Website update

Just updated the website with some pics (including trains for mum). I tried to extract pics of the New Years fireworks from th videos I took but it's a pain in the arse as the vids don't pause on the frame I want...I can upload the whole videos if anyone is interested. Just add a thing to the comments down there \/

Monkey News

Well New Years Day was a scorcher…hit 44 degrees, which was the hottest NYD ever and the second hottest January day since records began. I ended up going on a massive trek to Pub Day as when I got there they had no cash point, luckily there was a wind (felt like a hair dryer) so I didn’t melt in a pool of salty water. It was quite good with loads of different music styles…I only stayed until about 8PM as I went to meet Lou :)

Since New Years I have been to Ikea with the Swedish Anna’s (who LOVED it) and said goodbye to them :) Had to say goodbye to Jon aswell who flew to Perth for a few days before flying back to the UK to start a real job in the real world (scary stuff!). I have decided that Jon was a bit of a bad luck charm…on the day he arrived I left the lights on the car which caused the battery fiasco. Then we had a BBQ and his friend broke 2 wine glasses (bought some replacements from Ikea, they're different tho so I had to tell them what had happened), also at their BBQ Jon’s other friend put a hole in their wall with a plate...I got $50 off him which they accepted but I think I might have to give them some more money to pay for it (they weren’t too happy when I told them!), fan exploded (not sure how much a new one is) (this knocked off the power which I couldn't work how to turn back on for ages, ended up turning off the power for the street, long story), then I got a parking fine for parking facing the direction of the traffic - $125 for 30 minutes – joy!
Anyway 2 Friday’s ago I took Jon to the airport…after about an hour of being back in the door I had a phone call from an agency who had a job and wanted me to come in for a chat. Had a chat which went well then just as I was getting home the agency called again and said they wanted me to come in for an interview with the client as they were keen to get someone in asap. Had the interview and then was called about 15 minutes later to say I had the job! Cool hey. It’s working for KPMG (http://www.kpmg.com.au) which are some sort of financial company doing 1st/2nd level support, it’s $25 an hour aswell which is pretty good money…since then I’ve had 4 calls from agencies about other jobs so I’m pretty optimistic that when I finish at KPMG (in 8 weeks time) that I should be able to get something else quite easily…looks good on my CV aswell. So yeah anyway the long and the short of it is that Jon, top bloke that he is, was my bad luck charm for a month…oh that reminds me. I was driving to Lou’s 1 night; my first time driving at night, not sure where I was going and worried about meeting her friends when I saw a bloody huge spider crawl up the side window…I was scared at first but then reasoned it would be hard for it to get inside and it would probably fall off when I go some speed up. Anyway as I was stopped at some lights in central Sydney 2 guys in a car next to me were waving and beeping at me, so I wound the window down at the fecking huge spider started to climb in! I’ve never pressed so hard on an electric window in my life…haha! I managed to sort of force him out so no harm was done…twas a very stressful drive tho as I became sure he would find a way in.
Aside from that I have been spending lots of time with Lou…met her parents and get on well with them which is a Brucey. We are going to go to Melbourne on the weekend of 27th for a few days which will be nice (Lou and I, not me and her parents).
I will try and sort out some more pics soon (mother wants to see pics of the trains – closet train spotter?) and some of New Years too.
We are having another party in 3 weeks time so hopefully there will be some crazy story from that…or just some silly pics. It’s Big Day Out (http://www.bigdayout.com/) aswell on 26th and there’s bound to be some jape japery afoot there...

Oh yeah nearly forgot, this is possibly the funniest thing i've heard in my life; http://www.guardian.co.uk/rickygervais - Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington talking absolute rubbish for half an hour. They basically use Karl as a filter for any news which is semi amusing, using Karl's filter it is transformed into absolute genius. They mock him but he doesn't seem to mind. I'm sure this will be seen in the future as classic comedy material. Oooh, Chimpanzee that; Monkey News!

Happy New Year

I’m sitting here in Alexandria, Sydney on the first morning of 2006. Last night was spent next to Sydney Harbour Bridge at a place called Milson’s Point (I’ll try and get some sort of picture online so it’s more easily understandable), where we were wasn’t packed at all (despite rumours to the contrary which prompted us to head down there at 4PM) and we had a great view of the bridge, Opera House and the Sydney CBD. 5 of us went down; Jon (friend from Virgin who I spent New Years with 5 years ago) and 3 Swedish girls, all called Anna (believe it or not, at one point they phoned their friend; Hannah, haha!) We spent the day munching on cheap eats, drinking a few beers and chatting, very enjoyable. There was 2 fireworks displays; one at 9PM for the kids (which at the time of seeing was the best fireworks display I had ever seen) and then an even bigger one at 12 which went on for over 10 minutes. The fireworks were absolutely mental, no way could I put into words the mass of sight and sound. The finale involved fireworks coming from 2 big ships, about 8 smaller boats dotted about the harbour, the top of the bridge and loads shooting out at 90 degree angles from the bridge into the river. I’ve never seen anything like it and would recommend everyone to do it at some point in their lives.
Just before midnight one of the Anna’s asked me what had been the highlight of my year and I couldn’t give an honest answer as so many great things have happened to me; going to Goa and my first Scuba Dive (and later gaining my dive cert in Cairns), going to Dubai (for possibly the last time), New York, Canada, the Hardcore Weekender, Glastonbury, some superb nights out clubbing in London with Karl, going to Edinburgh for the MakePovertyHistory march, seeing all my friends again and spending some decent time at home after Iraq, going to Singapore (briefly)…and then coming to Australia; Skydiving, Whitewater Rafting, probably the best birthday I’ve ever had, Whitsunday Islands, Fraser Island, meeting some fantastic people (and some not so fantastic, all part of the experience tho), discovering Byron Bay, living on my own properly for the first time ever (and having the coolest housemates), working at Circular Quay looking out onto the Opera House/Bridge, being given a house and car for free for a month and then rounding it all off with the best fireworks display ever looking on to one of the most picturesque scenes in the world.
The other main highlight of this year has been the last few weeks…I’ve met the most wonderful woman. Her name is Louise and we have so much in common it’s scary. We’ve been spending every possible moment together and it really couldn’t be going any better.
Oh yeah Christmas day was good…I want with my friend Chris to a BBQ at a place called Maroubra with 15 other English people (and an Austrian!), it was very nice and they were all top people. After that we went to our friend Becs’ parents house in Western Sydney somewhere…again really nice people who made us loads of food and gave us beer! Couldn’t have felt any more welcome really.
Today I am heading off to Pub Day which is an all day event at a pub (surprise surprise) somewhere near Sydney Uni.
Hope everyone reading this has had as good a year as I have an good luck for 2006! I do appreciate your e-mail aswell so if we haven’t spoken in a while get off your arse and send me something...