Ooh! It's soo close to Christmas and still it isn't freezing cold here yet. I can't believe though how fast the year has gone, and how old it makes me feel to think that, let alone say it!!
The past few weeks I have been working with a recycling company, putting together spreadsheets etc. Not the most exciting of jobs, but better than nothing and the guys here are friendly enough. One of the cleaners even knitted me a scarf! How sweet is that??
Last night we went to see Borat at the cinema. Bloody funny! Such a good movie, I don't think I have laughed so much at the cinema ever. If you get the chance to go see it, do; it's well worth the effort.
Yesterday I had the day off work to train for my Christmas assignment as a postal sorter for Royal Mail and go to an interview for a full time job. The training was a piece of piss and the interview seemed to go ok, so fingers crossed that it works out. I'll try not to say anymore in the hope that I don't curse my chances! Getting a permanent position has proven to be a little harder than I thought it would be, but at least I'm still working.
The postal sorting is only for some extra Christmas cash - weekend work at nights for the three weeks leading up to Christmas. Should keep me out of trouble and go a little ways to buying some gifts and filling up the home coffers! Seems easy enough although Mark seems a little worried about me working nights in a warehouse with a load of blokes. I reckon I'll be ok though and if it gets too much I can always quit - it's not a huge commitment or anything.
One of my close friends - Em - is heading back to Aus permanently. Mark and I are off to London this weekend to catch up with them one last time in the UK and say good-bye. It'll be sad to see her go and although she and her fiance have been talking about going back for a while now I didn't think it would happen so soon! Still she's been over here for about 10 years now so I guess it's time for a change. It'll be nice to catch up one last time, and at the end of the day it's another friend to visit when I go home to Aus for hols! Every cloud has a silver lining eh?

Halloween! I carved my first ever pumpkin the night before last - I did one side and Mark did the other. We put the candle inside and lit it so two ghoulish faces glowed from the window sill where we'd sat it in full view of the street. Having tested it and seeing that it worked (and taking a few photos of our handy work) we extinguished the flame and brought it up stairs and put it on the window sill in the lounge. Last night when night finally descended we re-lit the candle and the pumpkin glowed at the window while we ate dinner and watched telly. After a few hours the inside got too hot and the 'lid' began to shrink and burn while the flame guttered and went out. We took the top off, but forgot to re-light the candle and went back to our East Endders program, or whatever it was we were watching. After half an hour or so I looked up and there was the pumpkin, glowing again. The candle seemed to have come to life all by itself! Our very own weird Halloween experience. Other than that though we didn't see any ghosts of our ancestors or receive any messages from beyond the grave - maybe next year...





I have been temporarily out of work this week. My assignment with the joint company came to an end when they made me an offer of permanent work at a wage well below what I was willing to accept. After speaking to my temp agency I found that this was because they'd told the client that my lowest acceptable wage was £2,500 less than what it was... ARRGH! Pretty frustrating and I'm not too happy with the agency, but that's the way it goes. The people I was working with though were great and gave me a really nice send off with a box of chocolates and a thank you card wishing me all the best for the future etc.
I'm working again on Friday and all of next week though (and possibly the week after) through another agency and have put in for a full time position as a PR and Communications Assistant in Devizes, a town about 20 minutes away by car. It's more the kind of work I'd like to do so fingers crossed it works out for me! The job spec seems really interesting, a possibility to enhance and use the skills I already have and further develop others and the company's benefits are enticing too! On top of that I may begin working part time as a postal sorter in an effort to get enough money together for Christmas as it's quickly approaching. Generally things seem to be looking up despite the hiccoughh with my last position and the incompetency from the temp agency I was working through. Funnily enough I haven't heard much from them since then...
I have also been looking into other work I can do from home - and today am further checking out some freelance writing websites in an effort to get work doing something I'd really like to do, when I have the time to do it. This seems to be a perfect solution although I need to look into it further to make sure I'm not setting myself up for a major rip off or swindle. So far it's an interesting prospect that with any luck will turn out to be just what I'm looking for.
So all in all things aren't too shabby and although I have had an unexpected 4 days off, it's been the perfect time to follow up on other things I have been thinking about looking into for a while now.

Finally the weekend has rocked around again and we have nothing planned for once! Ahh! A quiet weekend - they're like rare gems found on quiet beaches... So I plan on doing as little as possible, life has been kind of hectic of late and once more I could be accused of being a bad blogger. Although I have set up another blog site where I am posting the short stories I write. You can check it out at - http://fablesandfantasies.blobspot.com I'm posting a story there so far on average of about once a week.

Since getting to Swindon I've been temping in various positions. Firstly with the Research Council as a P.A which was pretty good - they give grants for a variety of disciplines. They're really nice people and the work was easy but good. I was only filling in for someone on long term sick leave though so no permanent work eventuated from that.
From there I went to Swindon Borough Council, P.A again to the Chief Executive. OK work and the C.E is really nice but councils here are frustrating. No one wants to take responsibility for anything, however small it may be, so a lot of time is wasted chasing around different departments for answers to the simplest of questions. The money was fantastic though. Again I was filling in for someone who was on holiday, so no full time work eventuated from that either...
I bounced back to the Research Council for a week and a bit and then at the eleventh hour when I thought I'd be out of work for a few days and was worried where the next pound was coming from, my temp agency rang with an offer of an interview.
I headed out to South Marston Park - about 20 minutes on the bus from Swindon to a company that makes orthopaedic implants (knee, hip, elbow and shoulder joints, plus a variety of other stuff for severely broken bones and skin grafts) to meet and impress the Customer Services Manager. I did well and was offered the job after about 15 minutes. It's a temp to permanent position. Temp for the first month, which I'm half way through and then after that if they're happy with me and I like them I can negotiate a better wage for a full time and permanent position.

So far it's going well. The work is really interesting and there is a shit load to learn, but I'm enjoying the challenge. Again the people are really nice and the offices are comfortable with some pretty park surrounding them. I'm doing quotes for hospitals, taking orders for body parts and answering complaints. They seem to like me so far, so I just have to keep up the act for a few more weeks! Ha ha... The boss who interviewed me is on holiday at the moment and back next week so that's when I'll really have to shine... Still so far so good. If all goes well as part of my training I will have to gown up and go into surgery to watch a knee/hip/elbow or shoulder replacement. It sounds as though it'd be quite interesting if I manage to stay conscious and not pass out!

We've made a few friends through Mark's course and last week had some people around to celebrate Teresa's 22nd Birthday. Teresa is here to study from Portugal hence he birthday being at ours when we've only really just met. It was a good day though - Mark cooked a chicken roast and I did the birthday cake. We had balloons and presents - the whole shebang! Afterwards we headed out to a pub in the old town for a few pints. I was completely knackered after the weekend and Monday morning dawned way too soon for my liking!

Still I shouldn't complain - it wasn't really that long ago when I was unemployed, homeless and looking for a job. Now I have both and it still isn't good enough for me! Women hey - we're never happy!

Our new place is great - much bigger than the last with an upstairs and down stairs. We're yet to get a couch and a coffee table, but aside from that we're settled and it feels like home. It's light and airy and has a good feeling to it as soon as you walk in the door. In a few weeks we're getting a new bed - donated from Mark's Aunt and Uncle, some sort of wizz-bang orthopaedic sleep master. It will make a fine replacement from the one we have where the springs tend to find their way into your ribs whichever position you lie in. There I go complaining again...

The herbs I am growing on the windowsill are growing at a remarkable rate, and all of the different varieties have sprung to life. I've never before been able to grow basil, but both the Thai and plain variety are doing well and changing me from the woman who can't grow anything to the woman who has a remarkable way with herbs.

We now have a digital camera which Mark had to get for his Masters, so when I have figured out how to do it I will post some pictures of our new place, new friends and things we have been seeing and doing on this space. It shouldn't be too long in coming as I'm not so bad at working out how to use various forms of technology.

I don't think I've had the chance to blog since I got working here in Swindon so there's a little news to share - albeit a little!

Moving up here turned out to be a bit more stressful than what moving normally is, the agent messed us about with our move in date and in the end we had to come up here on the Saturday of a long weekend, drop our belongings off in the new house and then head back to Hastings as we weren't allowed to be there until the following Tuesday evening. All a bit of a hassle, still we managed to hire a van and it was the first time I have ever driven on British roads. Was pretty good really, a big SWB van, mod cons like radio and air-con. All slightly reminiscent of my across Australia jaunt with Briony too long ago to mention (it makes me feel old!). Mark wanted to drive for most of the time - I don't think he trusts me behind the wheel, but I put my foot down and did nearly all the driving from Hastings to Swindon (aside from the going through London bit - I chickened out at that) and we made it there in no time. Mark drove back though and I reckon I could've beaten his time by at least a quarter of an hour, if not more. It's too tempting to speed when it's not possible to get points on your licence! Maybe it was best that he drove....?
Speaking of which I checked into getting a Brit licence and all I have to do is send them my Australian licence and some moolah. I need to check that I won't need my Australian one when I have to get it renewed in January of next year - yet another thing to ad to the 'to check about & do list'. Seems to be a never-ending story/list at the moment although not nearly as much fun as having a Luck Dragon fly you around places and a world being eaten up by 'The Nothing'.

On the Monday night before we (or rather I) came up here I headed over to my mates place in Brighton to spend the night. We went out on the town (for an early-ish evening) enjoying a couple of pints at our 'usual' and then some Greek food from plastic touristy plates in a typical Greek restaurant. Lovely. Was great to say a proper farewell to Kathrin, even though I will definitely be seeing her again both here and at hers in Brighton. Only thing that wasn't so lovely was having to get up at 4 the next morning to catch a train to Swindon by 8.15am. But I managed to do it, arrived on time and took up my first temping assignment at the Swindon Research Council.
Really lovely people at the Research Council and I enjoyed my time there. Was an easy assignment for my first two weeks here as it finished at 2 in the afternoon leaving me time to organise most of those things that go along with moving into a new place. Everything but the phone... which is due to be connected and working on the 14th - this week (and more than likely the day this blog will actually go up)! Mark finished work in Hastings the first week I was here so there was a some agonising time apart until really early Monday morning when he arrived mightily pissed off at the traffic jam he'd been stuck in in London for about 4 hours. Oh the joys of a huge city! Also a bit pissed off at me for getting jacked at him for not getting to Swindon even vaguely when he said he would. I should be used to his tardiness by now really....

I had an interview for a full time position at a recruitment agency the following week and seemed to impress them enough to have them ring the day after my interview and offer me the position. I said thanks and that I'd get back to them later that day if not early the next after discussing it with 'my partner', which I was told was fine. Strangely enough though, after deliberating about it for a day and deciding to take the safety net option and accept the offer the following day they'd decided I'd taken too long and weren't going to give it to me after all - nice one Randstad ! Ach, not to worry, I can't really see myself hugely enjoying the job anyway or being an ideal recruitment consultant. The reason I went for it was I thought I'd have first pick of all the really good jobs as well as a bit of financial security for Mark and I from a permanent position! Ha ha serves me right I guess. There are other jobs I have thrown my hat in for that are more my kinda thing so fingers crossed for that, I'm sure something will be coming up shortly.

On my last day with the Research Council they asked me if I was going to come back the following week and as much as I wanted to I'd already accepted my current assignment with the Council and was heading there that afternoon for the 'hand over' with some woman with the surname 'Goodenough' - weird. So I headed off back across the railway tracks buoyant from the kind words and with my farewell bottle of wine in hand (from the Research Council staff) to meet this Goodenough woman... Well - oh me, oh my! What a completely stuck up woman she turned out to be. The hand over consisted pretty much of watching her type 'very important emails' and be completely rude to the cleaning staff and anyone else she felt was underneath her in her highly regarded position of 'PA to the Chief Executive' (including me as I'm a lowly temp you see). I can't think of anything specific that she said, but the way she looked at people and spoke to them was appalling - unless of course they were Councillors or other management staff. I have never met such a stuck up arse licker in my whole life! Needless to say I arrived home that day in a pretty bad mood so the farewell bottle of wine went a long way towards soothing my temper.

After dinner and finishing off the wine with Mark we headed out to our local to see what it was like. Not too bad - friendly enough definitely, although the walls are covered in warnings about anti-social behaviour getting you barred for life from every pub in the area. Pints were reasonably cheap though and the company as always was good. From there we headed to the town centre (or what Mark and I commonly call the 'New town' as there is an 'Old Town' in most English towns from the looks of it.) and a few bars around there. Went straight past the 'walkabout bar' which is the Australian themed pub, as much as I sometimes miss home I can never bring myself to go into one of those themed bars... Do normal Australian pubs really look that tacky?? I don't think so. Anyway, we avoided that one but checked out a few others, all much the same as the last - big screens with video clips that didn't match to the music playing, loads of scantily clad female punters and insolent looking guys... I think I'm getting old but it wasn't really my cup of tea, although I reckon I probably will end up down that way again at one stage or another. This coming weekend though I'd like to check out the Old Town night life and see what that's like in comparison, it can't be too much worse I wouldn't think and quite possibly it's better.

So that's about it. We've almost settled into our new digs, still need to get some furniture like a couch and a few other bits and bobs, but it'll come and it's beginning to feel like home. A nice light and airy place all our own. Mark starts his Masters next week so that will bring new adventures for him which I think he's more than ready for and has been impatiently anticipating for a while now. I should be in full time work soon, well as soon as I can find something worth ditching the temping for, but for now the temping seems to be going ok and paying the bills! So that's it, until something else exciting or out of the everyday happens. Or even until the guilt of not being in contact gets the better of me and I decide to have a public on-line ramble about nothing!

Ahhh, dying for a pee but at the computer in the library and thought it best to make the most of my time before it runs out - hopefully I won't be leaving a wet seat when I get up!

Mark and I have found a lovely new place in Swindon - a one bedroom house - and we plan to move in this weekend. Not a moment too soon really as he starts his Masters in about 3 weeks and I have been having to knock back offers of work as we're not in Swindon yet... Thankfully the processing of our application only took a week so there's been no immediate need for me to check out the backpacker places around Swindon (closet ones are in Bath, about 1/2 an hour train journey from where we'll be living)

I have a few interviews next week, but more exciting the possibility of work starting on Tuesday - I am still waiting to hear back from the agency. Sounds a bit daft really - when I'm working I wish I had more time off to myself and now I have all the time in the world I wish my days were taken up with work. Women eh? You never can please us! Mark has been great, making sure the rent on our temporary residence is paid, sorting out the rent and bond for our new place and generally looking after me. It's a bit of a new experience! And one I don't really mind having although it will be great to begin earning again and in a position to contribute financially to our lives. Being a 'kept woman' gets a little boring after a while... Maybe if we were hideously rich it would be a different story, but then I'd be a lady (no make that woman still...) of leisure, pursuing various dreams and whims....

Anyway, the pressure from my bladder is becoming unbearable and the time on this machine is almost up. Will update again shortly.

Ahh haa... so the fleas and other tales of the inflicted.

Our new room/temporary place of abode has been wicked. A really nice and friendly share house. Only problem was that as it was a store room before we tidied it up and moved in so there were fleas in the carpet. Seeing that I am ALWAYS the one who gets bitten the most (I must taste delicious to insects) Mark didn't mind too much. Meanwhile my ankles were ringed with lovely little red bite marks and random patches up my legs... After a few spray treatments of the carpets etc it seems to have been knocked on the head and my ankles have now begun to heal...

The first week back in Hastings meant catching up with a few mates here and frantically looking for work. On Friday night (a little while ago now) we decided to catch up with a friend of ours and bowled up to his place unannounced. Generally he wouldn't let us in if he didn't know we were coming, but we struck lucky and he answered the door. Fortunate for us/him it was his 40th the following day and he was in the mood for a little celebration. After touring a few bars etc he suggested we check out a new bar called 'XS' (classy I know) where they had caves out the back and 'women just come up and sit on your lap'. Me being me and not at all subtle asked if it was a strip club in a bit of an excited way. I've never been to a strip club before and only a few days before had been talking to Mark about the prospect of visiting one for a look-see. Said friend denied the strip club suggestion and said it was just a new place and he'd not spent much time there before... Hmm sounded slightly suspicious, but I was up for it anyway. A new experience...
So we headed off to 'XS' and paid the guy a tenner each to get in. Funnily enough, I had been almost right. It wasn't a strip club as the girls there were already near naked, walking about in their underwear and occasionally pole dancing. I tell you I have never seen a near naked gorgeous girl climb a pole so quickly before in my life - and then slide down it again like some sort of slow motion fireman.... Intermittently they came up to each of us and tried to get us to have a lap dance. I wasn't up for it as I like to take these things kinda slow - maybe on my next pole dancing club experience I'll go for a lap dance. But seeing that it was our mates birthday we bought him a dance and he got two girls for the price of one. Not bad....
Over all the place was so... ordered. I expected it to be far sleazier than it was. Sure there were the obligatory old guys (and young ones too...) oggling the girls, but not touching, rude or loud behaviour like you might get in your average pub in the city (or town) And all the girls were really nice natured. But then again I guess it is there job.
So that was my first strip/pole dancing/lap dancing club experience. After leaving there our mate got a little upset at us for getting him a lap dance as according to him 'It just leads to frustration, you're not allowed to touch and that's all you want to do'. Myself I can't understand the temptation, but then I ain't a guy.

Next day we headed to our local it was a bloody lovely day (one of the few we've had since I've been back) and proceeded to get reasonably pissed up. Got talking to this Scot guy who is a hod carrier and shaves his nuts. Apparently it stops him getting so sweaty. But he wasn't too keen to go into detail about it with me and he upped and left before I could ascertain if he shaved with an electric or normal razor...

Oh! Also have to mention for those few friends out there - I did try out my 30th b'day pressie on the plane, and it's a damn goody. Quieter than you'd expect and a lot quicker than a manual job. No need for further explanation I hope and I don't think this means I get included in any mile high club...

A few weeks have passed since all of that and Mark and I have now found a lovely little one bedroom house in Swindon which we hope to move into shortly - hopefully this weekend if everything goes well with our application.

I would like to stay and write more but my time on the computer has run out. Should be in work soon - being a kept woman gets a little boring after a while... Will catch up on the last few weeks and move etc when I am able.

Instalment two should be able to bring me up to date....

So I landed in Heathrow about 2 weeks ago now. Not a bad flight aside from the army veteran sitting next to me. Apparently he'd fought in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. Nice enough bloke, but a bit bloody annoying after a while. We chatted as the plane took off (taking off in planes is one of the highlights for me of going somewhere - I love that feeling of being pushed back in my chair from the whole speed thing....LOVELY. Also like turbulence, but that's a whole different thing..) and through dinner. While eating dinner I told him that I had some 'drugs' to make me sleep. And took them. Shortly after dinner I was snoozing - lovely as I never sleep properly on transport - what seemed to me moments after getting to sleep this bloke is poking me on the shoulder to wake me up, no, we hadn't arrived, there was still another 6 hours ahead, but he thought I should wake up for a drink of water. So I obediently drank it and went straight back to sleep. Same thing happened about 2 hours later and then on until we landed. So much for sleeping through your flight!

I'm good at complaining eh? And I've only been back for 2 weeks... Ha ha ha

Anyway, the flight between Bangkok and Heathrow was quite, I had about 3 seats to myself. The hostesses were lovely gave me a pack of cards and entrance into some competition for a free flight to Thailand. Fingers crossed that's a winner. Noice one!

Met Mark at Heathrow. He was a little late, but then some things never change. From Heathrow we went straight to Swindon where we'll be moving to shortly. This is what it looks like around that part of England:





Anyway, Mark did his interview thing as you know and got offered a place on the spot. Wicked. So we stuck around there for about 6 days checking out things. Not just Swindon though, as to be honest, Swindon is really just another English country town with a college. But the surrounds is gorgeous. Bath is only a half hour away, so we headed there camping. Went into the roman bath thingy thinking we'd be able to have a dip there. (it was lovely and warm weather) But unfortunately for your £11 you just get to have a look at it all. So we turned tail and decided to wait until mid August when we've moved there and they've finished the renovating work. By then they'll have finished the thermal baths that they're building on the roof of the place and we will be able to go for a dip.

After two days in Bath we got itchy feet again and decided to go to Wales. I blindly chose the town on the coast of Wales called Barry. I wanted a beach and to call a town Barry seems pretty weird to me... As we crossed the bridge to Wales it began to rain and the further into Wales we got the harder it rained. It was pissing it down well hard by the time we got to Barry, and Barry was pretty boring and shit, so we decided to head for the hills instead - the Brecon Beacons to be precise.

Wales is absolutely gorgeous. We found a lovely little B&B above a pub only 4 miles out of Brecon and stayed there for two nights while we had a little look around the area. Brecon was/is a funny little town. Loads of men shouting in the pubs and streets. It's a strange sound that of yelling welsh men.

Also checked out the Usk reservoir on my birthday, which was stunning. The picture doesn't do it much justice, but it was beautiful and I will go back to Wales again for another look around one day. Maybe the north of Wales next time.

All too soon it was time to head back home to Hastings. We stopped at Avebury on the way for a pint and a look around the standing stones there - again bloody beautiful, and loads of white horses cut into the hills in the area. Like this:

We eventually arrived back in Hastings around 7ish, picked up the rest of our gear from Jamie’s place and moved into another friend’s place who had offered Mark some studio space and a room. Lovely place, lots of natural light. But I think I have gotten fleas from it. Sorting it out now, but I'll leave that story and recent others for another time.

Ahh, it's been a while since my last blog and I'm a little backed up - sorry for the lapse in entries to whoever still bothers to read this! This will be a big one as there's a bit to catch up on.

Where do I start.... I guess with the whole immigration thing as that's where I left off with my last entry.



It seems so long ago now! Marks and my immigration appointment was on a Tuesday before I headed back to Aus so we jumped on the train in the morning and headed up to Croydon for the interview at 11am. After stressing about it on the 1.5 hour train journey there we finally arrived and were allowed into the first level of enquiry, reception, where we met a nice enough guy who asked to see our forms and supporting documentation. We complied and dumped reems of paper work into his little tray thing for him to sort through. He wasn't that impressed as it was in disaray, never the less he sorted through it and brought to our attention a 'missing period' of documentation of about 5 months which was when Mark was sent back to England from Australia and then I subsequently went travelling through SE Asia. I explained this to him and said that the lady on the enquires line for the IND had said our passport stamps would be enough to verify this period. He said that he didn't care 'what any lady on the phone said' and told us that we didn't have enough evidence and he wouldn't even send us to the next level where we were to pay £500 and then see a case manager as we would be rejected.
Steam started whistling from both our ears - how were we supposed to prove we were together as a couple when we were on different parts of the planet and in housing that had no bills etc in our names?? He told us that contrary to what it said on the forms we were suppose to show postcards, phone bills of calls and emails sent to each other during this time and we should go home and get these. Unfortunately this wasn't an option as there wasn't enough time... So we made another appointment for later on that same afternoon and headed off to an internet cafe in the hope of finding an email or two from the 'missing period'. Both of us not feeling very confident that it would work.
We first checked Marks account as he keeps EVERYTHING that's ever been sent to him. Unfortunately though he hadn't accessed his account for over a month and the people at hotmail had 'kindly' deleted all his old files. So without much hope we checked my email - I usually delete anything sent to me after I have replied to it. I searched all my folders with hope fading fast until tucked away at the bottom of my saved items I found one email from July 2004. I guess my filing wasn't that good! Or maybe it was...
So we printed that out thinking it wasn't enough but we'd have to give it a go anyway. Sat and had some lunch and sorted our paperwork into three seperate pile of Marks, mine and ours - all the time worrying that I wouldn't get my visa and that we'd be throwing away £500.
Back we went to reception where we met a different man. He flicked through the documents etc with hardly a glimps at it, stamped where he needed and gave us a big smile as we headed upstairs to pay our cash.
We laughed and joked with the payment guys, did some basic magic tricks with them and then waited to be called by the case worker - we had at least made it to the hard level.
The case worker asked for all the paper work again and began wading her way through it quite a bit slower than the reception guy. As she got to the email she stopped and was about to ask us something when the guy from reception downstairs walked past, saw us and said to her 'oh, I've seen this one, it's all ok'. She never asked what she was going to and finished by flicking through the rest of the stuff and saying 'You'll have your visa in about an hour and a half, you just need to wait over there' I asked if we needed to let her know our new address details as we were planning to move in September and she laughed saying 'You can if you want, but no one else does and we don't really need to know. When you come back in two years we will need the same sort of information so start collecting it now.'
With that the visa process was done and we headed bak to the train station floating on clouds and hardly able to believe our good fortune.
So the following Saturday, or the one after I cannae remeber now, I flew out of England to Australia knowing that I was able to return without any hassle and leaving Mark behind working... After about 35 hours in transit I finally landed in Rockhampton, hung over and delerious from no sleep. I hardly recognised my own sister and nephews! From there I was whisked away to Dad's place in Yeppoon where Yvette and her family were staying while they finalised their new house and move from Victoria to Queensland.
Yeppoon:
I spent a week there in the sun catching up with my nephews (one of which I hadn't met before) sister and brother-in-law. The weather was perfect - about 25 degrees and sunshine every day. One the weekend we went to Great Kepple island where we lazed about on the beach drinking beer and snorkling most of the day away. Bloody lovely it was!
Before I knew it, it was time to head south to Melbourne to catch up with friends and my brother. So I jumpped on a plane for my 3.5 hour flight south. I landed in Melbourne a little better for wear than when I arrived in Rocky and met up with a friend of mine - Julianne - who was kind enough to home my lovely dog Summah when I first left travelling. We headed back to hers and as I walked into her house I could hear the familiar bark of Summah. When she saw me she stopped dead still for about 30 seconds, and then sniffed me all over while her tail increased its wagging velocity. She remembered me!! After getting stuck into the red wine with Julianne we headed for bed and Summah snuck into my room and slept on the bed with me... Ahhhh.

The 3 weeks in Mebourne were a whirl wind of catching up with mates, sorting out the things I had stored at my brothers place for sending back to the UK, and some other stuff to be sent to my Dad's in Queesland. I didn't manage to see Dad while I was there as he went drinving accros to the other side of the country and then up the west coast to Darwin. Maybe we'll be in sync next time...

I had my hair chopped off at the salon I used to work at about 11 years ago (which was a strange experience), caught up with my best mate Jen and her partner and kids, spent some 'quality time' with my brother, sister-in-law and little sister, saw the Picasso and Dora Maar exhibition at the NGV and got pissed each night I was in Melbourne with a different friend... Time went so quickly. I tried to get another tattoo as well but wasn't able to find a good tattooist with a spare appointment when I had time. The world at my feet wil have to wait until I am again gainfully employed.

The last weekend I was there I decided to celebrate my 30th birthday early and invited all my old friends out to my old 'local' the Union Club Hotel in Fitzroy. After emailing them all and having found my old wig I decided that although it wasn't a dress up party, a wig wasn't so dressed up. So I went along with long dark curly locks. Probably not the best idea as my brother almost didn't recognise me (he though it was some strange chick waving at him when he arrived) and a few people turned up and then left before realising I was there.... Ach well.

So on the 24th of July I headed back to the UK. The return flight wasn't that bad aside from the annoying war veteran that kept waking me up between Melb and Bankok. But I'll have to leave that part of the story for a different time as I have run out of internet time.

Only one week 'til immigration, 2 weeks 'til the end of work in Brighton and 3 weeks 'til I head home to Aus for a visit! Time is going so quickly now, it seems to speed up with each passing day.

Can't wait to see everyone, meet my newest nephew and generally relax and catch up on everything I've missed over the last 2 yeas or so. Then head back here to celebrate my birthday again in a joint celebration with Mark - our 70th! Ha ha, should be a good laugh.

Will be nice to be on the road again too for a short jaunt up and down the east coast of Aus....







Ahhh, the familiar sights, smells and feeling of being somewhere you know without question. Looking forward to it.

Another day, another 2.2 dollars hey? Work has been absolutely mad since I gave notice. It feels like my boss kinda panicked when I told him I was leaving and gave me bout 3 months worth of work to get done in the 8 weeks before I left, just in case they don't find a replacement for me straight away. So it's been non-stop and looks like it will be until I leave in 4 weeks time... Ah well, you work hard, so play harder I say!

Last weekend I headed off to Dublin/Kildare to visit a friend of mine - Sinead - and have a little look around the Emerald Isle. It is really pretty, and has it's own distinct look and feel to it so you wouldn't confuse it with England... Well maybe if you were blind folded and being spoken to with an English accent. But anyway!

Sinead picked me up from the airport late on Friday night and whisked me away to her place, only stopping for a burger and some beer. She's got herself a lovely place in the countryside, away from neighbours with horses roaming around where they like on the property. Apparently it belongs to and Irish hard man - John Gilligan who was implicated in the murder of news reporter Veronica Gerring about 10 years ago. He's still serving time in jail for that and trafficking heroine. His wife and daughter live in Spain somewhere to avoid the constant hassle they were getting from the cops there - or the guard as Sinead calls them. So Sinead has ended up renting his house. Not sure if it was through an agent, which seems strangely mundane considering the history the property has or if it was some other way. I didn't ask and she didn't really go into it either. After all, she's seen my face and knows where I live - ha ha.

On Saturday we headed out and about after a lovely big fry up breakfast. First stop was Trim Castle, or the ruins of. Apparently it's where the Kings of Ireland, or the head honchos of the Celtic tribes lived. The place is massive and I wonder how the hell they built it considering that was way back in the 12th century. Was pretty cheap to go in - about £1.20 for a look see. No going into the keep, but hey I wasn't really interested in that anyway.

After having a plod around there we headed off to New Grange and Knowth. Now I had been told that these places were the oldest buildings in the world, which I somehow kinda doubt. Never the less they are fantastically ancient, New grange dating back about 3000 years and Knowth 3500. They're passage graves and have been built so that at certain times of the year the sun shines into the middle chamber and illuminates an alter and remains of people from Neolithic times that were 'buried' there. Here's some pictures:

This one is Newgrange, and it's Megalithic sorry, not Neolithic. See the front with all the white stone? Well that's where you enter the grave, above the door way is a light box where the sun shines in at the winter equinox for about 15 minutes. Here it is again from a slightly different angle:

At the entrance there is a huge stone, surprisingly called the entrance stone. They believe (they being the archaeologists) that this was to mark the exit from the living world and entry to the world of spirit, or the dead. Initially you would've had to climb over it - it's pretty big, about up to my waist/chest - and it has carvings of spirals and swirls all over it that no-one is sure what they mean.

Here's some pictures of Knowth:
In a way Knowth is more interesting as it doesn't feel nearly as touristy as Newgrange and there is a lot more going on - smaller satellitee graves around it and the site was inhabited for about 2500 years from Megalithic times all the way up to the Norman times. I've included some pictures below of the entrance stones and other interesting work they found there...

This is the Newgrange entrance stone

airial view of Knowth

Anyway, enough of the history lesson hey. If you want to know any more, do a google search!

On Sunday we were planning to go walking in the forest near Sinead's, it was bloody beautiful and looked enchanted, faerie folk, sprites and other woodland spirits definitely would live there! Unfortunately I can't remember the name of it so can't link to a web picture here. Anyway we woke on Sunday morning to the constant sound of rain. It didn't let up the whole day so instead we headed out shopping, I probably spent a little more than I should've, but there you go. Saw a movie called 16 blocks with Bruce Willis - if you get the chance to see it don't bother it was pretty shit. And lazed about at Sinead's place for the evening. The time went really quickly, I really enjoyed myself and next time I go I reckon it'll be for at least a week so I can check out the giants causeway, the Blarney stone (although I'm told not to kiss it as young Irish lads in the area piss on it for fun...!?) and some of the quaint old B&B's I saw.
Guinness there doesn't taste any different to what it does here in England. But I tried it again all the same. Funnily enough I am quite partial to the occasional half of Guinness!

On the Monday I headed into Dublin with the intent of having a good look about. Unfortunately it was still raining and continued to do so until after I caught my plane back to the UK. So I got well acquaintedd with a pub in town and read for most of the mid morning to afternoon. Guess you can't always get what you want hey?

It was great to get home again and see Mark. We've made up and things are way, way better. Fingers crossed now and touching wood for the whole immigration question. I am still heading home at the end of June and really looking forward to seeing all my mates and family again - it's been too damn long!!

Anyway, that's it for me. Until I have something interesting to write again - adios!

Phew! In by the skin of my teeth with another blog for the month of April!! I feel a little proud of myself for that!

I've been a busy little bee over the last three or so weeks. Just before Easter I headed to Gay Paree with my mate Sue for 3 days. We had a bloody fantastic time away and a few mini adventures along the way too.
We left on Tuesday the 11th and met at Waterloo station - 1/2 an hour before our train was due to leave as stated we should on our tickets. Once there stood outside the check in point for Eurostar we noticed that there was a sign saying all trains had been cancelled due to a gas leak in the Bromley area and that passengers were advised to get a refund and book to travel the following day unless it was an emergency. Sue and I looked at each other and at the same time said 'Well it is a bloody emergency! I need this holiday!!' So we waited in line, and waited, and waited. Hoping for another announcement allowing us on the train, or simply to know what the hell was going on. After about an hour a voice came over the tanoy saying pretty much the same thing as the sign did, so we continued to wait, wait and wait some more. After about another hour they started to let people through onto the only train that was going to run that day, Just as we were close to the barrier and about to go through, the lines stopped and people started shoving, swearing and getting a bit raucous. Knowing how good the French are at rioting Sue and I got a little teeny bit worried and hung onto each other as the press of the crowd pulled us towards the barriers that were being reinforced by the London transport police.
After a while people began to calm down a touch and although the press of people remained the swearing and angry atmosphere slightly dissipated. After waiting another half hour an announcement came across the tanoy again, first in French (pacify the wild ones first)and then in English sating that they would let more people on, but it would be standing room only for the whole of the 2 and a half hour trip. We didn't care if they were gonna strap us to the top of the train, as long as we got to Paris that night and could have our holiday uninterrupted!
So we were bustled through the barriers eventually with all the rest of the anxious travelers and finally got through passport control and onto the platform. We made our way to the bar carriage, plonked our things down, bought a few beers and settled in for our trip - now about 2 hours behind schedule.
We waited supping our drinks, ducked out for a quick fag, got back on the train and were onto our second beer and still the train hadn't pulled out of the station in London! Then another announcement was made, advising that there were too many people on the train for it to leave and asking anyone who didn't have to travel that night to get off so the rest of the passengers could go. Feeling a little bad for being so selfish we continued to sup our beers as we watch several people walk back along the platform and into Waterloo train station - sacrificing their travel so we could go. What selfless and nice people, glad that not everyone in the world was as selfish as we were!
Finally at about 1/2 10 we pulled out of Waterloo and were on our way to Gay Paree! The travel passed almost in the blink of an eye and before we knew it we'd gotten through about 3 pints each and were wobbling our way down the platform in Paris Nord at 2 in the morning (time difference - France is an hour ahead of the UK, as is the rest of Europe) It was then that Sue chose to remind me that she had forgotten to bring with her the address of where we were staying. Not to worry said I, there's sure to be an internet cafe around here somewhere. So we walked out of the station, and not seeing anything open in the vicinity other than a few bars, we walked back into the station to see if there were internet facilities available there. Everything in the station was also closed, so we headed to a bar to see if we could get something to eat and think about what to do next. With our cloudy heads it wasn't as easy as it sounded and we stumbled into the first bar we found. I headed up to the bar while Sue sorted our bags out and sat down to go through the options of how to find out where we were staying. After finding out they had stopped serving food I ordered the next best thing - 2 pints so we could continue supping whilst we solved our dilemma.
By this time Sue realised that she could get internet connection on her mobile phone (the effectiveness of modern technology!!) and proceeded to try and access her hotmail account - with no luck. That option and the internet cafe option not struck from the list there was nothing further we could do than call some mates in England and hope they wouldn't be too pissed off at being woken at 3 in the morning to check Sue's email account and give us our directions. So Sue proceeded to call, we finished our pints and while she was still trying to raise someone at home hailed a cab and jumped in telling the driver that we didn't have the exact address but we were headed towards Epinay. Ahh what fun and games, neither of us speak much French and he spoke even less English. Still we managed to be understood with elaborate hand signals, a word here and there and then eventually the address written down on a scrap of paper. The last thing we had to do was stop at a hole in the wall for some cash and then straight to the hotel to crash out.
The cabby stopped at the ATM and I jumped out to get some cash while Sue stayed to hold the cab, when I jumped back ion, she jumped out to get her cash and the cab sped off up the street with me in the back frantically trying to get the driver to notice Sue was missing and to turn around. After a slight panic on my part that I was being kidnapped the cab understood the mistake did a u-turn and picked up a bewildered Sue.
Within moments of the last hiccough we were at the hotel and checking in (after giving the cabby a fine tip for his efforts with us two pissed up Aussie girls),the cabby followed us in after a few moments just to make sure we'd got the right place and were ok. How sweet he was!
Within moments of getting to our room we were in bed and I was fast asleep - dead to the world.
Next morning Sue let me know that her adventures had continued into the night as she slept walked out of the room. The door automatically locked behind her and she found herself in the hotel hallway, busting for the loo in her pajamas. Although her banging on the door woke the people in the room next to ours, I didn't stir and she had to head down stairs and have reception let her back in.

After all the shenanigans of the getting to Paris, we were looking forward to a pretty chilled day checking out the Rodin museum and Per LeChaise (the huge grave yard where Chopin, Oscar Wilde, Jim Morrison and other famous dead people are buried) The Rodin Museum was amazing. I had no idea he had such a huge and impressive body of work from his life. The flow, texture and feeling in all of his pieces was amazing and along with all that there was a room stuffed with antiques and art that he'd collected himself from all parts of the world. A truly magnificent sculptor....




Per Lechaise was like, or is, a little city of or for the dead. The tombs line wide boulevards, little streets and alley ways and hide behind the tree lined streets. You can buy a map on the way in and all the different graves are marked clearly showing you their street name and district. It's quite beautiful and peaceful there and some of the graves date back to the 1700's, all of them are for the rich and it would take a mint to afford a grave site there, no matter how simple it was. Aside from the three dead guys mentioned earlier, Cartier and a load of other famous designers, families and historically amazing people were laid to rest in the grounds.



After the excitement of our first day we grabbed a few things for dinner from the delis about the place, some wine and headed back to the train station for our train to Epinay Villetanuese, feeling rather proud that we had made our way around the city without any mishaps, managed to converse a little with the Parisians and seen all we had planned to that day.

Once back on the platform at Paris Nord, I congratulated ourselves before stepping onto the train back to our hotel. We slumped into our seats looking forward to getting back to our room, putting our tired feet up and drinking some wine whilst making fun of French telly. The train sped towards our destination and right past it, then past the next station and out into the countryside! Realising there was bugger all we could do about it we happily stared out the window at the passing woods, quaint little villages, streams and fields, wondering if we would ever make it back to our hotel before midnight!
Fortunately for us we were able to get off at the next stop (about 1/2 an hour out on the train) and cross the platform straight onto another train taking us back to Paris Nord so we could begin again. We eventually made it back to the hotel, hooked into the baguettes and fromage we'd bought, plenty of red wine to wash it all down with and had a good laugh at the fun we'd had - both planned and mistakenly. We stayed up late gettin drunk and having girly chats until the wee hours of the morning.

The next day we headed out to The Pompidou Centre, Notre Dame and the Eiffel tower, but before getting too stuck into our further touring of the city we sat down at the first pub we found and had two bloody marys each, hair of the dog and all that from the night before. Although we didn't have headaches the bloody marys went down a treat and we were ready to begin again. Paris would have to be the most beautiful city I have been to so far, although I am told Venice far surpasses it. The architecture is amazing, the tree lined streets, tiny cafes that seem to be waiting for you alone to discover them and the street art all make for such an inspiring and beautiful place to visit.

The Pompidou centre (or 'inside out building')





Notre Dame



The Eiffel tower


Being our 2nd day in Paris of walking here there and everywhere, we we back to our room by about 9pm and completely shagged. Got some Japanese take away of the way back and relaxed with our sushi, rice and red wine. Both of us were asleep pretty early that night.

Friday was our final day there and we'd seen pretty much everything on our 'have to see list' so spent the day wandering in and out of cafes, shops, the musee D'Orsay, the Louvre and other Parisian landmarks. Being Good Friday the queues were huge snaking things and we declined to wait for hours on end. One day I will definitely go back and it will still be there waiting for me rather than me waiting for it!

So back on the Eurostar finished off the rest of the wine we bought....and home again, home again, jiggity-jig!

Well, I've let another month slip by without making a blog entry and I apologise for my tardiness on the whole blogging thing. I really have no excuse either - I haven't spent the last four or so weeks sitting under a rock so have a few things to write about. Quite simply I kinda forgot about it and the dog ate my keyboard... I've been emailing a little more, and even sending the od group one as well - something I vowed to you all I wouldn't do so I suppose I should apologise about that too? Here, please accept these with my sincere apologies to all who have been looking for some new news here -



And these for good measure...



Anyway, enough of the scraping and bowing about all that - lets start afresh and I'll tell you all about my past month here in "ol' Blighty"....

The beginning of the month was kinda busy work wise, but one good thing was the Temp - Mel - that I was 'given' to help with thing. I'd been running about like a blue arsed fly trying to keep up with my usual tasks as well as help promote two new publications (one booklet toolkit and one CD-Rom) organise for them to be sent out to numerous different bods and organisations and at the same time keep the retendering of our mailing house service going. Needless to say it was getting a bit much so the departure of Lizzie (the first temp) was a bit worrying, but the arrival of Mel was a god-send. The girl is a wizz! Got through all the work I had for her and then some, without as much as a misspelt word. Man I was impressed - I may let her know about my position becoming available when I am ready to blow this popstand, she did seem keen to come back if she could. It was nice to have someone to talk to in the office too - usually it's as quiet as a library in here and it does my nut in some days... You could hear a pin drop - or the thoughts of the person next to you and that's definitely not what I want!! Ha ha.

So thanks to Mel, work wise I kinda cruised through the rest of the month, she got me up to date with all my reports etc and then she was gone, just like that! Weirdly enough I kind of miss her and she was only about for a few weeks.... Ach well - easy come easy go hey?

A few weekends ago we headed out to a party called 'La Chambre Magique' which is a hardcore/high energy/trance night usually held on the pier. This was the first (and possibly last) time they held it at a club in town just down the hill from us. Nice and easy. We popped along to that with Lee (Jemma stayed home feeling ill) and had a wicked night out, but as it was the weekend that the clocks went forward it ended early, which was a bit of a shame... Still it was an excellent night with some wicked treats and if/when they have it again I'll definitely go along. Actually, that's a bit of a fib as they did have it the following weekend on the pier but we were knackered from going out on the Friday night instead so didn't make it to that one... Oh well.

This month also I have been sorting out a trip to Gay Paree!! I got some 2 for 1 vouchers in the paper for Dad & Ann and then found out that they wouldn't be able to book by the end date for the deal, so have taken advantage of it myself. So its 3 days in Paris for me and Sue next week. Really looking forward to seeing the Rodin Gallery and loads of other places - that most of all though.

Amber - Mark's niece is coming to visit us this weekend for a few days. She's a little gem and I'm really looking forward to having her over and doing some kiddy fun things with her.

Anyway, it's way past lunchtime and I haven't stopped so I will end it there, and try not to be so long between blogs next time. Adios Amigos!

Another day, another dollar, pound, penny......whatever.

It's been about 3 weeks I think since my last blog and to be honest, not a lot has been going on with me that is particularly noteworthy or would make interesting reading. Work, sleep, eat and then weekend relaxing and getting off it on one thing or another. But then that's not that different from life back in Aus.

I am still enjoying my amateur photography stints and even had enough interest from some new acquaintances to warrant getting some enlargements of a few done for them. Maybe one day I'll even get paid for it - now that would be perfect. No more desk jockey work, bending over for a fiver, but to be getting paid for something that you love doing - now that's what life should be about doncha think??

I sound quite negative really don't I - sorry all. There really is plenty to smile about - blue skies outside my window, Spring getting so close you can smell it, a visit from family pending and new plans for the future.

A move to the other side of the country is on the cards (not for a few months at least though) somewhere around Salisbury which I am told is gorgeous countryside. I've never been up that way, but am quite happy to move there into the unknown and see what there is to see....

Anyway, enough ramble here's some pictures to liven up this dreary blog.

Apparently this ain't so far from where we'll be moving to -





And just for fun -

Well it's not so long between blogs this time. As far as exciting and interesting things to write about though - well that's a different matter! It's getting a little hard to think of things to write about really.
I've been doing the usual routine - work, eat and sleep - but not much else.
About 3 weeks ago I headed up to London for a short course on minute taking and clerking. I know, I know - it's hard to contain your excitement over such an involved and interesting issue. Still it was nice to get away from my desk for the day and see yet another part of London - this time the docklands.
I headed up the night before and stayed over with Em, which was really nice. We stayed up til the wee hours of the morning drinking and chatting - something I slightly regretted through the pounding in my head the next morning, but somehow still glad I did. I did still manage to get up and make my way to South Quay in time for my course, which I am reasonably proud of too. The docklands are pretty similar to that of Melbourne, except bigger and seemingly with more little waterways and harbours. Possibly not though. Here's a picture and you can decide...



or this - a little more pleasing to the eye....



Since I have been getting snap happy with my camera I have been taking it almost everywhere, so this course and the docklands were no exception. I popped out at lunch time and although I'm yet to get the film developed (that needs to wait til pay day) I think I have some pretty good B&W pics of where I was, the bridges and the boats around the place. It was a brilliantly sunny day too, so plenty of light.... Fingers crossed that they turn out as well as what I saw in my minds eye (and the view finder!). Unfortunately when I changed from B&W to colour I didn't change the ASA, so the first few may not work at all, either that of be under exposed. I'm yet to find out!

The weekend following my trip to London we headed out to a friends party at the Crown house and had an unexpectedly wicked time! Not getting to bed the until after mid day on Sunday made getting up for work on the Monday a little difficult. If it wasn't the fact that I had booked Tuesday and Wednesday off, I may not have made it in at all!

Tuesday was excellent - being a day off AND Valentines day! Stayed in bed until about midday. Received my 'anonymous' card from Mark, which made me laugh - about a guy who got stuck writing a valentines poem 'cause he couldn't think of anything to rhyme with 'Gagging for it'. Ate some chocolate and then headed down to the pub for some fish pie and a friends birthday celebration. Ended up a little worse for wear (but not too bad) by about 5pm and headed back home to sleep it off and watch a DVD or two.
Wednesday was another day of taking it easy and pretty much all we did was buy our tickets to see Judge Jules on the pier that weekend (the one just gone). Pretty damn cheap (£16)and seeing that it was to be my first time heading out to a proper party since I've been in the UK, I was pretty damn excited, even though I'd never seen Judge Jules before and only had a few disks of his that were part of box set CD's....

OH! on top of the tickets, we went to check out a place that we may be moving to, a little cottage around the corner from where we are currently, but a lot bigger than our place and hidden from the road down a little pedestrian only alley way. It's really sweet, with a big garden and seemingly big rooms but we're yet to find out more about it as the owner is still fixing it up from the lasttenantt and didn't want to show us inside while work was still going on.... What we have seen though has gotten us both a little excited!

Then all too soon it was back to work on Thursday and needless to say I was hanging out for the weekend. Still on Thursday night rather than trying to rush through my week by sleeping, I met up with a mate of mine in Brighton and we headed to the Prince Albert to see what we thought was to be Jazz. It was morecabarett type stuff, and really good. So another late but very enjoyable night was had!

Before I knew it Friday work was over and it was another weekend (YAY!) and time for a party. It was a bit of a mad rush between getting home and heading out - What to wear?? Needing to eat and organising to meet up with friends before we left. Still we managed it and were down at the Gritty Palace for a respectable 10.30pm pre-start. A few beers, treats, calm down fag and then into the main gig! Lee and Jemma came along with us, but the expected other mates piked one by one... oh well - there's always a next time isn't there?Unfortunatelyy the music wasn't quite to our taste, and the clubbers we a hell of a lot different to what I expected. Some people looking more like they'd dressed up for a night out in Dandenong.... Hmm, I shouldn't be so critical - but I am. We stuck around for a good 4 or so hours though and then made the long walk home - although it never seems that far at that time of night does it?
Here's some pictures of the Pier Pressure event, and where it is. Not from the weekend just gone, but other evenings they've held at the ballroom on the pier.




Next morning wasn't seen by us - except at the getting home end - and by the time we got up all we wanted was a fry up (I think, I don't know if Iwasn'tt to eat.... yeah I do... no I don't...) and a beer. So we headed into the old town for the necessities and then back home for a nap and a DVD. What lazy people we can be!

That pretty much brings me up to today - see, not the most exciting or interesting of blogs, but at least I can think of something when put to the blog test. Hope I haven't put you to sleep! X

I have probably been the worst blogger over the past two months that I have ever been since I started blogging, so apologies to any who’ve been persevering and continuing to visit my little ol’ site. I do have some reasonably good excuses – although they are excuses all the same….. (skip the next paragraph if you would rather I talk to the hand)

The lead up to and after Christmas has been really hectic at work (one of the guys I work with took 3 months extended leave to go travelling in India – HOW RUDE!!), so there’s been little time to sneak in a little bit of blog here and there and when I get home from what are my undeniably busiest days since I’ve begun, I’m completely knackered and the idea of sitting down in front of a computer yet again is abhorent. On top of this is the fact that many of my intended stories/writings or plain old ramblings include divulging the secret of the Christmas presents that I have only just now managed to send the last of back to Aus. Hence the silence, everyone knows just how crap at keeping a secret I am, so I’m better off to just remain completely quiet until I can tell all! Ahhh.

Now where do I begin…? 5th of December. Hmmm.That seems aeons ago, but as I cast my mind back I do seem to recall a trip up to London around that time to catch up with Sue and Em before we all went our separate ways for the festive break. Sue had recently moved and it was Marks and my first time to the new place. We got lost about 3 times on the way up (but only twice on the way home so we are learning albeit slowly!) due to the detours we got a little narky with each other but sorted it out after a cigarette and glass of wine/beer at Sue’s place… Was a pretty uneventful night the Friday, chatting, drinking and catching up was about it. On the Saturday arvo we headed into Oxford street to meet up with Em and her man Aaron – OH MY GOD! Oxford street on one of the last weekends before Christmas (I think it was the 10th or something like that) is a complete sea of people. Seriously, you cannot stand still on the footpath as there are so many people out doing their shopping that you’d just be carried along with the crowds. Even inside the stores there are that many people you can’t actually stop to browse through the products, no, it’s just a matter of grabbing things as you are whisked past and if it’s not what you want dumping it on the next display stand whilst crossing your fingers that the flow of the crowd will take you to that cute little cardi that would be great for so and so. Needless to say (and quite obviously from the late arrival of the presents I did manage to buy and send) we didn’t do our Christmas shopping there and I’d be wary of going anywhere near there around Christmas time again – unless of course you like the diplomatic way of choosing pressents in that it’s a majority vote on which stores you will flow in and out of.

Enough said on that – I do tend to go on a bit don’t I? Anyway we did manage to catch up with Em and Aaron, they were rushing off to some party afterwards and us to dinner in Angel. So a few pints, merry merry and off we were again back on the tube. Before we’d had time to complain too much about the poor excuse for public transport the underground is we were on the street again and trying to find this little restaurant. After another ½ hour of getting lost, asking directions, tracing our footsteps back and starting again we did manage to find the restaurant, had a lovely meal (everyone else had pretty much finished by the time we arrived!) and then were whisked away to a small pub/night club. Stayed there until we were chucked out, dancing the night away and then headed back to Sue’s place.

So that was a weekend well spent! Between then and Christmas it was nose to the work grindstone and dreaming of my two WHOLE weeks off over the Christmas break and expected 6 monthly bonus! This finally came around on the 21st or 22nd and I was released from the routine and had a bit of time to try and find some right gifts for family and a friend or two. Right here I’d like to apologise to all those friends who I didn’t send a card or present to this year, it’s not because I don’t like you or you smell, I didn’t send any Christmas cards at all this year, Mark did that and I kept out of it, I was a little bahh-humbug this time around. Also I want to say thanks to all who sent me something over. I have been really sporadic and lax in saying thanks so hopefully one blanket thank you on my self indulgent “it’s all about me” blog will be enough. If not email your complaints to toobadbuddy@cantbearsed.com.

There are always a few people I find hard to buy for – Dad and Ann definitely being one pair that have me wraking my brains each year - so I headed to the pub to mull over my options and ideas with Mark and a pint or two. Whilst getting through my 2nd pint (or maybe more…) I got chatting with a local artist, well not exactly local anymore, from near Sommerset but he grew up in Hastings. He had a load of his work with him that he was showing to a few friends and people in the pub. Me being my nosey self butted in and had a look through his stuff and came across the perfect picture for Dad & Ann – a really nice scene from one of the winding alleys of Hastings – a piece of my new home. I tried to get him down in price, but this not being Vietnam and having plenty of competition for that particular picture I didn’t get far, but I did get him to throw in the cost of mounting in his original price (Go Victoria! Yay!). So off I scampered off to the hole in the wall for the doolah, and while I was away some other lady tried to swindle me out of the painting by offering him 10 quid more than what I had agreed to pay. Fortunately he was an honest artist and said no so I paid him and the next day went back to collect the now mounted painting and sort out the framing etc. It was well worth it, a well known local artist and the picture may actually be worth a bit when he kicks the bucket – not that I’m wishing death on him or anything. Best bit though is that Dad and Ann really like it – or so they said!

After getting most of my Christmas shopping done the next day I was exhausted and knew I was way too late to have the post deliver them in time so I left them (sorry to all who made the effort of having things arrive on time!!) at home while Mark and I headed up to Leeds for our Nana Tour Christmas 2005!! As much as I have taken the piss it was actually a really nice Christmas. When we arrived on Christmas Eve there were chocolates on our pillow, a card from the hotel and the room was really nice. It was bloody cold the whole time we were there and we weren’t actually in Leeds (which was a little disappointing) but somewhere on the southern outskirts. On the way up there though we did pass a sign saying it was 2 ½ miles to Womersley so I felt pretty close to my family and all (ha ha, lame I know but you have to try…)

Christmas day was food piled on from 10am and then more food followed by a bit more food, pretty nice grub as well so no complaints from me. We were given balloons, hats, streamer popper type things etc on all the tables – some of the balloons given were those ones that you can blow up and when you let them go they make a whistling/scream as they fly around the room running out of air. Really hard to blow up though. Never the less we did try and succeeded in getting a few blown up with the table next to us coming a close second. Red faced grandmas are a bit of a scary sight though, you’re not sure if they’re about to keel over or not! After getting them blown up, Terry (Marks oldest brother) let his go, a loud screeching from the balloon ensued as it repeatedly circled the old dears on the table across from us, then it seemingly selected the rudest old biddy on the table, circled her several more times and fell, deflated, on her face. Well that was it then, the race had really begun – all these old people started cacking themselves laughing and trying their best to get more of these screaming balloons blown up to release at other tables. Christmas dinner was filled with the sound of screaming balloons and elderly people laughing like children… Strange, but lots of fun.

The others on the trip aside from me and Mark’s family were at youngest frail old 60’s, some much older and a few that looked liked they’d already passed. And RUDE! Oh, I couldn’t believe it to begin with - the way the old dears (mainly the old men were a little more polite) would shuffle, shuffle, shuffle and oops!, bump you out of line and take your place. Or the other good trick they did was loitering around doors and queues so you couldn’t get by for fear of knocking them down with your slip stream when you passed, whilst the rest of their wrinkly mates would shuffle past you to get all the prime sandwiches or whatever from the buffet…. I was too taken aback to say anything, and I guess they do that because they’re not sure if this will be their last chance of a sandwich/roast/cooked breakfast before they’ve crossed to the other side. And in true old person stereotype, they complained about everything - right down to the taps in their rooms being turned off too tight so they couldn’t turn them on with their arthritic hands, or the sides of the bath being too high and not being able to get in them – and who needs the sides of baths that high anyway? they’d ask each other. Maybe they were just making excuses for why they all smelt like musty dog food? Who knows?

On boxing day we had a day trip to York, York is a beautiful old town – apparently one of the oldest in Europe. York Minster is amazing – a huge old cathedral with three story high stained glass windows, phenominal work on the ceiling and the tombs of knights and priests inside. All about 7 or 800 years old, probably more. I took a load of photos whilst there, but unfortunately only 1 or 2 of them worked out reasonably… I have my memories though which are better than any photo, just can’t share them!! I’ll see if I can find some pics on the net that I can put on here….




The day after boxing day I had my Christmas snow wish granted and woke up to white everywhere. No one else was too pleased though as it was the day we were to head back on the coach to London and we could now expect delays of a few hours… Still it didn’t take long and the scenery looked so different from on the way up due to the snow – ahhh LOVELY! Mind you I slept for a lot of the way… It was even snowing in London when we arrived there – apparently not something that happens that often. Due to all the snow and ice we weren’t able to get back from London that night but had to stay over at Mark’s mums’ place and leave the next day. Everything at home stayed covered in snow for a few days after that and getting down the hill into town was a bit of a nightmare.

By the time New Years Eve rocked around the snow had melted but it was still damn cold! Not detered by this we headed to a little pub on the pier called the Gritti Palace to begin our NYE celebrating with some nice Jack ‘n’ Jills and a beer. Initially we were going to pub skip around town but enjoyed ourselves so much there that we stayed until closing and then headed home for a nice cup of tea and a snuggle in bed. It was a great crowd there that night and I met some really nice people that I have continued to stay in touch with and make friends of mine. Not bad going considering it has taken me all that time to make some real friends in Hastings – the few people I do know in the UK are either here in Brighton and old school or work mates living in London.

After NYE it was a reasonably quiet week sorting my self out to get ready to return to work. Holidays never last long enough, even if you’re away travelling for months it just flies by and before you know it, there you are getting out of bed early on cold dark mornings just to earn a buck, or quid. Still it was back to work and then the weekend after NYE it was all on again. We ended up catching up with our new found friends and staying up all night chatting and chewing the insides of our mouths...

Since I’ve been back at work life has gotten hectic again. Work has been a bit mad with loads to do and not enough hours in my day. Although I do enjoy that knid of pressure and I am learning new things as I take on the extra responsibility. Plus I shouldn’t complain too much as I have been ‘given’ a temp for now to get through some of the more tedious work. Mind you she’s in Malta this week and next so not much use for anything other than making me jealous it’s not me travelling off somewhere…

A few weekends back Sue came down to visit us and went on a photography walk through the country park and then ended up out on the town, catching up with mates, having a wicked time and wondering where the weekend had gone when Sunday evening arrived all of a sudden. Last weekend we headed up to London to use our float tank voucher that Aaron and Marie gave us for Christmas – Thanks again for that guys it was wicked! It is definitely the best thing like that I’ve ever done, and not because I’ve never done anything like that before either…. Hope that makes sense. Everything they say in the pamphlet about it is true - your skin feels delicious when you get out, you are incredibly relaxed, nothing seems to phase you too much and your body in general just feels like new. I sound like an ad so I’ll stop, but it was fantastic.

And then it’s been back to work, loads to do and not enough time or hands to get it done. So that has certainly brought you all up to date – if you’re still reading this that is! If not Ce la vie, it’s not a bad record for me to have of all this time I’ve been away from home (and then some!)

Oh, and I know I'm probably not supposed to make personal requests on this public domain, but to hell with it, I have been posting all about me for the last 2 or so years so why stop there? I have lost contact with a few of you guys from home, so if you haven't heard from me in ages - particularly Simon, Josh or Jess - get in touch with me on my email (pinnacle99@hotmail.co.uk) as I've lost your addresses, or else am getting no response so am maybe emailing strangers (or else you're glad to see the back of me! In which case you wouldn't be reading this....Hmmmm?) Had to change my panorkle account as it stopped working for yonks. Anyway that's it for now. Will try my very best to be a better blogger in future! X