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