Yeah verily it came to pass that Dave blogged intermittently. I’ve got lots to do! I’m doing things! I’m going to have to make this brief-ish as I can’t remember what’s been happening (I think I’m turning into a goldfish) and I don’t want to be here at work too late tonight – don’t they know I’ve got a house to re-build?

OK. Weekend before last. Er… I know I did the beers with Dave after work at the Colombian and it was good to catch up with him. Albeit all too briefly. I went homewards towards 8.30pmish, with the intention of possibly coming back out for Bears at the Oxford. However the best laid plans… I got a call from Carlo and so did a bit of a diversion. Bed after that.
Saturday would have been house stuff – it’s just a question of remembering what we were up to and when! I know that on the Saturday night we hit the Phoenix as we do, but that it wasn’t outrageously late. Rich and Russ were in Melbourne so it was just me and Pete. Sunday saw us knock out all the ceilings in the house and so we could get a really good feel for how the upstairs bedroom will look when we build it. Yay. Oh, and I think Rich the draftsman came round too, to measure up. The plans are finally moving…
Sunday night was Una’s and the Shift. Can’t remember work being particularly different from any other week last week, so assume I did the gym every lunchtime and came in early-ish most days. I know I went to see Mambo Italiano with Rich and Russ on Wednesday night, and had a rehearsal for Sleaze on Tuesday. Yes, I’m in a show. Nothing involving lycra, which is great. I’m just a guard (one of ten) in a bit of an S&M show. Marvellous! It’ll be fun. Had dinner with Pete post rehearsal too – at Tropicana where we talked houses and him and Crusty, which has most definitely finished.
Thursday night? Er, dunno. Or Friday either really. Friday after work we went to the house to put the timber delivery inside. Johnno and Pete (how many Pete’s at the moment?) arrived for a look see and then Pete and I did dinner at Foodgame and I think had a relatively early night each.
Saturday was brekky down at Strangers with Candy (to see the sexy waiter!!) and then to Bunnings to buy butch power tools and the like. We spent Saturday afternoon trying to get a new beam into the walls to hold the roof up, but had to stop when next door came round to tell us their plaster had cracked. Oops. It did reveal a bit of shoddy workmanship on their attic conversion however… So, we stopped and probably ate somewhere. If it’s Saturday it must be the Phoenix… but I know that before that Pete and I had a beer at the Shift (which was awful). I hit Manacle for a couple of beers whilst Pete had a sleep – chatted to Mark and Carsten and Rod and… and... and… The Phoenix was fun again. Lots of nice people there – Dave, Rich and Russ, the lovely Robert (whose number I finally got!), Anthony… and another guy called Warren whose number I got… To Arq briefly which was a mistake. Not good. Walked home in the very cold around 5.30am. Couldn’t sleep for ages, so I think it was around 8.30am when I did finally snooze. Got to the house at noon, having missed Johnno and Pete. Curses. We got the beam in (finally!) and cleared all the rubbish away and got the ceiling joists into the roof space. We had lots of visitors – Brendan and Piggy; Allan from work; Jan and Pete’s cousin Sarah; Rich and Russ and Brett. We called it a day at 8pm – very satisfied with our days efforts as we finally had the last bit of stud wall down and could see the space as one big room properly for the first time. Shower then pizza then a couple of beers at the Shift (vile) and the Colombian (viler). Home. Bed.
Today – work at 8am; gym at lunch; home now. Will probably hit the house to see how Pete’s got on today ) he’s a teacher and is on holidays for 2 weeks, the git. Tomorrow and Wednesday are Sleaze rehearsals as is Saturday arvo. This week’s going to fly!

I can’t believe it’s well over a week since I blogged. I thought I’d blogged after the last entry so I’m either losing my marbles or I dreamt it.

Last week’s evenings were peppered with early nights and Buffy. I can’t remember much else. The days were work and gym. I probably met up with Pete one night and possibly Gary another, but I really can’t remember and I’m too tired and arsey today to give it any real thought! I did go shopping on the Wednesday night as I’ve got the supermarket receipt to show for it. I bought lots of nice things for lunches here at work now I’m being good and going to the gym.
The weekend is a bit more of an event. Friday night we went to the Theatre, luvvie darling. To see the Blue Room – starring two of Oz’s finest, Sigrid Thornton and Marcus Graham. Fun. Just the two of ‘em, carrying on for 2 hours. Semi-clad for most of the time. Unclad in bits. It was good to do that again – it’s been too long since I did a bit of theatre! Home to be for me afterwards.
Saturday was spent mostly at the house and we cleared out all the crap into the back garden and swept everything clean. Yay. Saturday night was a couple of quiet beers for me with Pete (who sadly has been dumped by Crusty again) and then pasta in Stanley Street. Early bed as I was up early on Sunday for the 10K Bridge Run. I did this race last year and so decided I was up for it again however this time with a bit less training. The course was slightly different, finishing at the Opera House and I decided it would be worth the view if nothing else. It was great. I think I was about a minute or so slower than last year which was fine by me. A glorious morning too – felt very virtuous after I’d finished and it was still only 8.20am!
Finally met up with Pete for brekky and then tried to find a t-shirt for Bad Dog. Failed and so hit Bad Dog anyway, courtesy of Rich. Fantastic party yet again – the usual suspects were there and the music was up to scratch again so yay! We kicked on to the Phoenix which was hilarious and with some sexy men. We then decided to go to Arq, which was a bit of a change but OK nevertheless. Got chatting to the lovely Robert – he’s most definitely on my to-do list. Sadly he disappeared before we got to the phone number stage. However it’s not the first time I’ve seen him out and about so watch this space (he said hopefully…)
We finally called it a night around 6am. So I suppose we called it a morning really. Back to R’n’R’s to sleep. Finally woke in the afternoon and met the lovely Jonno the builder at the house (woof!). He talked us through some ideas and then finally we legged it from there. Pete went off and I finally went home. Days off in the week are great!
Since then I’ve done little all week, save a nice coffee date with a guy last night. Fun – quite intense but fun. Tonight’s meant to be a couple of beers straight after work though to be honest I’d rather just go home. Hey ho.

OK, so not quite a week has gone by this time before my update. I’ve decided it’s hard work trying to juggle a full time job; a new gym regime; renovating a house and being the social butterfly that I’ve always been. Something will have to give. Wonder if I can work shorter hours??? :o)

Tuesday night last week then. I did indeed run home – and in fact I ran to and from work every day except Friday, when I just ran in. Not bad going really – though I’ve actually hurt my foot a bit and I’ve a 10K race on Sunday. This week I’ll just train in again and save myself for Sunday. After that I’ll try and run again, foot permitting. Now, last week’s evenings are a bit of a blur. I know I didn’t really spend any time at home at all, but I’m not sure where I was! I think Tuesday night was over to Rich and Russ’s for dinner with them, Pete (who’s now living there) and Renee and Bianca – Rich’s niece and a friend of hers – lovely girls! Had a laugh and then home.
Wednesday was work again. Gym at lunchtime. Met Gary at the house to show him round and then we toddled off Colombian-wards for beer. However, I got a call at 8.02pm to say that me and Pete were on telly so we diverted to Rich and Russ’s to watch. It was fun but we got less exposure than expected for 3 separate filming sessions – we must have gone on the cutting room floor! If you fancy it you can go to www.domain.com.au, scroll down to Hot Property and look in the show archives. We’re in the section entitled Darlo Terrace. You might have to go into this week’s show and then look for last week’s show in the LHS bar – currently it hasn’t been updated, but will be by Wednesday. Still, all a bit of fun. Beers subsequently with Pete, then dinner and home.
Thursday – work. Didn’t gym in the afternoon as we had a team lunch out to welcome Nick, our new team member. We went to a nice fish restaurant down in La Perouse called the Boathouse. It was a gorgeous day and lovely to sit by the sea… The afternoon dragged a bit consequently but soon I ran home again. No idea what I did on Thursday night. Oh yes. I remember. Carlo came over for a catch up. Lovely!
Friday – work early, no gym lunchtime and then the dentist. Met Pete for coffee then home, change and back to Dave’s for dinner. Nice evening. He cooked lots of nice things and Brendan, Heikle (sp?), Drew and Puppy were there too. I stumbled home the worse for red wine some time around 1am.
Saturday – up around 10am-ish and met Pete at the house. We grabbed coffee and brekky at Paua (noice!) and then set to work on attacking the front of the house. We cleared all the front garden – which considering how rootbound it was was pretty good going. We were knackered when we finally called in a day/night at 7pm. I went home, bathed, ate, changed, and hit R’n’R’s at 10.30pm. Drink there, then Manacle and then down to the Phoenix. Boy oh boy. In the words of Madness ‘Oh what fun we had’. Lots of sexy friendly men, good music and daddy snogging were all on the agenda. I decided not to go home with the sexy daddy and head on up to Arq with the crowd and it was fun there too. So much so we didn’t leave until gone 8am.
Sunday - back ar R’n’Rs, the plan was to sleep and then continue work on the house. Er, no! We just carried on partying. Like there was no tomorrow. Stupid circus acts, gymnastic moves and so on were the order of the day. Until some time around 12.30pm when we went back out for more beers. Not a good move. Too minkered! Back to sleep a while and then up around 6pm. Out to buy food then Pete cooked and we watched Scooby Doo. Home. What a fantastic weekend – and great to spend so much time with R’n’R and Pete again. More please.
Monday – into work. Tired. No gym. Home now. Just realised though that I’ve left my train pass in my jacket which I left at the gym this morning when I went to pick up my shoes and trousers. Bugger. Hey ho. Tonight will be food and Buffy on DVD and then early to bed.
Yay!

And verily it came to pass that Tuesday became blogging day…

It’s been a busy week and so I’ve got quite a lot to report. From last week then:
Tuesday – went back to Newtown and cleaned the flat from top to bottom. Packed up my stuff and dropped it back into Brumby Street before going back for one last sleep at Newtown. In bed early as I knew the boys were on an early morning flight…
Wednesday – Mark and Carsten arrived at 6.15am. I got up shortly after and showered and had a cuppa with them before heading off to work. Gymmed at lunchtime, but was tired and so I tried to run and didn’t even do that very well :o( Back to Brumby Street for the first time in ages, but I think I ended up out for dinner with Pete. I can’t quite remember! Maybe that was Foodgame night and if so chicken pesto burger. Yum! Yes – we had to meet up to drop a cheque off at the solicitors (which in the end we forgot to do!) – see below.
Thursday – was meant to be eventful. It was the day we were due to complete on the house. Determined not to get too excited we hung out until 2pm – I went to the gym in fact to keep myself occupied. There was a message waiting as I came out to say that the vendors had failed to return one document on time and so it was postponed until Friday at 2pm. Bugger. Met up with Pete that night for comisseratory (?) beers. We had a couple at the Colombian (vile), one at the Shift (viler) and then decided to torture ourselves with a final beer at Stonewall (vilest). Truly vile. So, home – without a house.
Friday – tried not to get too excited again. Into work at 7.50am as I was taking a half day. Left at 12pm and hit the gym with Andrew. From there back home and Pete had picked up the ute so off we toddled back to his place to pack up some stuff. We took the call to say the house was ours and so we went to Jan’s (Pete’s lovely aunt) for a cuppa and then off to North Sydney (over the bridge and far away) to pick up the keys. We got a bit lost, but finally by about 5pm we had the place – yay! Exciting times ahead. So, back to Pete’s and we loaded up the ute with his stuff for storage at the house. We met Jan there and she’d brought some Moët bless her. Then it was back to Pete’s to load another lot of stuff for Rich and Russ’s and then we hit Una’s for a big meal of schnitzel. (I must have a word with cook – that schnitzel’s far too delicious for my figure…) Then it was back to Pete’s for a bit of a clean and then we were done. And dusted :o)
Saturday – well that was a day and a half!! I was up early and eventually headed out for coffee to wait for Pete. We had bacon and eggs and then descended on the house for our first real day of renovation. The plan was to remove all the nasty carpets and lino to see what was on the floors underneath; knock out the wall of the bedroom as it fronts on to the hall to open up that space; and maybe have a look at the sub-tropical garden and see what we could unearth. And in the words of Bruce Forsyth – didn’t we do well!! The carpet from the living area came up relatively easily – leaving us with some not very nice floorboards and a big void under the floor itself. Great. The kitchen floor was a bit better, but still not salvagable. In the meantime, Pete knocked the supposed brick wall between the living area and the bedroom – and hey presto we discovered it wasn’t brick at all and so we could knock seven bells out of it! Pete cleared all the living room side as I finished off in the kitchen and then we took out the bedroom/hallway walls. Not surprisingly we were a bit knackered by this point, having also entertained Rich the draughtsman; Tim and Ross; Mark and Carsten and Jan – as well as making chicken sandwiches. I suddenly remembered I was meant to be hitting John’s leaving meal (he’s back to Canada for a while) and was very late. We called it a day and went to our respective homes… I hit Oxford Street for John’s meal – it was good to say goodbye if only short and sweet! I went down to Manacle to wait for Pete and chatted to a few mates before Pete arrived and it was time to hit the Phoenix. Yay. Had a complete blast down there and I think it was 5.30am before we moved on to Arq having spent time with Mark, John and Allan, Rod, Murray, David Austin etc. etc. etc. Arq was OK too – though the music was a bit all over the place. We retired back to Rich and Russ’s at 8amish to watch Toy Story and drink tea.
Sunday - Slept for a couple of hours and decided it was time to hit the house baby one more time. We knocked through the one wall we had left and then decided we should give the back garden a go. We got it all clear (including the concreted in washing line) except the huge avocado tree by the time that Adrian, Jason and David arrived. We had tea in the garden once they’d gone and hung around until Jan and Ralph came to look at the progress. Home to change and then out to the Shift for a reward of beer. Stayed there with Mark and Stephen – popped out for chinese and then were so stuffed by 10.45pm that we called it a night. I was almost asleep by the time I reached Brumby…
Monday – into work and decided to give the gym a miss to go and buy healthy lunch and snacky stuff for work. However I did run home – I’ve got a permanent locker at the gym now and so plan to run the 3½K each way every day… Oh really. It took just over 20 minutes which is great. Showered and went to try and buy Bad Dog tickets but the shop was closed :o( Pete cooked gnocci and then we were going to go and measure at the house but tiredness overtook us. I went home and uploaded the digicam pics onto the PC, but not yet onto here – watch this space.
Tuesday – up and ran into work this morning. Systems testing was cancelled so normal day. Had Josh for my personal training session at 1pm. Back here. Ate like a horse. And now it’s time to go and run home. I’ll be fit if I carry on like this!

I can't believe that it's two weeks exactly since I blogged. Two whole weeks. And I've no idea what I did in that time at all either. Now that's kind of scary. (Takes minute to try and write down what's happened in the last two weeks to try and put it down on here in some semblance of order).

Ok - back on track a little. It would seem I did the following:

Tue - where I left you. Nothing much to report. Probably gymmed and then vegged in Newtown.
Wed - Did Gym in the morning with Liz. Worked. Dinner with Tony at Peasant's Feast which was lovely. Nice to catch up with him again properly.
Thu - work. I'm kind of skipping over work on here at the moment, but apart from the dull systems testing I'm actually really getting in to it at the moment and enjoying myself! What's that about? Thu night was a ten-pin bowling night with work, which ended up being a lot of fun. We didn't win, but after a pretty poor starting game (94) I came good with a second game of 147! Had had a few beers by then so got a lift home and vegged. Fun.
Fri - work. Can't remember doing anything. Think I had an early night! Or maybe Carlo. Who can say?
Sat - was meant to be meeting Pete for an early brekky before soliciting. Er... anyway, the trains were out between Newtown and town and so I walked. And got a bit lost. Managed to arrive in time for coffee, but not in time for full brekky, which we had post soliciting. At the Dank St depot, of which we'd had good reports - however it turned out to be overpriced and full of ex boyfriends. Vile. Eventually back to Newtown before heading to David and Jason's for Craig's birthday party. Chatted to Adrian and Shane and mostly Tim and Ross. I was happily imbibing the punch, not realised it wasn't as tame as it purported... down to Manacle just because. Chatted to Brendan who's a friend of a friend, and then to two friends of his - Stuart and Enda. Stuart is a bit of a gorgeous daddy, so obviously I hated that. Down to the Phoenix and suddenly it was 5am and I was on the way home. Without my jacket I found out later. How out of it was I exactly?
Sun - sleeeeeeeep. Lazy brekky down at the Chocolate Dog and then coz of the no trains thing decided I couldn't be bothered to go anywhere really. I watched a DVD of some description (probably) and just vegged out. Then I got invited to dinner by an acquaintance in Newtown which was perfect. We had pasta with chorizo and artichokes and watched Barbarella. Had never realised just how camp that film is before. Fun. And the post-Barbarella entertainment was fun too...
Mon - to work. That night was a run around... into town to pick up and get a prescription filled, back to Newt, back to Central and then to Gary's to watch 28 Days Later... If you haven't seen it do so - it's not out here for another couple of weeks, but I gather it's been out in England already (from where Gary got the DVD). Part The Stand by Stephen King; part Lord of the Flies by William Golding - it's written by Alex 'The Beach' Garland and directed by Danny 'Trainspotting' Boyle. The result is a powerful horror movie, heigtened in its effect by weird colorisation and camera angles. And decent performances too. Go see.
Tue - Sytems testing is dull again. Discuss again. I got slightly irate as there wasn't much for me to do and no-one seemed particularly interested in finding stuff for me. I finally did some stuff, helped by a gym break in which I ran for 7½K. Joy. Quiet night in.
Wed - worked, with my gym fitness assessment at lunch. I'm pretty fit apparently. Let's see what Josh (my trainer) has in store for me over the next few weeks. Can't remember if I did anything that night. I think not.
Thu - work. Gym day 1 - chest and biceps. Ouch. Dinner that night round at Steve and Anthony's with Rich and Russ. Nice to catch up with everyone again for the first time in ages.
Fri - work. Gym day 2 - legs and abs. Ouch again. Home. Veg. Romy and Michele's High School Reunion. Sleeeeeeep early.
Sat - slept in a bit and had brekky in for a change. Out and got haircut, new gym shoes ($250 - how much!?!) and had coffee with R'n'R. Back to Newt and finally met up with Gary to hit the Newtown for beers. We were joined by Craig, Aaron, Paul and someone else, and then R'n'R. The original plan was to hit the Imperial for a Newt night out, but for some reason at midnight me and R'n'R ended up at the Phoenix. Then Arq. Oops. How did that happen? A nice young guy called Matt gave me a lift home... The first time in ages that I've had a big impromtu night out and it was so much fun. Lovely to be out with Rich and Russ properly again.
Sun - went to sleep around 9.30am! Yikes. Woke at 2pm. Watched Final Fantasty on DVD then finally hit Rich and Russ's for pizza and pepsi and relax. Home and sleep.
Mon - early to work. Gym day 3 - back and triceps. Ouch x3. Home with half a chicken. Er... early bed after the Simpsons when Homer moves in with some gay guys. Very funny indeed.
Today - also early to work. Gym day 4 - shoulders and abs again. Ouch and a thousand times ouch. That's it. Have finished all I'm going to do for the day and so I thought I'd just get this up to date before heading off. I don't think I have a problem with that. I'm going to tidy the apartment as Mark and Carsten arrive home in the morning. Vacuum the cat. That sort of thing. Now, what can I eat??

More news as it happens!!

When puss comes to shove...

Tuesday again. And blogging again, though this time no dull systems testing. Was meant to be, but it was cancelled as they had nothing for me to do this morning. So a normal day. Got quite a bit done too. Yay for me. Okay, here's the week in retrospect:
Tuesday - was meant to gym but ended up at Brumby and tried to update some PC stuff. It took forever! Home, takeaway and chill out. It seems to be my only night in! What's on the telly? Rubbish probably. Aussie telly is crap. Discuss
Wednesday - up early for Liz. Got a call to say she'd done her back in so gymmed anyway - how good am I? Into work. Lunch with Allan and the very lovely Andrew (woof!). The idea is forming about working out at the gym near here lunchtimes instead of the one nearer home. Upside? All done by the time I get home, a break in the day and possibly Andrew as a training partner :o) Downside? Nowhere to work out if I get that weekend urge. Though I could always run in the park. I'll go and do some rates investigation later in the week... I have no idea what I did in the evening time, but I'm sure it was wonderful. Probably an early night as I was having cat slight allergy dramas. The cat is lovely but like a dog in its need of affection. Couple that with red and sore eyes and it's not the best of scenarios. Weirdly one week on I'm OK - maybe it wasn't puss at all, but I'm keeping more of a distance (not completely though) and washing my hands a lot. Just call me Lady Macbeth. A couple of people suggested not feeding puss or even (shock) maiming her! I couldn't do that. After all, there's more than one way to skin a cat... (now there's a hypoallergenic thought!!)
Thursday - work. Nipped into city for a couple of things and then impromptu beers with Dave. And then Brett. And then Pete. And Al was upstairs too. Pizza with Pete and then home.
Friday - work. Gym. Movies at Fox Studios - Terminator 3. I enjoyed it. Much like the others. Clare Danes I have a soft spot for. Fun! To Manacle with Des - caught up with Steve, Andrew B, Rod and a few others besides.
Saturday - had an impromptu brekky with a chap called Rich. Noice. Fun. Lots of talk about Wacky Races and stuff :o) Then I finally made it to the Bonds Warehouse in Sydenham to buy t-shirts, underwear etc. Gym. Lite beers with the lovely Graham - sexy doctor from Brisbane that I met in November who just happened to be down for the weekend. He really is so sexy!! Oxford, Colombian, back to Graham's hotel. The three of us :o) Home and toast at 1.30am. Bed by 2am.
Sunday - up at 7.45am, realising that Saturday night's shenanigans really wasn't the best preparation for running 14K in the City to Surf race with 59999 other people. Made it all on time to meet Allan and Ian and this year we all started from the front pack. The not eating on Saturday night was the biggest mistake - my body having no fuel to cope with the first half of the race. The last half was better as I'd had brekky which kicked in to help. I had to stop twice in the first 4K though, which isn't right! I still did 73'22" which was about 4 mins faster than last year, but left rueing the chance of probably going under 70' had I thought with my head and not my...
Later Sunday - post race we adjourned to the pub and had beers. Then Una's with Al and Ian and to the Tilbury. Not really my cup of tea. Home. Rang Dad and got Karen. Dad's broken his arm and is in the local nursing home which is a bit of a worry. Bed and sleep by about 9pm.
Monday - work. Newtown. Over to Mark's for the final Buffy ever!! We had pizza and beer and all things Buffy. We had last week's to watch too and then there was a documentary to follow so I finally got home and into bed around 1am. It was weird with Buffy ending - it's been a great thing to have to look forward to every Monday night, catching up with our own Scooby Gang. Whatever will we do instead?
Today - up at 6.45am. Into work early. This now means it's almost time to go home.

Tuesday. Doing some systems testing that really couldn't be any duller. No really. Friday night was to Bondi for Kerry's birthday meal. It was OK, but I was so tired... but not tired enough to say no when Carlo texted me asking to catch up. He left some time around 12.30am. Boy did I sleep!
Saturday was lazy. The cat let me sleep in and I eventually went for the most gorgeous walk in the glorious winter sun - 21C. To the Chocolate Dog for sweet potato and coconut pancakes with sweet chilli sauce, bacon and some sweet potato crisps. And coffee. Yum. Trolled up and down King Street - found a nice park amongst the back streets and just felt enervated by the sunshine. Was meant to be going out to someone's housewarming later that night. Decided I couldn't be bothered. Felt anti-social for some reason, though I did actually get as far as the house, rang the bell but when no-one answered I turned on my heels and walked back to the apartment! The party hadn't seemed very busy and I didn't feel like talking to strangers. However, that didn't stop me hitting the pub, where I bumped into several disparate people I know all there for someone's birthday which was odd. I had no idea those people all knew each other! Down to the Imperial but was over it almost on arrival. Home to bed.
Sunday was much the same as Saturday - at least brekky was identical! I then went over to the Green Park with Pete and Crusty, and then to Rich and Russ's for Sunday roast. Noice. Briefly to the Shift after lots of wine made me think it might be enjoyable. Our survey said? Unh-hunh. Home.
Monday was a Qantas holiday, but we needed skeleton staff so I volunteered to work, having had last Monday off for Bad Dog. I do get a day and a half in lieu which is better for me. Yay. Slobbed at home with the cat. Food. Bed. Buffy. Bad sleep.
Systems testing. Dull. Hoping to gym tonight and again in the morning. Let's see how I do!

It's August already. Well who'd have thought it. And over a week since I last blogged - sadly that's more believable these days. I've managed to cram some stuff into the last week and a day - most of it good too!

Friday - as far as I can remember I had an early night after the gym.
Saturday - Pete and I spent most of the day doing brekky and looking for Bad Dog costumes. Well I did. Dinner that night round at Gary's with Peter, Pete, Rich and Russ - then on to the Shift and the Phoenix and the Shift again. Both me and Pete suffered a bit - not good in the Phoenix. We recovered to party on however... Back to mine around 7am - doh. Sleep.
Sunday - up at 10.30am to finish the convict's outfit - pics to come. Nice ball and chain. So I'm told. Over to Dave's to help him fix his outfit then to Waverley. Bad Dog does the business again. However we seemed to arrive, have a beer or two, have a few chats and a dance and it was all over! Down the the Phoenix again. Nice dance with a guy called Tim. Up to Arq but by then I was over it. Home and sleep.
Monday - off work, but was only fit for bacon and eggs, tea and Buffy. Then over to Mark's for more Buffy with him and Megan - the others cried off. Home at midnight - exhausted!!
Tuesday - work and then an impromptu visit to Gary's.
Wednesday - up for gym then work. Home and moved to Newtown. Installed myself in the flat, made friends with the cat, bought takeaway and vegged out. Bliss.
Thursday - slept badly. Grrr. Into work. Pete came to Newtown - food and a quick beer. Bed.
Friday - slept badly again. Grrr again. Into work again. Out tonight for Kerry's birthday meal in Bondi. Then sleep. Please...

More from the weekend as it happens. Only other news: the owners of the current apartment want to sell it. This could make things tricky re moving out early to move into the new house - I think I may get stitched up and have to pay until the end of the lease - that so wasn't the plan!

Laters...

It's August already. Well who'd have thought it. And over a week since I last blogged - sadly that's more believable these days. I've managed to cram some stuff into the last week and a day - most of it good too!

Friday - as far as I can remember I had an early night after the gym.
Saturday - Pete and I spent most of the day doing brekky and looking for Bad Dog costumes. Well I did. Dinner that night round at Gary's with Peter, Pete, Rich and Russ - then on to the Shift and the Phoenix and the Shift again. Both me and Pete suffered a bit - not good in the Phoenix. We recovered to party on however... Back to mine around 7am - doh. Sleep.
Sunday - up at 10.30am to finish the convict's outfit - pics to come. Nice ball and chain. So I'm told. Over to Dave's to help him fix his outfit then to Waverley. Bad Dog does the business again. However we seemed to arrive, have a beer or two, have a few chats and a dance and it was all over! Down the the Phoenix again. Nice dance with a guy called Tim. Up to Arq but by then I was over it. Home and sleep.
Monday - off work, but was only fit for bacon and eggs, tea and Buffy. Then over to Mark's for more Buffy with him and Megan - the others cried off. Home at midnight - exhausted!!
Tuesday - work and then an impromptu visit to Gary's.
Wednesday - up for gym then work. Home and moved to Newtown. Installed myself in the flat, made friends with the cat, bought takeaway and vegged out. Bliss.
Thursday - slept badly. Grrr. Into work. Pete came to Newtown - food and a quick beer. Bed.
Friday - slept badly again. Grrr again. Into work again. Out tonight for Kerry's birthday meal in Bondi. Then sleep. Please...

More from the weekend as it happens. Only other news: the owners of the current apartment want to sell it. This could make things tricky re moving out early to move into the new house - I think I may get stitched up and have to pay until the end of the lease - that so wasn't the plan!

Laters...

Suddenly it's Thursday and a week since we bought the house at auction. Tonight (hopefully) we're heading off to the solicitor's to sign our lives away. After that, I'm hoping to go and purchase part of my Bad Dog outfit and Pete and I are going to sit and plan our options for the house renovation. Well start to at least.

Tuesday night after my early mark I ended up at the gym - virtuous, yay. Then I met up with Gary and Peter to return keys and t-shirt and have a curry. Not so virtuous, not so yay. Then Peter got called out to fix someone's pussy (stop that, he's a vet!) so Gary and I retired to the Colombian. Downright un-virtuous, non-yay. Also vile - what's going on with things here? Is it just a winter 'no-one goes out for beers' or what? Any road up - I digress.

Last night I went round to Mark and Carsten's place to find out how their pussy works (stop that again - I'm house and pet sitting for them for a month starting next week). We had a lovely meal and the apartment is great - it'll be fun to live there a wee while, and hopefully should end just as we get possession of the house. Fingers crossed it all works out so easily. Right, lots to do at work, so best get back to it...

It's Tuesday. I had a lovely, very quiet weekend looking after George the Staffordshire terrier and staying over at Peter's, whilst he and Gary were in Melbourne. Stayed in both Friday and Saturday nights, took George for walks, went to the gym, met various people for coffee, chillled in general. You'd think then that I was rested. Oh no. For some reason I couldn't sleep well at Peter's and then on Sunday night went out for beers (the Mars Lounge - new, interesting). Doh. Last night was nothing but eat but I did sleep fantastically well. Today's system testing day has brought back the desire to sleep but I've fought it. And now I've been told to go home early. 4pm. Woohoo! Laters...

Hmmm. Maybe it's a winter thing, but my blogging has hardly been fast and furious of late. I last left you in a kind of bimbo limbo, bemoaning the un-excitement in my life. A mate recently mentioned that life isn't always about the big things, but more about going to the corner shop to buy milk. He reckons if you can be happy doing that, then you can be happy in most everything that life throws at you. There's been much milk lately... not all of it happy. But hey...

In short, things go on. Work is still busy, but good. Pushing for that promotion - review in less than 2 weeks. Fingers crossed. I have started the long and laborious return to the gym. Been twice this week and going tonight, straight from work. Have signed up for the City to Surf again - 14K in 3 weeks time. Only problem is I've not really run since the half marathon almost 2 months ago now. Ouch...

Haven't been out much of late. Am kind of over the scene a little bit right now. Did do beers at Manacle last Saturday and had a surprisingly social time. Cool. Still catching up with Carlo here and there. Mostly there...

I seem to have been given a new mantle of pet/house sitter. Am looking after George the Staffordshire Terrier this weekend and relocating to a different part of Surry Hills whilst friends Peter and Gary go to Melbourne. Tuesday week I move to Newtown for a month as friends Mark and Carsten tour the US and Europe. I guess their pussy will be safe with me (missus). It's a chance for some time to myself which will be good - for some reason I'm kind of craving it. No disrespect to Kerry, who seems great, but I think I need some Davie time.

Finally, in really shock news last night, Pete and I bought a house!! YAY! We've bought 28 Young St, Redfern East - just a wee bit further from town to where I am now. It's currently a 1-bed workers cottage in need of some TLC. Or a bulldozer. It's in a wide, tree-lined street that's blocked off at one end so will be relatively quiet, and it's the worst house in the street! Deceased estate and really needs completely gutting except for the frontage. However, it's on 30m of land and has rear lane access through Little Young St. We intend to build up and back - 2 beds and a bath upstairs; downstairs open plan, out to the outdoor area and then a garage at the back. Fantastic. Or it will be. It's quite a big job so I don't reckon we'll be in for a good while. Depends on plans, approval, builders etc. But how exciting...

Right. It's time to get my act together. I get my weekends back from now until completion in September, then I don't reckon I'll have a lot of time until Christmas. I said I was waiting for something big to happen. I guess this is it!

It's all been happening. Well actually not that much has been happening and I feel a bit in limbo. Seem to be treading water at the moment waiting for the next thing to happen. Whatever that is. Househunting is getting more depressing as it's winter and not much about. What is about is consequently going for a higher price - it's your basic demand and supply and the whole auction system not really helping those of us who are more price sensitive. I also think that the glut of 'lifestyle' programs on telly extolling the virtues of 'renovation' is causing every Tom, Dick and Harry to think they can have a go. Sigh. Next.

Work's OK but busy. Seemingly not as much fun at the moment. Oh well. I've not been gymming either, though I relaunch tomorrow with Liz. Honest I do. Garry finally left and before I had time to think Kerry had moved in. We had welcome dinner on Friday with Rich and Russ, Pippa and James and Anthony which was nice. It's still a bit odd though, coming to terms with someone new living in your house. Very much walking on eggshells until we find the right comfort level.

Stayed in Saturday night with beans on toast, Lost in Space and Harry Potter. Things could be worse. Though I'm not sure by how much... No plans for a while. No desire to go out. Pete's away in Cairns so not even househunting this week. Time to gather my thoughts. Or, if last night's anything to go by (as we didn't do Buffy as it was a repeat) a time to read Harry Potter and escape into a land where things can be altered with the wave of a magic wand. Now wouldn't that be nice?

It's Wednesday night. It's late. I need sleep. Suffices to say there's nothing really new to report. Though I will. Tomorrow. Garry's leaving do for one thing. Going to bed with Harry Potter... :o)

Friday afternoon. Woohoo. Another week over. Wednesday night was a stay in and veg out night. Marvellous. Had snacky bacon and cheese muffins - very much comfort food. Yesterday was a good day at work - had an informal review ahead of my formal review in July, just to make sure that there were no surprises and in lieu of a meeting missed due to my boss changing jobs. Basically all is good. In fact it's almost too good. If only they knew... My boss wants to put me forward for promotion to senior analyst at the end of next month, only 14 months in. Normally it takes between 18 months and 2 years to hit senior after you finish training. If I get given the nod it'll be just over a year. I guess I have done the job before, but it's still rewarding to see how much faith other people have in what I do. Fingers crossed it all goes through...

So I met Gary for a beer. And Pete. And Pete. And Dave. Colombian/Oxford. Vile. Company was good though. Staggered home at around midnight, no dinner. No wonder I felt vile this morning. Treading water day. Heading off in a minute to mee the new flatmate. Hope we get on OK - she moves in properly next week!! Quiet night after that. Home cooking, cleaning, vegging. All is well...

Wednesday morning. Just still. By two minutes. Feeling better than yesterday... I finally think that I've broken the back of this cold. Nice night last night - pizza and beers with Pete, discussions of the house variety (purchasing, not music). Ready for a simple weekend - the focus being on spending time with mates. A bit of house hunting, probably - but otherwise social gatherings in the winter sunshine.

Breaking News :

At Melbourne Airport today, an individual, later discovered to be a school teacher, was arrested trying to board a Qantas flight whilst in possession of a compass, a protractor, and a graphical calculator. 

Authorities believe he is a member of the notorious Al Gebra movement. 

He has been charged with carrying weapons of maths instruction.

I'm going to try and do one post a day from work - short and to the point. Rather like my good self.

Still full of cold, though feeling slightly more chipper than yesterday. Had a nice evening doing the Buffy thing - Genevieve cooked a lovely curry and we sat and put the world to rights drinking beer before watching a very good episode of the Slayer. Only about 5 till the very end - what will we do?? Took some cold and flu tablets and didn't wake until 8.30am. Fantastic. The rest of the week is shaping up very nicely - and quietly. Have binned the personal training until I feel better. Pete and I are getting together tonight to talk houses; am cooking a cheap and cheerful dinner for Dave on Thursday and then Kerry (new flatmate) is coming to see the place Friday arvo. Flying visit. Saturday is drinks at Dave's and Sunday is Garry's leaving do. Hmmm - maybe it's not as quiet as I thought!

OK, OK. I know. Today however is not the day for a catch up. Not with a stinking cold like the one that I have. Basically though, all is well. Apart from feeling like death warmed up. A very quiet weekend with no alcohol. Maybe that's why I feel bad...
The house-hunting continues, no luck as yet. Work goes on. I had a week off. Marvellous. Gave myself a week off the gym post half-marathon though that's now extended due cold. Normal service etc.
Today in Sydney is a glorious winter's day. Although it's 18C, there's a chill in the air midst the glorious sunshine. Wonderful. I need another weekend immediately.

OK. It's a week past June already. Let's admit that I've been slack. Ooh matron. Back on track hopefully. I'll flesh out some of the stuff that I've alluded to very shortly. Meantime let's post this and get an entry up for June at least!

No, I've not disappeared. There's just rather a lot going on. There will be a full update. No, really. However in the meantime...

Healthy walking. A really trashy night out. Buffy. A half marathon. Work. Coffee. Suddenly house-hunting. Gym. Appearances on national telly...

That's in no particular order and doesn't even begin to describe the half of it. More later...

Bugger. Make that 6 reasons. There was the most incredible sunset tonight. Apocalyptical. A full day of rain and heavy grey clouds. Suddenly, around 5.30pm a small rift opens in the clouds, the rest of the sky being incredibly dark. The sun shines through the gap. Gobsmacking. Alright Mr deMille, I'm ready for my epiphany.

5 reasons you should take your digital camera everywhere with you:

1. Walking to the dentist you stumble upon a spill of oil or brake fluid or something on the wet road. The ultraviolet, gold and turquoise swirls have formed themselves into a perfect heart shape.
2. You arrive at the dentist to find that overnight the ATM in the bank next door has caught on fire and burned down its surrounding 6'x6' enclosure. (Spontaneous ATM combustion? Someone arson about?) The remaining box appears tacked on the end of a tube, looking like some sort of space station docking mechanism or alien maw (depending on whether you're an Apollo 13 fan or if Sigourney's more up your alley), now defunct in the charred remains.
3. You walk out of the dentist into one of the most powerful deluges you can remember. Those with stronger religious beliefs around you are looking round for pieces of 6'x4' and animals in pairs are nervously packing their suitcases.
4. A blown inside out umbrella lays forlornly at the side of the road near Hyde Park, pleading with its broken outstretched metal tendrils for some TLC.
5. So much water has descended from the heavens that the walkway out of the park down from the Anzac War Memorial is like a small stream. The steps to the pavement are acting as a beautiful impromptu waterfall.

Sydney is beautiful in the sunshine and awe-inspiring in the rain. It makes me remember why I live here now. Spectacular, spectacular.

Wednesday evening. Almost bedtime for Davie. Monday night was Buffy night as usual. It's getting a bit fraught! Only a few more episodes until the end of Series 7 - and I'm catching up by almost being at Series 4 having started again from the very beginning (it's a very good place to start). Just Dave, Mark, Geno and me this week - no Megan. Pizza and wine and we all felt fine :o) Yesterday was just work and slob. Was meant to gym and/or do life admin but couldn't be arsed. Today was a bit better. Up at 6.30am for the gym with Liz at 7am. We did legs. Ouch. Home and Pete came over and we had $5 at the Strawberry Hills hotel. Then we came back here and talked about buying a place together. Basically if we pool our resources we can get somewhere way nicer than if we buy individually. We've agreed that we'd like to in principle. We'll do it all legally and above board and so on. Now we just have to work out how much we've got to spend, and where we want to live. We've got a good basic idea and seem to like similar things so... fingers crossed that it all goes ahead sometime in the not too distant future. Woo-hoo! Tea and chocolate and bed. I've eaten lots (of trash) today. I must stick at the gym and eat better - only 2 and a half weeks to the half marathon!

Overdue. But here.

24th: Finished work, gym (another 6K run and a workout). Did indeed end up having beers at Barnacle but nothing too outrageous.
25th: Yet another public holiday as previously mentioned. Mucked around in the morning after sleeping in a bit I think (long overdue). Actually I know I watched a total of 12 episodes of Buffy over the 3 days of the long weekend so probably a couple to ease me into the day. Meant to be going to a picnic as also previously mentioned, but I got as far as Dave’s with the intention of us going to Coles and heading on down. We didn’t. Dave wasn’t in the best of humours so instead we had a good old natter and then headed to Spring for coffee and sustenance. Dave was knackered and so I left him to sleep and returned home. I got ready and headed to Rich and Russ’s as they’d picked the boys up from the airport. We did drinks and then dinner at Café Comity before more drinks at the Colombian. And then Barnacle. The boys went off for more drinks and dancing naughtiness. I went home!
26th: I know there was Buffy. I know there was probably coffee. I think there might have been grocery shopping. I reckon Carlo was in the mix somewhere there too probably. There was also dinner, and drinks with the boys again. I know we ended up down the Phoenix and that I left them all to it around 2.45am and went home as they went to Arq. Good Davie!
27th: Oh dear. All this drinking is taking it’s toll as I can’t remember what I did on this day at all. I know at around 4pm I made my way to Gary’s new place in Moore Park Gardens with 2 bottles of wine, but before that it’s a bit blank. I know it was really rainy, and I know I’d been somewhere… but where? Oh well. After Gary’s got a bit bleary too, as we hit the Colombian to meet the boys again and Pete and Paul. And thence to the Shift where various people came and went. I got talking to a nice guy called John (Scottish, landscape gardener) and arranged to try and catch up again… home drunkenly. Alone.
28th: Work as normal though a little jaded. Today was the day I start looking after Melbourne-Brisbane flights so all my market knowledge gained over the last near year on Sydney-Cairns-Sydney counts for nought. Well not nought, but not much! It’s good though as I get some business traffic on the new route and so the systems I use are different and in different ways, and the demand patterns are different again. Something more to learn and keep the old bonce ticking. Wasn’t sure if we were doing the Buffy thing, but we did again so headed to Mark’s. Takeaway pizza and catch up with the gang. Noice. Home with Megan.
29th: Work again. I’ve actually been working reasonably hard of late which has inhibited both this and the personal emails. What’s that all about? The plan for tonight was to go and see Björn Again with Gary and Andrew C. So we hooked up downtown for a swift beer at which point Andrew wasn’t feeling great and left me and Gary to it. So off we went to the Balmain Tigers Club (for that was the lugubrious venue said concert was at). Well that in itself was an experience. The Tigers are a rugby league club and the venue is their clubhouse. As Gary pointed out – it’s a place where the men are men and the women are, also. The whole thing was some surreal suburban nightmare. We had the $20 steak and seafood Tuesday night special as we took in the ‘ambience’ of the place. I’d forgotten that places like this exist. The crowd for Björn Again were mostly groups of women (I’m guessing quite a lot of office outings) looking for a few good men. Aren’t we all! The show itself was fun – Björn Again themselves didn’t seem too enthralled to start with but warmed up by the second half. By then several beers had kicked in and so Gary and I contented ourselves with singing slightly alternative lyrics to the ABBA songs. I’d never realised how easily you can substitute the words ‘skanky ho’ into that many songs! We couldn’t let it lie and so ended up back at the Shift for one last beer… vile!
30th: Worked. Did nowt else as was too tired. Sleeeeeeeeeep.
1st: Worked. Was meant to do the gym, but was too tired. Intended to veg out solo, but Pete rang at a loose end and so he came over and we did the pots of tea/natter/look for flats on the net thing again. Noice. More sleeeeeeeeeep.
2nd: Up with the lark and to the gym for Liz at 7am. Good workout. Into work and I’m sure it was lovely. Back, shower and change and then off to Rich and Russ’s after Ross came and dropped off Tim’s jeep to the garage. Lots of wine, nice food and good chats to the gang and David and Brett as it was their last night before they headed back to the UK. We ended up down at Barnacle, but I piked after one beer as I was a) very drunk and b) had every intention of running and gymming on Saturday. In bed around 12.45am.
3rd: Bleugh. Bleary eyed it became apparent I wouldn’t be gymming early on in the day. Actually it was a glorious day and so it became apparent that I wouldn’t be gymming at all. Instead I did some Buffy having slept in until around 11am for the first time in ages. Met Tony for brekky – really nice to see him again and long overdue. Thence a little shopping with Mr Westmore before he had to leg it for a haircut. I met up with Canadian John and Ian for coffee at Grumpy’s and then as Ian had the car we ended up for a fantastic walk at Watson’s Bay around the South Head and the lighthouse. Marvellous. Home and ablutions ready for the date with John, the guy from the Shift last Sunday. Arrived on time to the Newtown and before long John arrived too. He’s a nice guy, but not as cute as I’d remembered from Sunday (beer goggles anyone?). He’d shaved for the date, but is actually someone that suits a bit of beardy growth. Well in my opinion anyway. Strati and Dale arrived and that took the pressure off a bit and Andrew Carfrae was there too, as was David (Crusty) Bassett and Robert. I decided to leave around 11.30pm if there was ever going to be any chance of running at all this weekend.
4th: Up at 8am, a little hung over but not too bad. Two episodes of Buffy; a bowl of weetbix (yes, there’s no ‘a’ between weet and bix here), yoghurt, banana and milk; a pot of tea. Then I decided it was time for me to run round the park. I did so, for an hour. 12 times in all. Very achy knees at the end. Home, shower, lunch, another Buffy. All this by 1.30pm! Carlo phoned to see if I wanted to catch up (I did), then I headed to have coffee with Russ, Rich, Adrian and Shane. Back to R’n’R’s then chilled until Pete called and we hit the Shift. Various people arrived through the night and I got progressively more drunken. Spotted there were: Rich, Russ, Canadian John, Ian, George, his cute friend Simon, John the unsuccessful date from Saturday night, Dez… home after midnight, possibly with burger.
5th: Into work. Worked. Going home right now. Then to Mark’s for Buffy again. The pizza was a hit last week so we’re doing it again this week. Yay!

Er it's Saturday night and it's alright for blogging. Well it would be, if I weren't going to go and shower and get myself ready for a date ;o) Canadian John was chiding me this afternoon for not updating my blog for a while, but I promise I'll do it tomorrow. Honest guv.

Short and sweet - as nothing much has happened since last blog. Watched Buffy on Monday night and then hit the sack. Tuesday was work and then the gym. 6K run and a workout. Home and food and then Pete came over for numerous cups of tea, chocolate and chats. We ended up looking at flats to buy for him on the net - but at the back of my mind I was thinking about when I should do the same - sell Peckham and buy here. No firm plans for right now, but some encouraging prices on some nice loft style things I could buy with only a teeny mortgage left over...
Wednesday I did the other way round - gym before work with Liz. After work I'd intended to go for a run, but ended up eating, crashing out in front of the telly and a few internet chats with UK friends. In bed for 10.10pm. Work today before another long weekend - ANZAC Day tomorrow. Maybe a couple of drinks with Rich and Russ tonight. David and Brett arrive from Perth tomorrow night, and in theory there's a picnic in the park tomorrow for Dez and a different Brett's birthdays. Yay. OK - back to work for the afternoon and then another reasonably quiet, healthy-ish weekend planned. Go new balanced Davie!

Happy Easter to one and all. It's now Easter Monday evening and I've got some time before Buffy to finally update what's been going on for the last two weeks. Bad Davie - I promise to blog more regularly from now on. Yeah right. OK, cast your mind back to April 4th - coz that's when I left you last. Well properly anyway. I'd been baking scones - read on.
Fri 4 - Up for an early session with Liz at the gym. Work. The scones were a huge success. We even got a spontaneous chorus of Happy Birthday, which to my knowledge has never happened before! A very quiet dinner with Rich and Russ and Adrian and Shane at the Courthouse. To Jason's. Nice evening with a nice bloke.
Sat 5 - Brekky with Jason somewhere on Victoria Street. The rest of the day's a bit fuzzy. Think I hooked up with Carlo at some point. Not sure what I did in the evening time. Beers but no club? That would sound about right. Or I may have even stayed in and watched the remaining episodes of Buffy Series 1.
Sun 6 - spent the day finishing my very own mix CD. It's fantastic!! Even if I do say so myself. Now all I need to do is work out how to put it on here in downloadable form. Beers in Colombian & Shift I think, probably with Pete. The only other thing I can remember is chatting to Dave for 30 mins on the mobile in an alley behind the Colombian. He'd had a crap weekend. Think I cheered him up!
Mon 7 - work. Run in the park. Buffy at Mark's. Mark made his famous soup. Soup-er! Home in a cab with Megan.
Tue 8 - work. Gym. Maybe other stuff too. Who knows? Actually I think I ran in the park again, rather than gym.
Wed 9 - popped in to see R'n'R. Beers with Pete at the Colombian, where we also caught up with Tim and Jason. I also met Baby Tom who was in all the way from London and we had beers and pizza with him. Lovely to see him!! Bless.
Thu 10 - work. Gym. Food. Bed.
Fri 11 - gym. Work. Impromptu leaving beers for Craig at the Civic, with Pete, Gary and Mark. To Howard's out at Caringbah on the train. I used to work with Howard at Border's and so we caught up. A trip to the country no less!
Sat 12 - came back from Caringbah. Won't be rushing back!! Here and finally decided to do a proper run - 11½K and a good workout. Joined Pete, Gary and Steve for pesto burger at Foodgame. Got the Saturday phone call from Carlo. To Tony's 40th birthday party later that night, where it seemed almost everyone I know in Sydney had shown up. Got very drunk with Gary and Pete and later, Pete. And Garry. On to the Phoenix, stumbling probably. Jason took me home... bless him. How to make a good impression Davie...
Sun 13 - slowly wended my way home from Jason's after a nice brekky in Bistro and furniture shopping (for him, not me) and beers at Colombian. Coffee with Adrian and Michael, followed by a bit of a wander round. Beers with Michael at the Colombian and then the Shift. To the Green Park to meet Dave, but he was late so hooked up with Tim,Ross and Jason. Dave arrived, as did Sean. Almost as drunk as the previous evening I headed back to the Shift for one last hurrah. Singing with Canadian John. Surreptitous songs with Ian. Hungry Jacks on the way home. (Oh, that's Burger King for those Brits reading!)
Mon 14 - work. Dave rang and we decided not to do Buffy en masse as we were all too shagged from our respective weekends. Food here then night in front of both computer and telly. Buffy then bed.
Tue 15 - work. Home and shopped. Cooked dinner here for Gary and Pete. Dips first, then Zuccini, Prosciutto and Petit Pois soup (that's posh pea and ham to you!). Sorbet. Music. Noice. We were all a bit knackered and so as soon as they'd gone I crashed!
Wed 16 - work. Gym. Dinner on the run. Beer with Rich and Russ at the newly reopened Barracks, now called Manacle. Pretty much the same really with one less pool table and a bit more light. We'll see if it takes off! Home.
Thu 17 - gym with Liz. Work. 4 days off - woo-hoo! Dinner at Pete's. Wine. Manacle (or Barnacle as we've now termed it, as the crowd look as though they've got crusty bottoms). Empty. Down to Colombian - Allan x2, and Ian. To the Shift - chats with James. Home in the rain.
Fri 18 - woke and vegged. Finally got my act together and did lunch in Chinatown with Canadian John. To the Green Park to meet Jason. Beers then here for me to grab an overnight bag. Back to his. Stayed in :o)
Sat 19 - up and coffee. Brekky at Morgans. Jason's now gone off to the States for three weeks. Looking forward to catching up with him on his return. Felt coldy. Didn't run. Home and 4 episodes of Buffy. Something to eat and then 3 more Buffy's. Bed around midnight.
Sun 20 - up around 10am. 3 more episodes of Buffy. Walk in the arvo up to town and around and back. Dinner - chicken, zucchini, pesto pasta thing. To the Shift. Caught up with John, Ian, Garry, Pete and David and Kerry and Steve. Home. Toast. Too tired for the last episode of Buffy Series 2 Part 1.
Mon 21 - up, cut hair, brekky, Buffy, laundry, Carlo, dinner, chill, walk, coffee and chocolate.

That's all folks. Buffy's on in half an hour. Time for another cup of coffee. There are several things there I've gone over only sketchily - hopefully I'll get chance to expand on a few things through this week at work (where it should be quieter). More very soon.

Er soon, my pretties. Distraught at not winning David's quiz I'm sulking. Have a read of this instead. The best bit is in the description at the end...

Just in case you were wondering, I'm alive and well but just haven't updated in a little while. It's 2 minutes past Tuesday and I should be asleep. More later today!

Thursday night and I've just baked two batches of scones. Not the usual opening to a Davie post I know, but it happens to be true. Move over Jamie. It's time for the Minkered Chef. I'll tell you about the scones in a sec, but first, an update of what's been going down.

The BBQ at Rich and Russ's was great. Nice to see them and Adrian and Ken and Tim and Ross, what with me having spent a bit less time with them of late. Thursday was more work and then out for a date with Jason from Friday night. Beers; nice healthy food (duck wraps, steamed ginger fish, greens and rice and then back to his place. For cocoa. Obviously. Actually I'm surprised he let me stay as I had to be up at 5.45am for a gym appointment at 6am (bugger, that reminds me - I've got another one in the morning!). Fun, and hopefully doing it all again tomorrow. Friday night was a quiet one. I met Dave straight from work and we went and shopped for dinner and DVDs. Back here and I cooked and we had a laugh and watched Dirty Deeds and something else with Stockard Channing in it. Nice night. Dave finally left around 12.30am and I fell into a coma.

Le weekend: Saturday I'm sure was fabulous. Fabulous yes, memorable? Er... not really. Oh I know. Met Rich and Pete for brunchy stuff at Go-Go's, and then we were all in a bit of a strange mood so after a bit more walking around we all went our respective ways. I came back here and luckily for me Carlo was online so he popped over for tea and buns. Ahem.We skipped the tea. Out later although I wasn't really in the mood. We had drinks in the Colombian for Pank's birthday and then down to the Phoenix. The gang all there. Dave was with Sean, though they didn't stay long. It kind of got to me a bit, seeing as I really still quite like Dave - 6 months on. I ran out of steam around 2.45am and came home in a fairly foul mood. It continued into Sunday, so I did what I often do in those situations and went for a long, long walk, stumbling on Tim and Ross outside the Green Park. A few beers later and I was meeting Dave at the Colombian. I decided to let him know how I felt as I wanted to get it out in the open so we could laugh about it and have it lose some of its potency. We had a great time, and I know I've got myself yet another lovely man as a friend, bless him.

Monday saw me in work and hungover. Mel sent me home thinking I was really ill. I didn't complain too much! Had a good day of rest and shopping and cooked for the Buffy lot. It was Geno's birthday that day so we had a double celebration as everyone just left as it was turning my birthday. Yay. Drinks at the Colombian Tuesday night - Mat, Adrian, Gary, Russ, Rich, Ian, Jason, Pete, Pete... then some food with Gary and Pete which was great. Home not too late. Wednesday night was shopping and scone making and tonight more scone making. It's traditional at work to take cakes in on your birthday and I'm having a joint one with a girl whose birthday it is on Sunday, so tomorrow's gone scone-tastic. It's midnight. I should retire. Oh, and some changes at work of which I'll wax more tomorrow. Er today now. It's 8 minutes past bedtime. Snore.

At last, an interesting Big Brother story.

Remind me to post a bit more about Bad Dog. They really are the most incredibly parties. Hard to describe unless you've been to one, but I'll give it a go!

Honestly, you turn your back for two minutes… and when you turn around there’s a queue! I should be so Kylie. So, it’s two full weeks since I updated properly, other than talking about drag shows and women’s clothes. Oh dear, that’s suggesting a worrying trend isn’t it? Well read on…

Brief synopsis from 2 weeks ago. I did write this all down to update on here, but I’ve thrown away the bit of paper and the memory isn’t as good as it used to be. I’ll expand where I can (ooh er missus):

Tue 11th: Supposed relaunch at the gym. Ran for 20 mins and did some sit ups. Andrew Carfrae came over afterwards and we messed around on the music mixing software for ages. Fun!
Wed 12th: Work and then beers with Michael C briefly; coffee with Michael and Canadian John. Michael left, Gary arrived. Beers at Oxford. Gary left. John and I had Thai. Very nice!
Thu 13th: Work then rock climing with Allan at Sydney University. Fantastic fun! I’d never done it before and would very much like to do it again very soon. We had dinner at Don Don after, in a shaky heap.
Fri 14th: Woke up and ached for a while. Work was fun as I’d not really cut my hair since mid-Jan and we had a Hair Shave Day for Leukemia. I had my hair cut into a mohican and dyed blue. Nice! It was kind of interesting it has to be said. Garry came home and tidied it up for me. I know I went out, but not sure where. That’s kind of scary. Probably the Shift. Hmmm…
Sat 15th: Dave called and asked if I fancied a run. So I headed up to Potts Point and then we ran to the Opera House and back. Knackered, we sat around at Dave’s and read the papers. And had coffee. And had kangaroo burgers and beer. Fantastic. Dinner later with Gary and Gregg – first time we’ve seen him since his BBQ in December! Nice, though he thought Gary and I had started seeing each other… From there to Rich and Russ’s for goodbye drinks for American John. Fun. Lots of laughing. Until we were crying. Particularly Gary and I. Then to Phoenix for more laughs. I was still sporting mohican and had gone out wearing an England soccer shirt just for the effect! It worked. A guy at the Phoenix asked me to take him home and shag him, whilst still wearing the shirt. What’s a bloke to do?
Sun 16th: Lazy day. Messed around in the morning and then met Pete at the Green Park later. We hooked up with Dave and Dez and again just laughed and laughed and laughed. I was on fine form – not been like that in a while – I’ve really missed making people really laugh out loud. Also fun for someone licking my ring at the bar (no, really – but the eyebrow thing sometimes has that effect on people); and for a big guy coming over to me and snogging, and then asking what he could call me. I took one look up at him and just said ‘You can call me Daddy!’. Oh how we laughed. On to the Shift where the fun continued. Had no end of fun with a $10 note (you had to be there) and then lots of singing and dancing. Stumbled home with Dave where we watched two episodes and fell into bed. More ring licking. :o)
Mon 17th: Woke around 8am and decided I should go home. Into work finally about 10 minutes late. Oops. Struggled through the day the over to Dave’s at 7.30 pm as he’d previously invited me over to his ex Mark’s for dinner and Buffy. I also borrowed Buffy Series 1 on DVD as I’ve always wanted to watch the whole lot from the beginning. Nice night. Met Megan and Genno too. Lovely girls.
Tue 18th: It was all a bit much and I woke feeling crap. Phoned in sick. Good move. Spent the day pottering, tidying, watching Buffy and having a discreet liaison with a mate in his office. On the sofa. Fun!
Wed 19th: Work. Met Jason for beers after work at the Trinity. Nice to see him for the first time properly in ages.
Thu 20th: Work. Went for a run in the park on getting home. That was too healthy so met Pete for beers at the Colombian. Murray was there, and Marc and Bongo. And Allan E came in briefly. And Rich. Burger and home!
Fri 21st: Work. Run after work. Met Gary and Raphael in the Oxford which would have been completely vile were it not for the fact that the Daddy from the Green Park (Jason – another one!) on Sunday was there. I reintroduced myself and got his number. To dinner at Lure for fish and chips (yum!) and the onto the Palace. Jason also arrived at the Palace and so I’m sure you can guess the rest…
Sat 22nd: Meant to be meeting Pete to shop for bridesmaid dresses for Bad Dog. No, really. Ended up having coffee with Rich, Russ, Adrian, Gary, Pete, Keith, Tim and Ross. Then went shopping with Tim, Ross and Adrian and got the perfect thing… then home. Met Dave and Dez for coffee then we ended up at the Colombian for a quick beer and all we did was laugh again! Fun. Home. Wasn’t sure whether to go out or not. Eventually did – Colombian to meet R’n’R and Keith. Tim and Ross came. Dave joined us. Down the Pheonix. Home around 2.30am.
Sun 23rd: Up and Buffy. Got ready and Dave and Dez arrived. Vodka, silly music, SpongeBob SquarePants, beer, dressing up in women’s clothes. Pics to follow. The Bad Dog theme was marriage so we had Dave as the bride, Dez as his mother-in-law and me as the bridesmaid. In full gear. Yes really! Down to Waverley Bowling Club where we socialised in our frocks a while. For some reason Tim and I decided it would be a good idea to have a walking on our hands race at the party as there were organising some games. Now, bearing in mind I wasn’t wearing underwear under my dress and it ended up round my ears… oh you work it out! The most fanastic party in a while. Onto the Phoenix with Dave (via the Oxford with Brett) and finally stumbled home around 4.30am, having renewed snogging acquaintances with Brett (no, a different one!) and Ian.
Mon 24th: Had the day off, but was awake at 9am so Buffied. Dave rang from Sean’s at 11am or so and we hooked up around 1pm and had a fantastically lazy day. Coffee and lunch. Mooch around. Coffee. Mooch back. DVD’s (Young Frankenstein, Head over Heels) with popcorn and milk on the sofa. Finally round to Mark’s again for dinner, Oscar’s and more Buffy. Home in a cab with Megan after midnight.
Tue 25th: Work. Home. Food. Chats to Dave and Dad. Buffy. Mess around on the net. Bed at 10pm. Read for half an hour.
Wed 26th: Work. And up to date. Yay. Off to BBQ at R’n’R’s in – bugger – an hour and a half. Time to switch off the PC and head off!

Bad Dog. I never knew you could have so much fun in women's clothes. More later tonight after work. Be afraid...

Fun weekend. More laughing than in a while - proper 'laugh until you cry' laughing. Haven't had that in a while. More please. Full update to come.

'Ello, 'ello, ooooh 'ello!!

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!