Bed.

Today’s also been very busy at work. Lots to do, but that’s good as less time to focus on the stuff spinning round in my head. Leaving soon. Gym. Quiet night. Maybe try and play with the new mixing software that Scally got me. And a good night’s sleep. Hopefully.

Marble-ous!

Friday. Managed some sleep - yay! Caught up with Rich after work having been down to claim my prize from SX, one of the gay rags over here. What prize you ask? Well, they have a section at the back of the mag called NFP - Not Fit to Print. Basically they print a pic of someone in a bit of a state to humiliate them, and then say that if you're brave enough to go into the office they'll give you a prize. I did mention the photo being taken back on the 13th... and it duly appeared. Anyhoo, I got 2 CDs and a CD single which wasn't too bad. Except of course one of the CDs didn't have the CD in - doh!

Rich and I wandered round Gowings planning what to wear for the Bad Dog party - I think we're almost there. Then we had coffee at Battuta and I ate. Wandered home in a foul mood still. Decided there was nothing to it but to go for a walk to Newtown, via Broadway. So I did. Had a quick beer in the Newtown and chatted to square jawed Michael and friends. Home and bed.

Not much to report today. Finalising housewarming party numbers and in a better mood. Not much planned before Sunday other than sleeping and gym. Let's see how we go...

Thursday’s child has far to go. Allegedly. I’d settle for just as far as my bed and would happily collapse there. My last two nights’ sleep have been shot through with mosquitoes and dreams… and my overactive brain.

Did indeed do the gym on Tuesday night, though I ended up chatting to Andrew for about 20 minutes! Home and then over to Rich’s for an impromptu dinner which was lovely. Home and to bed at a reasonable time, but not to sleep, oh no. Apparently it was 31C at midnight that night, so not surprisingly a little hard to sleep. We had the balcony doors open in an effort to get some air in, but only really succeeded with the mosquitoes. Bugger. And Rich had given me a couple of herbal sleeping tablets to try and knock me out. So, after more fitful sleep I awoke yesterday morning feeling a little disorientated and thinking the pills had done their stuff. However, that wasn’t the case. My weird feeling was because, in a fantastic repeat of about 6 months ago, my left eye was almost closed due to my eyelid having swollen up. Great. Such a good look. Last time it took for ever and spread to both eyes (chalazions), leaving me with attractive purply puffy eyelids with a little hard lump in each. So, in an effort to head it off at the pass I decided to go to the Eye Hospital. Via the Post Office to pick up the ADSL kit for the PC. Via a little café for brekky. Anyway, the hospital gave me the same antibiotic cream as last time and some drops (even though I’m convinced it’s drops that might be interfering with my eyes’ natural production of something which is stopping the glands in my upper eyelid flowing freely). Anyway, having been prodded and poked and dyed I rang work and asked to take the rest of the day off and did so. Home and set up the ADSL on the PC and had a bit of a play for a while before going to Broadway for a bit of shopping. Home and out to dinner with Rich, Adrian and Charles. It was nice – it would have been better had David the Canadian not joined us – I’m sure he has some redeeming features but when someone uses one of your mates it’s hard to give then the benefit of the doubt. Anyhoo… $5 steaks later we adjourned to Battuta for coffee and planning of our Bad Dog Christmas party outfits. Hopefully there’ll be photos. The lovely Dave wandered past – looking very cute in his specs – and he tarried a while to say hello. Then it was home and a quick chat to Garry, play on the net then a chat to Tim Red Shoes before bed.

As previously mentioned, dreams and mosquitoes. One pleasant, one not. The dream was nice – Dave (see above) and I were snuggling on the small sofa and decided to move to the bigger one to get more comfortable. That’s it! Short, sweet, but nice. Second dream in three nights of him. Weird. Ended up sleeping with a towel over my head to thwart the mosquito’s attempts at ear dive-bombing. Into work at 8.30am and had one of those mornings when I didn’t actually get anything done until about 11am. Caught up for lunch with Jane which was nice and then here we are. Am listening to Alternative by the Pet Shop Boys: the most apposite lyrics/song titles for me and my overworked bonce. ‘It Must Be Obvious’, ‘We All Feel Better In The Dark ‘, ‘Losing My Mind ‘, ‘Music For Boys’, ‘Miserablism’, ‘Shameless’, ‘Too Many People’, ‘Decadence’, ‘If Love Were All’, ‘Some Speculation ‘. Enough already.

Tuesday arvo and I’m taking a little break from special eventing and replanning all my flights at work. Thursday’s weird mood is back upon me. There a ridiculous amount of stuff going on in my head at the moment and it’s doing me in. Still I hope to do something about it soon and move on up or just move on. I realise that makes little sense to anyone other than a few people who know me well, but I just need to get something recorded without too much detail.. it’ll all come out in the wash. But I’m fine…

Friday night’s alright for drinking. It would seem. Got home and went to the gym I think! I’m sure I did as I like it on Fridays as it’s empty. Then home to change and the Oxford. Met the boys and then the boys arrived. Er time for new abbrevations. No need as Jon and Mark have gone back now and so Rich and Russ retain the full title of The Boys. We had planned tapas, but the restaurant had closed down and so we tried Plan B. Only problem was that we didn’t have a Plan B. We ended up in some not very nice tapas bar on Oxford Street with a shonky drag queen. Not good. Food was average at best. So pretty soon it was down to the Beresford and the Barracks. I’m sure there were lots of people I knew there that night, but my memories are gone. Probably took myself off home around 1am as I was still planning to run Saturday morning at that stage.

The pain 5 hours later took care of that little scheme. If it’s 6am it must be incredible cramp in my right calf. Like excruciating. It was all I could do to stop screaming out it was that painful. It left my calf very sore once it subsided and so I decided not to run. Up at Video Hits o’clock and kind of pottered until I could Potter no more and dragged myself out to brekky with Adrian. We went to Truck so he could ogle some man or other and then we wandered back down the strip. Hooked up with Jon and Mark at Café Comity before Russ joined us and as if by magic we were in the Stonevile. Again. Yikes. It was completely Star Wars bar scene and so we called it a day and Rich very kindly drove the boys to the airport. Thanks for a wonderful time boys. Only 9 more weeks until we do it again in Blighty.

I decided Dave probably wouldn’t ring me for coffee and so I called him. And so I went and got him and we wandered downtown. Dave needed a quick break from work, but we managed to spend an extremely enjoyable two hours downtown in the QVB and then a fantastic new Japanese bookstore (thanks for the tip Andy!). Dave is so lovely. Sigh. Walked him back to his office and then wasn’t sure what to do. Ended up going home and going for a run in the local park before going to the movies with Garry, Rich and Russ to see My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Fun. Go see. Definite feel good movie. Then we ended up in the Oxford, the Shift and, coz I was determined not to go out, the Pheonix. Bugger. Willpower of a very small thing. Anyway. It was OK. A few people out and about and I guess the thought of not being there and missing out made me stay until around 4am. Bad Davie.

Sunday morning was way to early and I had no desire to do very much of anything. Managed to sort out papers, mess around on the net and finally dragged Garry for brekky at the local café. That done, and a bit more vegging lead to me feeling like I should do something, so at 4.30pm I went to the gym and had a pretty good workout. From there it was down to the Palace (bumping into Rich and Russ on the way) where it was a bit dead. So, to the Shift for Gary’s (of Max and Gary’s) birthday drinks. It was fun, though too much vodka was consumed. I nipped out partway for Hungry Jacks and I was over the whole thing by around 11pm. There was a lovely guy called Neil there – I knew I’d met him before though wasn’t sure where. Luckily, he remembered me and we worked out it was through Martin. Spent most of the night chatting to him – he’s the only other person I’ve met who’s bought Sunscreem’s New Dark Times (only available on the net some three years ago). Quite how we got onto that, I’ve no idea, but…

Monday I woke a little hungover, which would have been bearable had it not been 5am. No more sleep for Davie but I was well on time for my 7am session with Liz. We did legs. Ouch. Work was work – but an incredibly hot day (36C) meant it seemed like it dragged. It did perk up in the afternoon slightly when I had the sudden feeling that Graham, the Brisbane Daddy, had mailed me. I went and checked and there it was – a note from him. How weird. Anyway he was all flirty and lovely and that put a smile on my face. Home quite late and play on the net. Garry’d bought Kylie so we kind of watched that, then I went for a walk, rang Dad, ate and then messed on the net until Queer as Folk. Chatted to Rob for the first time in a while and started to get excited about going back to the UK. Bed around 11.15pm.

Slept fitfully again. Decided there’s too much going on in my brain. I wish I could turn it off, but that so rarely happens. The rest of the time it’s analysing and analysing and analysing, then over-analysing before analysing some more. Joy. Up and in work for 8.15am so will be leaving on time tonight. Not sure what the night has planned. I should gym. Having lunch with Pete tomorrow then $5 steak with Rich and Adrian and Charles tomorrow night and not much else planned until the housewarming at the weekend… let’s see if things stay quiet. It’d be nice if they did…

Oh, and vodafone have just texted me to say I’ve won something in a competition, but the claims number is busy right now. I think it’s either CD vouchers or a movie pass. Cool!

Friday afternoon – half an hour until the weekend. As yesterday I’m hanging to get out of here for some reason. The prospect of nothing for 2 whole days is almost too much to cope with.

Didn’t make the gym last night. Got home to find Garry had rented Tales of the City on DVD and so that was it! Watched that for a couple of hours – it’s amazing how I never get tired of it. Interestingly enough, different bits of dialogue relate to different things going on in your life at different times and this time was no different. Hey ho. Showered and out to meet Jon and Mark at the Oxford. Good to catch up with them, though Mark was somewhat mesmerised by the Turkish Wrestling on the video screen! We ate at Wattle again (J and M’s treat – thanks guys!), where Adrian was also dining – how small is Sydney exactly? On to the Shift for a couple more beers. Chatted to the lovely Rod, resplendent in his volleyball gear and also square jawed Michael (who I snogged the same night I met the other Michael). Fun. Stumbled to a cab around midnight.

Meeting the boys again at the Oxford tonight and Rich and Russ also. Going for tapas and then will see what the night holds. Only things planned for the weekend are a run in the park tomorrow at 9am with Ians assorted and Allan, coffee with Dave if he calls (tentatively arranged) and helping Gary celebrate his 40th at the Shift on Sunday. Yay. It’s going to be nice to play things by ear.

Thursday. Weirdday. Am all over the place today. Am not going to blog anything right now, as I want to see how long this feeling's going to go on for. Actually hoping for not too long. Cryptic I know, but...

Had a very civilised evening with Andy last night. He came over to give the apartment his seal of approval and then to the Wattle for dinner. Very nice. Can someone buy me the pictures on the wall there? They'd go lovely in the new place. Thanks. Across to the Grumpy Baker for coffee and then home. Chats to Scally on the net and then Garry when he got in. Bed.

Dinner with Jon and Mark tonight, so meeting at the Oxford at 8pm post gym. Treading water day at work. Really can't be arsed. Chatted to Adrian, mailed Russ and Rich, Gary, Pete, Murray etc. Spoke with Dave - Happy Birthday mate! Hanging to get out of here today. Not interested at all. Even though I got promoted again on Tuesday. Yay me. Suppose I should do some work really...

More news as it happens. So can't wait for this weekend... and doing nothing. At. All.

Oh yes, and pics of the Citizenship Ceremony now on Scally's website... bless him! He thought I'd be embarrassed, but I actually quite like them!

Just to fill you in on last week’s stuff in relative brevity:

Wednesday night David and I just had a quiet meal in Potts Point on Macleay Street. Weirdly when we met here two years ago, we were both staying just a stone’s throw from the Macleay Street Bistro where we ate. Also, when I came back here almost 18 months ago now the Bistro was the first place Tony took me to eat. Fond memories. Ahhhh. Obviously an evening down there isn’t complete without bumping into people and so tonight we said hello to Dave, Brett and Chris. After a very nice meal as David’s treat (thanks!) we headed slowly back home with nary a glance at the Oxford…

Thursday was a phone free day at work, meant to help me work more. Obviously that was the day I spent half an hour on the phone to Dave, then Adrian called, and also David was out buying my new PC for me and in regular phone contact. Oops! I left work to pick up the new computer and very lovely it is too. Thanks to David for all his help in getting that organised for me.

Thence to Newtown to meet Tony. We had food at the Peasants’ Feast which was great, then back to the Newtown Hotel. Always nice to catch up with Tony, and we had fun at the Newtown – some more than others Tony! :oÞ

Friday ended up being quieter which was probably just what the cliché ordered. Beresford for beers and then we didn’t even make it onto the Barracks. Ended up eating with David for one final meal at Café Comity quite late and then home, chats and final PC tweaks before stumbling bedwards around 1.45am.

We were up early on Sat am (5.30am!) as David left for the airport at 6.30am. I stayed up and then Adrian arrived and we had brekky before heading off the the airport – it was Brisbane time! Met all the gang at the airport and by 2.30pm local time we were there. We had coffee with Adrian's sister, then some food and suddenly it was time to get ready! Obviously we were almost the first there at around 9.30pm, but it soon started to fill. The venue was actually quite fun and the music pretty good - our friend Jason lightened his set a bit from Black and it seemed to go down very well. A much more mixed crowd than Sydney but still some familiar faces. Enough sexy men to dance and flirt with which was fun. Much chest rubbing :o)

Left at 5am and showered changed and hit the Wickham for recovery at 7am. Fun. Very up music meant we stayed until 3pm! Yikes. Finally slept from about 4.30-6.30pm Sunday and then again for an hour or so after some food. Then on to Family - and the Sunday night called Fluffy :o) A lot of fun. Handbaggy music, great venue, quite a young, mixed crowd (boo!) but fun. More fun for me as I picked up the only Daddy there. Very sexy man indeed. Thanks Graham for a great evening and some top notch kissing! So, more fun and not much more sleep. Finally headed back to the hotel around 10.30am Monday... think Adrian was starting to wonder if I was ever coming back! Actually, I wouldn't have minded staying with Graham...

Home and relaxed. Bought food from Broadway and had a quiet night. Work kind of passed me by yesterday and then last night Rich came over for a cuppa after work. Cooked pasta thereafter (that rhymes!). Had 8 hours sleep for the first time in recent memory.

Managed a productive lunchtime today – post office, chemist, opticians, bought Bad Dog tickets and managed lunch all in an hour. Go David. Tonight it’s dinner with Andy Palmer after the gym. If I ever get out of work that is. Jon and Mark are back from Cairns today too, so dinner with them tomorrow hopefully and then a couple of beers Friday and then sleep for a week or two!

Brisbane Sleaze tonight... ohmigod.

Must. Stop. Partying.

Boo hoo. After two fab weeks of minkering, partying, fun, frolics and general shenanigans Scally has returned to the UK. Sniff. It's not fair. Thanks David for everything - it's been a great fortnight. Now get off your arse and get that emigration application lodged!

Aagh. Ugh. Tired. Monday night's quieter night didn't actually turn out that way, in a shock move. We decided to meet in the Oxford before eating, and suddenly that gang were all there, including Adrian Avenue... who in a shock move had hooked up with one of the guys Rich met over the Games week. Odd. But fun. Then it was back to the Oxford for more beers and then finally stumbling home in a drunken stupor.

You'd think we'd learn, but no. Left work yesterday at about 4.45pm as it was the day of my Citizenship Ceremony.Got up to Paddington Town Hall nice and early and oddly I was really nervous. Wasn't sure quite what to expect and also started to realise that it is quite a big deal to pledge your allegience to a country that you didn't grow up in. I've never been particularly patriotic but still. I think it would have been a bigger deal too if I'd had to actually give up the British citizenship rather than hold both concurrently. A few familiar faces started appearing at the Town Hall which was odd - and then as it transpired we kind of knew by proxy 3 other people being done that day! So, in the crowd with me were David Scally, Garry and Rich and Russ. Also present: Gregg and Matt, Des, Graham and Phil, Brain and Anthony, Ian... you get the idea. I registered and signed up to vote and then we all took our seats and the Mayor said a few words. Then it was Pledge time (and I don't mean going around with a duster!). I said mine without any reference to god - that was our choice. Then one by one (all 110 of us) we went and collected our certificates and then it was time for a quick burst of the National Anthem, Advance Australia Fair. And that was it! I'm an Aussie - officially! It's the weirdest feeling, but good. Russ and Rich had bought me some things to help me fit in - a hat with corks round, a flag (which was then tied to the hat in a Wonder Woman cape kind of way, some Aussie flag boxers (which I had to wear over my trousers), some thongs (flip flops to most of you), a jar of Vegemite, a stubbie (can of beer), some Aussie flag socks... etc. Garry did the decent thing and bought me a CD! Thanks guys...

And then the champagne started flowing and the finger food came out and we stayed and had a bit of a laugh. Finally though, well on the way, we adjourned to the Oxford. More beers. Photograph taken in aforementioned ensemble for the local gay press. Oops. That could ruin everything. Over to T² again for $5 and then more drinks. Ugh. Ooh. No wonder I've felt like someone's replaced my brain with cotton wool for most of the day. I left the boys to it around 11pm completely exhausted. Home. Bed. Sleep.

Tonight I'm wondering if I can face the gym. We'll see. If not, quiet night, nice food and some relaxation. Either way tomorrow will, for the first time in a while, not involve me feeling like crap!

Ah yes. I left you with a veiled reference to the UnderBear party… well what a surprise that turned out to be. The thought of your average Joe with the somewhat fuller figure parading around in undies doesn’t really to it for me I have to say. However, as Rich and I found out, it’s more than just Bears that go hunting for Bears… There were a few familiar faces from the normal Bears night at the Beresford on Fridays (Max and Gary, Michael (formerly known as Adrian’s) Colin ‘BlueyBluey68’ and boyf, Kevin Dishwasher Daddy), and a few welcome others that we’d not seen before – obviously word had got to the international travellers. So off we went and soon there was nothing but underwear on view – a bit weird, but fun nonetheless. And the more people drank, the more fun it became. Suffices to say I got up close and personal with a couple of people I’d had my eye on for a while… :o) The only down side to this was at 2am when it finished and suddenly 350 people wanted their clothes back and wanted them now! I for some reason detoured to the Shift and then again on the way home…

Lions, tigers and bears. Oh my!

So little sleep, so many parties. But then it’s not Gay Games Week every week. Just as well! Thursday was probably the most eagerly anticipated of the lot – Black: the Men Only party. And as it turned out, it was pretty good. We got there and I showed the UK boys around so that they could get their bearings and then we danced in the Hordern as Jason was playing. His set was OK – very Sydney music and certainly our UK friends weren’t overly impressed. After that it was Wayne G, and I have to say his set really didn’t do it for me. Too much of his ‘clever’ remixing until it got to the point where it was really too repetitive. We stayed until the end and then went to the Shift to recover – however we got stuck in the queue so took an hour to get in. Fortunately it was worth it! Great music, lots of fun and sexy people… but boy was it hot. I’ve never sweated so much in my life. Weirdest bit for me was at one point coming out in to the recovery area and seeing the last three people I’ve really fancied – Michael, Dave and Andy – all stood together talking. Headf*ck! We stumbled out of there around 11.30am and went and lay by Rich and Russ’s pool in the sun. Lovely. From there Adrian disappeared off with someone he’s picked up and me and the boys decided to go to the Colombian for a drink. Then on the way to grab some food we came across Rod (bless him), still dressed in harness and chaps, arse hanging out, trying to get a cab to stop for him. Not a good look for Oxford Street at 3pm in the afternoon… We took him back to the boys place and waited until Tony came and got him. Bless..!! Had food and finally went home. Slept from about 8.40pm until 10.10pm and then me and Scally went and had a beer on Oxford St. We’d planned a trip to Newtown, but in the end were too tired. Home and bed around 12.45pm.

Slept in Saturday until 9.40am and Video Hits. We sat around and chilled and then Scally and I did brekky at the Feedback Café (as the local is known). Nice. Up to Oxford Street and as if by magic we were in the Stonewall having collected Jon and Mark. As were Rich and Russ, Adrian and Michael and David the Canadian. We stayed in there for 4 beers and and a laugh, culminating in drunken digicam pics up people’s trouser legs. Ahem. As you do.

Home and I decided it would be a great idea to have some food and then go to the gym! Weird. Actually I felt OK afterwards and was ready for the Farewell party around 10pm. We went via Rich and Russ’s to collect everyone and soon we were back at Fox Studios with it all going off. Lots of people there and fun – all the areas were open. It was a bitty party though. I ended waiting for Garry for over an hour, which isn’t a lot of fun let me tell you. Finally decided I couldn’t wait any longer and joined the boys in the RHI – where Garry arrived about 15 minutes later! The music was great until just after Tina Arena sang and the DJ changed. Well done Alex Taylor, yah boo sucks to Paul Goodyear. Not a good set. Well not for my anyway. We ended up playing ‘chase the song we like’ so went round and round and round…

I also lost a contact lens which didn’t help. We called in a day (well Scally and I did) at 6.30am and hit home, showered and picked up Mark before being almost the first people in the Shift. Russell joined us and off we went again. Again the music was better and we lasted until 11.30am. Home. Snoozed between 1-4pm and then Scally headed to meet mates and Garry got up and we listened to music and chilled. Down to the Palace collecting Max and Gary on the way (as the Beresford was empty). A couple there as it was also quiet and no sign of Dave DJing. To the Shift. Packed. Fun. Lots of flirting with Max and Gary and lots of vodka. Finally left there at around 10.30pm. Home. Bed. Sleeeeeeeeeeep!

Into work this morning where I’ve hardly been the life and soul of the party. Been too busy being that all last week! Looking forward to a quieter week, though already got things happening tomorrow night (Citizenship Ceremony – how odd is that?) and dinner with Tony and Scally on Thursday. Tonight we’re getting together for $5 steaks at T² as no-one can be arsed to cook! More news as it happens through the week…

OK, so how did the last week get away from me? I'll tell you how - Gay Games shenanigans, that's what! But I'm getting ahead of myself...

Thursday night last I met up with Tess and took her to eat on Stanley Street. It was lovely to see her again, and as always it's great to catch up with people from the UK, and in the case with Tess, with someone I've known for almost half my life. We met Rich a little later on for coffee and the street was very busy with tourists ready for the start of the games. We put Tess in a cab and hit the bars. Or tried to. It was so busy, everywhere was queueing and we finally got into the Barracks. Not as much fun as the Oxford, so we switched. Had a couple more drinks then called it a night.

Friday was a busy day at work - that's about all I can remember. I forced myself to go to the gym and much beyond that I can't remember. Ah yes... a few people came to ours for beers - Jon and Mark, Mat and Pank, American John and Steve (who I'd never met). Adrian and Rich and Russ were meant to come too, but they bottled out. Garry was home too, and before long we piled down to the Beresford to see who was about. The answer was - everyone! It was very busy, and soon we were spilling out onto the laneway. Lots of people there and lots of fun. On to the Barracks and more drinking was had by all. I finally stumbled home probably around 2am.

To bed, and all was well until Scally arrived at 8am. Actually things were still good, but I was at that point dealing with a headache. Scally has blogged what happened next, so go read it. See the entry for 5th November. Right, remind me to blog the UnderBear™ party details as Scally wasn't around for that last night... but right now I'm almost ready for home and the Black (Men Only) Party tonight. Ay caramba.