The remainder of March 2006

Sorry for the lack of updates there's been a couple of "movements" going on so its been difficult to find the time.The camera hasn't been out of the bag at all for April so I don't know what will happen there.Anyway...



Early March..Sydney FC won the final, poor game surprise surprise.. the main entertainment came from this psycho roaming the ground screaming at people. Couldn't get close enough to a face, here's a shot of him in Pete's ear. Think he was spanish or south american and probably asking for help in removing a large object from his rear. I'd personally recommend more fiber in the diet!



90 minutes later Yorkie was lifting the golden toilet bowl. Heard him say it would always help him to think of his Sydney team mates..hmmm !


Good ole Dave Conlon came down from Brisbane for a wee visit. Caught up for a few drinks, a swim and a much needed blue bottle sting on the toe.. Now Dave just isn't the type to complain and nothings a hassle. The type of chap that would just say "ok!" if you told him you were going burn down his house. But the blue bottle sting attacked his lymphatic system and zoned in around the "town halls" region. I've never seen him try to complain as much. Best effort ever!! I tried to get a nice life guard to rub it better but Dave's married these days and declined. Although if I forced him he would have said "Ok!"





Patricks day was a strange one..

began quietly and then snowballed into madness. With drink as the catalyst.What a shock..drink of Patrick’s day. Almost as rare as an Irishman wearing an Irish Jersey here.

I got to the pub late so I had some catching up to do..although I don't think I could ever have reached the plains of a young budding rocket sceintist at the bar "Stop pushing".."Im not pushing".."Well if you're not pushing then stop it !" I was never good at the logic thingy wingy!


The door of the disabled toilets opened up to reveal a 4 piece band playing in it. I questioned the PH level in my pint. A game of family fortunes couldn't even put this on my list of things found in a disabled toilet. It was like the magic door from bosco! So what else can you do but join them.. they weren't bad at all for a toilet band but it did make the wiping process that little bit more awkward. Given the choice I’d vote for wireless speakers.
I’d also request that the German member of the band who think’s he’s Irish, refrained from talking to me. Being Irish is not a contest on how many times you can fit the word say “fu*k” into a sentence with an Irish accent..ye stupid fu*king fu*ker ye! And thats where the memory faded that day..
Oh here’s a picture of the girls that hijacked my phone for you Mam.. they voted you worlds number one mother for sending over the hats and badges to me. We are all invited to the wedding in Ireland in June..I just can't remember the details of it. But best of luck bride to be !!



Tanya Gallagher departed just as Kelly was lining up the chap's to meet her.

If anyone wants Tanya's Irish number its +353...

Apart from all that weekly life has involved working (just like they do in Ireland!!) , golf and some body boarding. Football too..playing for Balmain Wanderers. The goalscoring is not as prolific as the other genius from Tallaght but I can work on that..Keano ye legend showing all the doubters the way !! That Includes you Webb !!





This one's for you Caz..



I’ll leave you with a quote from the commentators of the weight lifting at the Commonwealth games.. happened just after the fat guy lifted the heavy balloons.... “there’s nothing quite like the feel of a good snatch is there Pete”… indeed !!

4th March 2006

Ahh the Birthdays.. Matt(a non birthday person), Deco and myself out for a game of golf bright and early. Poor Deco got off to a bad start.. lost the game to the younger man with more hair who doesn't have to reach as far to bless himself. He came within whiskers of leveling the match midway but missed a sitter..eye sight starts to fade at 34 ye know. But lets not focus on the negative.. I won!!




Went for a victorious breakfast with Matt, Dec, Gav and Peachy. We had to take a break while Deco threw a traditional fit. This weeks fit was because Matt kindly put sugar in his tea. How was he to know Deco didn't like sugar. So we all sat around and talked amongst ourselves for a couple of minutes and waited on Taz to calm down. He maturely responded by putting tea in my coffee. "See how you like it". I'd ask what age he was but it was an easy one for him on the day that was in it.
Cheers to the fake Gav for brekkie.

The grumpy birthday boy tagged along with Kelly and myself into town. He kept talking about Gav 'Russle' all day..how good looking he was and all that.(and from reading Deco's blog im now convinced he fancies him).
Kelly bought me a pair of fins for body boarding which are class, and clearly miles better than Matt's.

After seeing the pictures of golf I realised a haircut was long overdue. I give up on the hair growing. So I took what was once described(rather inaccurately of course) as my "orange hair and orange face" to the barbers. Naturally I got the freak who's been building a thermonuclear shelter in his basement and stocking up on tinned food for 12 years. George Bush is a nice man underneath it all and John Howard has done a lot for him. Still, I've learned not to argue with a man that holds a scissors in his hands.

Deco's cut was $5 cheaper than mine on account of the volume of hair and far less painful on the ears too. I handed Deco a lighter for his birthday to assist in the killing of himself ....he gave me a scarf ...A scarf.. im in the warmest country I've ever been in and I get a scarf ! Not just any ole scarf though.. A Sydney FC one.. so I can't wear it again for another 4 months. Thanks for the gift old man !



Brillo night out.. Everyone pretended to turn up for Deco but I know it was for me. The fact that everyone kept saying "Is it Gav's birthday too?" didn't fool me. You guys !! Shucks!!




An American girl turned up later on and it was her birthday too..amazing indeed! (To think it was just me and Shakin' Stevens that shared the same day).I've never met an American that didn't like high five's so i decided to chance my arm..well hand !! Great response "Oh yeah..high five me man"..all night !!






and this is the result of it all!!

Feb 2006 - The last days of Freedom

Well no sooner had I posted a blog about unemployment I began my quest for work. Guilt had left me after I sent the first Charlie Victor out so in no way was I ready to take the next step. Everything was going well for a while until agencies started phoning me back. Whats that all about?!? 2 weeks later and I received the bad news that i'd be going back to work..for a whole 3 months!! Still a bit of action in the last weeks of Feb.

So what of the last days of Freedom I don't hear anyone ask..

James turned 30 so we had a good night out for that one. There was a bit of lookalike competition between the photo's on the wall and James guests. (more on that in another blog but here's a sample).

Sadly there was no picture about of Denis the Menace to Match James' look.
There should be more pictures available but I think George is having a bit of trouble with his reliable Canon camera. Might explain why he can't start his own blog.
The same night,we also heard the most beautiful rendition of 'Eye of the Tiger'. Ye did your mam proud James. I have to say it really was unfair on you that they played the song in the wrong key and mixed up all the words. Everyone knows that the line "I'd rather be in Woooookiiiiiiinnnnng" was missing...the lyrics were clearly out of date... honest !!





Went down to watch Kieran, Cas and the Dragon boat racing...in that order as it turned out! First we saw Kieran, then Cas, standing at the pier watching a race. There were murmers i could make out "over..knocked out". After all the talk of
"Come down around 2 o clock to watch us". Cock sure of an appearance in the final..ahh yeah come down at 2. We had from 7am till 12:30pm to see the heats but oh no.. come down at 2.
Walked an hour and a half with Fred to get there, he slobbered on everyone. Some poor girl came away with a hand full of flem after an attempt of petting.(Fred's never been to tallaght but he knows how to gob on people)




Most other days were spent swimming and snorkling. Is this the face that sank a thousand ships ?. I can't say but I certainly swollowed a barrell of water when I saw it.





Went to Shelly Beach with Matt and Ing. The 2 chaps took to the water for a spot of snorkling.. Matt was just about to show me a wreck of a bike when he appeared to be doing an impression of Mariah Carey hitting a high note. I soon realised he had a blue bottle stuck to his hand and was trying to get it off. Filling out the forms for the next pop idol he was that good. Naturally after he took the first sting that day it was only right he lead the way back in, I bravely took the rear in case any blue bottles chased us. You never know.. could be a first !!


With one week to go before work I decided to return to the water dressed as a surfer..without a surfboard !! After taking an earful from Paddy about not being prepared I ended up renting a board and suit for $25..bargan. Myself and Paddy paddled out together and were sitting there waiting on waves for a while.. Paddy went first and caught a wave straight away, up on the board.
Then it was my turn..a huge wave came and I went for it..caught it too and got up straight away and rode it all the way in..Im just a natural I guess. Of course thats the romantic version of surfing.. it was the dream I had before I came through on the beach with a blue bottle wrapped around my arm. Did I say beach..it meant car park. Before I could even get past a wave I was swept up by it and pulled right under for what felt like an eternity..great start!! I wasn't lying about getting up on the board and catching a wave all the way in.

But as it was explained to me, you actually have to stay up on the board... and catching a wave all the way in means you have to remain positively boyant.. negative doesn't count. At least I know how many litres of water my body can hold.
As I have no photo's of the surfing here's a couple of the king himself Billy Connolly at the Hordeon Pavillion, Sydney.. the man still has it, Magic show!Biggest cheer of the night was about John Howard's (Australian PM) purpose in life was to remind us of what Harry Potter will look like in the future !!




...and so I started work.. brought the camera in on the first day and got my picture taken with everyone I was introduced to. What a great idea !!

The 3 Amigo's.... Happy Birthday to Us, Happy Birthday to Us..

Behold the 3 birthday boys in picture, Deco,Fred and Mysmelf.


Just a quick one to say Happy Birthday to Deco and Fred. The photo is of John Travolta, Sandra dee and the ugly dog spot. Naturally I wasn't happy about being called spot but hey.. it could be worse.. I could have showed up that day thinking i was fashionable,dressed like one of the T-Birds,with my jeans turned up wearing a girlie T-shirt, about 3 months too early for the Mardi Gras..
Fred got the part of John Travolt(Dani) because he's sh*t cool and can lick his own balls!!
(Your castration secret is safe with me Fred)
Altogether now for Deco.. look at me Im sandra D !!
He's 34 now and going through the big change...Ingrid's even gone back on the smokes because he's so narky !!