Brisbania

O.k here the SP, The 1 4 the lowdown....I am in Brisbane

Somtimes you meet someone and within minutes you think, I reckon we could be friends you know (I have heard this can also happen when a boy meets a girl, but it may be a Keith Urban myth) any who it can also happen when you arrive in a new city, Maybe its the great weather, or the relaxed atmosphere or the fact that I have seen the breast looking...Sorry best looking Australian women I have ever seen, whatever the reason I am getting a good vibe off Brisbane. After a few days here with the family, Paul and Keith (In reality the latter two truly are like family now a days anyways.) So they have departed leaving Paulo and me to fend for ourselves once again. We are in the process of looking for a house/job. However unlike Sydney we are in not in toooooo much of a rush.

Will update as soon as some big stuff happens. Oh and Congratualtions to my little brother Mark who got all A, A* and B's in his GCSE, a better week for him I think as today I accidently pulled a pole off my bed hitting me in the nose and face providing me with a huge bruise, Also I lost my Sydney University Jumper.

Boo Hoo

They are here.....

Very quick one, The family are here and after a few days of settling in, its like I never left. Weather is blistering, we are off to Frasier Island tommorow and then a bit of Whale watching on Saturday. Can't post photos for the previous three blogs yet but will do soon.

Love and hugs ~ T

A Secure Friendship

As you all know over the last three or four months I have been living in the Princeton Apartments, The lobby of which is protected by a team of security guards, well actually there is one guy on at reception every evening and weekends. They all work various shifts but the ones that affect us the most are George who works 4pm till 8am on weekdays and Jonno, who works 8pm till 8am Friday till Sunday.

Georgie is from the the former Republic of Macedonia, Jonno is 32 and lives alone, it has taken us 3 months to get the following photo of him as he is very very camera shy. Basically because of the shift Jonno works he sees us every weekend before we go out - have a little chat - and then he sees us again at about 2 - 4am when we get back, usually after a few drinkles. It is under these conditions that our friendship has blossomed. Jonno is fascinated by our travels and in particular intrigued by the English, their lifestyles and oddities. Everyone loves Jonno, He likes to eat and people know this and therefore bring him the odd pizza, pack of sushi or a tub falafels. Paul and I can often be found at 3am tucking into a slice of bolgenese pizza that Franco from level 19 has dropped off for him.

Jonno sort of overheard about this site and was convinced I was going to put a pictue of him on hear (as if I would do that: see bottom left.) So on Sunday at midnight when Paul and I bowl in from the neighbous night I try to convince us to take a photo. As it was my last weekend Jonno took me and Paul up to the top level were the $3 Million dollar flats are and have a look at the views.

Noise Pollution

Saturday evening, Paul and I were getting ready to go out as many a young lad does, listening to some music (Scissors Sisters probably) Now this was at about 8pm on a Saturday evening, Maria who is sort of the Landlords representative in our house came and asked us to turn it down. Now Paul and I are flexible, easy going lads I think, However The Koreans probably have "Parties" on average about 3 times a week. These Parties involve sitting about and literally shouting at the top of their voices and singing about anything. Paul will vouch for this, they have a game were you sing whilst playing paper, scissor, rocks. One game can last for about 20 minutes and the game is called into action when major decisions like "who gets the next beer from the fridge?" needs to be made. The Koreans like to play this game between the very sociable hours of 11pm and ooooohhh I'd say 3am...Oh and their preference is to have these parties in the week because they like to get some rest at weekends!!

So imagine Paul's reaction when Maria asks us to turn the music down, Paul did handle it very well and calmly refused to turn it down and explained why, much of which was probably lost in translation, but she deffo got the jist.

Now in general we get on with most of the Koreans we live with, it is however Kim and Lee the famous duo that cause me the most problems. Firstly they don't even live here, secondly they seem to think that our house is an impromptu gig audition for next years Edinburgh festival and therefore scream, shout, laugh and sing about everything. They live just across the road, they come round and just eat, make noise and go home. They can't have parties at their house because they live with a family and don't want to disturb them....hold on so its o.k to keep me up.

Lee is my arch enemy, I have tried in recent times to be civil but he blows me out much to his own personal amusement. One night Paul woke to the sound of someone taking penalties at a bedroom wall....surely he was dreaming, but no, in the hall way at 2am was Lee, leathering the ball at the wall as hard as he could. Either he is the most naive, stupid, gormless person I have ever met or he just does not give a damn.

Its all good now though as Lee overheard (I may of spoke a little louder just so he could hear) me talking to our security guard and friend Jonno (See article "A Secure Friendship") about his behavioural defects much to the poor Lee's dismay, I do hope he didn't loose any sleep over it.

So thats the end of the Koreans and I have to say some of them will be missed however some have left a rather bad and bitter taste in my mouth....a bit like KimChi.

The week end(s) and the neighbors see us off!

And so it ends, Me, I, Thomas sat here at my desk on Monday morning, The gentle throbbing of my temples a biological reminder of a weekend past, a final weekend here in Sydney, at least for the foreseeable future.

Friday came and went like so many before, a few beers were had and a DVD watched as we relaxed in prep for a busy weekend. Saturday we spent the whole day at a festival of sorts, the contents of which I will discuss another time, out of sight of the prying eye.

Except for the mild blip in the run up to going out (See Noise Pollution) we went to my fave backpackers bar, The Slip Inn for a few bevvies. We had a good evening as usual and I found myself chatting to a guy who called himself "Wheelchair Rob," (for obvious reasons,) he worked for the BBC and was a broadcaster, very nice lad and liked the juice. We also met two sisters, Alice and Liz from Wheat Hampstead near St. Albans. They had just arrived from Hong Kong, we seemed to get on pretty well and we informed them of our plans to go to the Sydney neighbors Evening the following night and left arranging to meet up again. Paul and I had prior arrangements, however before we left we saw a brief glimpse of Alice's dancing talents, I would describe it as a fusion of flashdance and MC Hammer. This talent will come into play later in the weekend.

So we finished the night in The Rocks and went home, Sunday followed as it usually does and we set off to Coolar Bar on Pitt St for the infamous monthly Sydney neighbors Night. We got there and paid our $35 and entered the Country and Western Style bar to a sea of Bronzed faces mainly hailing from the British Isles.

Anyway, The evening involved meeting Steph Skully, Boyd and Toadie. Toadie kicked off proceedings by answering his most commonly asked question: Q: Why are you so fat? A: Because every time I sleep with your mum she gives me a cookie....I think this sums up the general theme of the evening. Then a quiz started and the stars came round whilst we answered questions. In-between each round of questions there was competitions giving away money and trips. Paul's friend from work was there and a group of people he lives with. One of the girls entered the first competition where she had to pache (snog) a random Scottish lad for 1 minute. Job done she won herself $20 worth of free drinks (about 8quid)

Next round of question and then came the dance off comp - the prize a $500 trip to The Wit Sundays, Alice was entered, the first three had there go to average applause, then up steps Alice and 45 seconds of Fame meets David Brent meets Arts Educational School and the crowd were wooed. Buts whats this, up next is another lass who basically copies Alice's moves, The crowd, now slightly sozzled, are dooped by the copy cat charade. So it goes to a dance off, The imposter unable to match Alice's freestyle, is defeated. It is now up to the the crowd to choose. Well they weren't fooled twice and Alice walked away with her voucher in hand. Paul and I can say we were there when this Tiny Dancer was an unknown.

Lastly and this was possibly the best part of the night. We met a fella that can only be described as a social oddity. His name was Adrian and is a self confessed neighbors addict. He has been to thirty-one neighbors nights over the last two and a half years. He claims he would never want to be in the show, he is best friends with the executive producer and is pretty good mates with all the cast, he has a scrap book full of photos, papers articles, signatures. When I asked him who his fave ever neighbors star was he answered: " I would have to say Male: Paul Robinson, Female: Lynn Skully" After the show had finished he kind of sauntered from table to table chatting up girls and rubbing their legs, then would get asked to leave the table, unfazed he would move on to the next table until eventually he gave up and came and chatted with us.

I asked him if I could film and interview him and he obliged taking it all very seriously. Right so that was my last weekend in Sydney. Tres Bein