Stay Another Day

Christmas 2007

Twas two nights before Christmas, and an all weekend binge session was still in progress.

My housemates old Melbourne house mate was visiting for 24hours on his way back home from China so even after a big session with my colleagues on Friday, an even bigger session at Daft Punk on Saturday... it was time to dig deep and show Vardsy how we do it in Sydney.

An extremely random day saw us sinking beers at home in the yard, in the Palace, the CBH, and repeat visits to some of those. We thought we were winding down toward the end of the night as the Palace gardually cleared out. We all headed off home before the drunken randomness that you can only really associate with Christmas kicked off.

Back at the Lane, the music came on, the Christmas lights twinkling in the front room and back yard as we bopped away to recent iHits.

Party tricks including Jarrads "Lizard", Vardsy's "Worm" and my own "Human Jump Rope" made their way on to the make shift dance floor... Everyone was a little excited and as Aaron tried for his best slide across the floor, he stumbled and fell forward with nothing but a wine glass to break his fall.

Seconds later he had his hand under the tap washing the claret down the sink. My final recollection of this Sunday night/Monday morning was that at about 3am, Aaron & Jarrad made their way to the emergency room just around the corner from where we live to get his hand sorted out...

Then, 4 hours later, I was awake again, for the night before Christmas - or as it was this year... the last day of work before Christmas - bummer. Luckily I managed to escape reasonably early and was back home snoozing and doing anything but embracing festive cheer.

Christmas had come early for me this year - "Eve" had been Fridays work party, "Day" had been the amazing Daft Punk, and "Boxing day" had been spent in typical fashion with friends at the pub/house/beach/bar/house/emergency room.

My real Christmas however, consisted of plenty of food consumption, with my house mates... we even made a short video to celebrate the Aussie Christmas - excuse us, we may appear a little tipsy:

Boxing day I awoke and my partying had well and truly taken its toll. My hangover manifested itself as some kind of killer head cold which I then spent the remainder of the year trying to beat down. This really made those inbetween days at work enjoyable... I hope yours were more enjoyable than mine!

Back to work Thursday & Friday, I was hanging out for the weekend due to feeling unusually crook... Aarons old housemate came to stay at Bundock and so the weekend had us showing off our city as tour guides. Saturday we hit Wooloomooloo and the Botanical Gardens and Sunday we all jumped in Todds car for a quick trip to Palm Beach (set of Home & Away).

I hope your Christmas was fun, festive and maybe a little more relaxing than mine ;)

Daftendirekt

DAFT PUnK, Homebush

Throughout November & December, it has seemed very much like someone pushed the throttle to 'Full', and life has been hurtling by quicker than I can take everything in.

My original plans for Christmas were scuppered when I realised I had run out of time to send things internationally, a huge oversight on my part for which I am really sorry, for not getting a greeting card out to many of my good friends. I'd like to take this opportunity to wish everyone who reads this, a very merry Christmas and an awesome new year when I hope to catch up with all of you!

With time flying so quickly, one of my most hotly anticipated events of the year came on Saturday. Daft Punk made it to Sydney at last. Considering I bought "Homework" in 1996 and their other studio albums since then, it's quite strange that I've never seen them live before. I think this is mostly due to their rare and sporadic touring patterns though.

Although the weather wasn't particularly great, the day got to several key points where emotions ran so unbelievably high... sometimes it was the music, sometimes the additives in the Jager. But concerts and days like this don't come about any where near as often as I'd like.

After the awesome Presets (final) warmup act, it was time for Daftness. They lit up the stage for 90minutes with every shade of neon light you can imagine possible as light patterns slid like silk across the huge LED pyramid on stage. It was mesmerising... at least the moments where I stood still long enough to be mesmerised.

*Now a few days have passed (this is a late edit), I can state that this was the most fun I've ever had a stadium gig. 5 days have passed and I have longed to be back at Homebush in front of the Frenchmen. If they EVER tour again; I will be there; wherever, whenever.

I made a video diary of the day that you can see below, turn up your sound and enjoy!

The Trick to Life

12 Pubs of Christmas 2007

Wow, to start my first Christmassy post with a huge cliché, time sure does fly. A year on from last years 12 pubs of Christmas pub crawl, the now annual event descended upon Sydney faster than I could fathom.

A few weeks prior, a few of the organizing committee went for a practice run of prospective pubs to be used on this years circuit. This was to avoid potential hazards such as opening hours, dress codes, heavy handed doormen and pubs that simply wouldn’t let a vast quantity of people in in one huge drunken surge.

Members of last years rabble showed up this year, with friends that had had to listen to the good time stories of T12POC2006, certain they wouldn’t miss out this year. If I’m honest… which invariably I am, they got what they were after.

The beers flowed faster than Rudolphs consumption of carrots on Christmas eve. The laughs emanated like Chris Chringle on Nitrous Oxide and short term memories dropped away in much the same way that a festive balloon might, having been attached to the ceiling by static electricity.

The rabble Started at the Rocks, working around towards Darling Harbour, then cutting across Market Street and then violently doubling back on themselves back to the spiritual end-point of T12POC – the Metropolitan Hotel above Maccas… convenience in physical form.

Stories will be recounted in years to come undoubtedly – “who kissed who?”, “who fell victim to the porcelain Gods?”, “who took a wrong turn and wound up drinking coffee instead of being at pub 9?”…

In it’s second year, the day is becoming legendary… see you there next December?

Opportunity

Soccer & Photography wrap up

The last 8-10 weeks have seen me kept invariably busy throughout the week. Monday nights were home to a 6-a-side mixed soccer tournament… Our form roller-coastered along though we finally scraped into the finals day playlist. Our final 2 games won with 1-0 victories.
Our semi final was against one of the teams we’d just beaten the day before – and so we were somewhat confident we might be able to pull of another upset… the luck was with us a while, with the ref failing to spot a ball over the line from them. It soon faded however, and before we knew it, were 3-0 down with 5mins to go.

An awesome team effort clawed us back a well deserved consolation goal and meant we could leave the field with heads held high after never failing to score in 3 meetings with a team that topped the league group.

The following evening was another finale – this time from my photography course that I’d been partaking in. The aim was to learn full manual control of my Minolta digital camera (and all other digital SLRs).

The final night was presentation night – where everyone in the class had to make a presentation of around 15 pictures that they’d taken since the course began. The tutor picked me at random to go first… you can see the full picture selection on my other blog: http://www.fonfara.blogspot.com/.

The water shot got some ooh’s and ahh’s, and I got quite a few questions right after asking which techniques I’d used to capture my images. I great feeling of accomplishment enveloped me and I can safely assume I reached my goal set at the beginning of the course.

Mo Money, Mo Problems

Mo-Vember...

I've had a few random emails asking why they seen on various other websites with a dirty moustache... Movember is the answer.

For the month of November, the charity event encourages men to grow their moustaches from a clean shaven face to whatever they can sculpt in 30days. The result means that men around the city look decidedly dodgy by the end of the month, but a whole bunch of cash gets raised to promote awareness of some serious male diseases such as prostate and testicular cancer.

I must admit to not trying too hard to raising a heap of cash, but thanks to Aaron and Anna, I raised over $100 for charity... MASSIVE thanks to you both, you rock my world!

On the 30th of Movember, a group of us went to celebrate Rog's birthday, a little belated, by seeing the Paper Scissors & Kid Confucious at the Metro. I got to flaunt my fully grown mo more than anyone wanted. I also learned that the best way to show it in photo's was to put a huge pout below it... or maybe not!

The following morning, it was time for beach volleyball. I figured just for some fun, I'd go for a Hitler mo, just for an hour or two whilst playing. I attracted some interesting comments, as well as giving birth to a new tag-line of "Silly Hitler". (I encourage you to click on the beachy picture to the right for the full Hitler effect) I wasn't impressed when the group decided to head to the pub afterwards, meaning the Hitler mo had to stay on and in tact most of the day... I was just a little relieved to lose it on the first day of advent.

Is This It?

Movember

For any regular readers I may have left, the month of November in Australia, is renamed Movember. The challenge is for guys to grow as mean a mo (moustache) as he can from the 1st of the month till the last - bonus points.

So this is what I have been doing effectively avoiding part of face with my razor for 1month... although at the time of writing I still have several days to endure. Odd looks out on the street are something I've gotten used to (having a moustache; you kids at the back!), the fact that I service 3 different clients a day also means I have everyone keen to see how the growth is coming along on each visit... and it is kinda difficult to stay motivated about it... even when I get some really great compliments; "Dirty lookin South American, Yosemite Sam, Gomez Adams, The Pool Cleaner" to name a few... though "Sexy Pirate" would be my personal favourite :P (The inset picture is pretty much at the half way stage of the month)

So in a month where I set out to concentrate upon the upcoming task of travelling once again (3months and counting as of the start of November), I quite hopelessly failed to keep things low-key. Aaron turned the golden (and I'd have to say best to be) age of 28, and it seemed many others shared birthdays around this time too... it's like an early extension of the Christmas party season.

I managed to visit a bunch of new eateries and drinkeries, not to mention go on a tour of Sydneys Rocks - with a ghost theme. Yet I've not managed to frequent a single gig this month...

My beach volleyball career stretched a little further with my first full competetive games resulting in straight back to back victories - even with a hangover, much better than my soccer performances which continue to be goal-less.

I've made some pretty important directional decisions too this month, with a couple of new projects I'm planning to bust out in the new year.

I'll probably end up adding to this post as the week rolls on as I remember to re-collect other things which don't leap to the forefront of my mind right now

Lord, Don't Slow Me Down

It's Friday afternoon, I'm walking down George Street, Sydney, and each of my footsteps is hitting the hot pavement in time to the music in my ears. I have one client to go to and then it's time for the weekend. Summer is well and truly back and the last 10days have given me so many random grins as I've stepped out of offices onto business district back streets, busy shopping hubs and historical wharves, breathed in a lung full of warm air and felt like I was on the most potent drug available to mankind.

Tonight it was time for an impromptu pub crawl starting at The Arthouse Hotel, me and 3 others conversing the finer points of professional loyalty. Me and 2 others then hit the other side of the city at the Argyle where we practiced age old techniques of distraction and then as strong drinks took control of our mindset, willpower and purse strings - another of the crew fell by the wayside as a taxi ride to the Cross and a visit to the Dragonfly took the last two heroes onward into the early hours. My weekend had been born in similar fashion to many had around this time last year. Silly season is upon us.

Another Saturday beach volleyballing at Maroubra Beach, and then an afternoon checking out the markets in Paddington seemed to be a good enough way to recover from the night before. A few of the guys and myself hit an arthouse style Russian movie as a way to avoid pubs, bars and clubs... it did the trick.

I was gunning for 3 sports on Sunday, I went for some more laps at the Olympic pool with benny first thing, before hitting par on 2 holes of 9 at the North Bondi golf Course... at this point I should've been making tracks for Soccer practice at Centennial Park, but I'd hit my limit already... an afternoon on the Balcony cutting photographs from magazines as a mini project for my new photography course capped off an awesome weekend where we lost an hour to daylight savings.

Deep Pile Dreams

Two weekends have passed by since I last wrote anything here, but it's not like I've not done anthing fun, just more of the same. Some Golden time spent down at Coogee beach sunbathing, my debut at beach volleyball at Maroubra, and plenty of sessions at the Coogee Palace and the CBH. The Summer is most definitely on it's way with temperatures regularly surpassing 25degrees now.

I've also finally gotten around to obtaining my first ever card style drivers license and a medicare card. I seem to be getting more Australian by the day in terms of all these little personal accessories, and the thought of waking up in England for work, grows fainter still by the day. On that note, the 2nd anniversary of leaving the UK has come and gone, and it was this time last year that I was in England last.

Monday nights have also become my first regular competetive game of football in around 6years. We play a mixed squad of 6 a side and I hope that once I make it through the 10game season, I should be in some form; enough to play in a full 11 a side squad. 3 games in and we're sat in 2nd place in the league unbeaten - with a win and two draws. I'm still waiting for my 21yr old form to come back to my feet but I'm sure it's there, waiting for the right moment, to manifest itself with a hat-trick at some point.

This morning I made my first lengths in an Olympic sized pool, which isn't a bad thing to be doing before 7am on a weekday... I certainly felt more alive for it, at least until I got to work.

Wayside

Birds of Tokyo, The Gaelic Club

The end of the 4-day week rolled around and it was time to welcome back Kathi & Irmela to Bundock-shire. After hitting up all the major Aussie tourist spots in the last few weeks, it was time to get real by experiencing the Coogee Beach Palace and a rare night of Pool form for the Fon.

Saturday showcased how messed up the weather can be from time to time, giving us around 30degree heat through till lunchtime, then within an hour, a 10-12degree drop in temperature as high winds blew us about the headlands of the Coogee to Bondi walk. We bravely fought on and made it to the Sydney suburb of 'Britannia' for a bit of late lunch. As the weather stayed cool, we jumped in a taxi and headed home for a short rest before heading out to Surrey Hills.

Into the 'The Clock' with Aaron, Todd and Brett, we got in some beers and a bit of pub grub before heading to the Gaelic Club to see an up & coming Perth-based band "Birds of Tokyo".

Now, considering I'd paid $50 for a ticket to Hard-Fi earlier in the week, tonights gig was just $20 - and was about 20times better value for money. The band were sounding sharp and were full of the enthusiasm that always seems to come with new bands. They were an absolute blast to see live, and I'd really recommend having a listen if you get the chance.

The night carried on in high spirits as we headed into the nearest sports bar to see the 2nd half of England Vs Australia in the Rugby world Cup being played in France. Not particularly bothered who won, I knew that if England lost, I could expect a huge backlash of Aussie abuse. So when England won with the narrowest of margins (12-10), I was pretty stoked... C'mon England!

Better Do Better

Hard-Fi, The Metro


The title of this blog and several posts have been honoured toward the band Hard-Fi. It has taken around 3years of their existence however, for me to finally get to see them perform live. After several disappointments in the UK where the band had to cancel gigs I was meant to see, and the band reaching Australia last year just after I left, I finally secured tickets to one of their gigs...


In the run up I heard a few bad reviews of their live stuff, so I was prepared for a rough ride.


Back at the Metro Theatre, the West London boys came on stage just after 10pm Wednesday 3rd October to rapturous applause. They opened up with Middle Eastern Holiday which did sound a bit flat from the lead and backing singers. The quality of singing didn't really improve, but luckily their own hits and a whole load of audience participation saved the show.


A pretty average gig, but enjoyable none the less to finally hear some songs live, that have been real soundtracks to my life over the last 3years. Thanks for Stars of CCTV Hard-Fi.

A Whole Lotta Love

Labour Day Public Holiday - Long Weekend

Another weekend, another public holiday, they seem to have been coming around quite quickly recently. This time, was Labour day - my first ever in Australia. No particular themes or traditions seem to have gone hand in hand with this one but it was most welcome given then heavy days preceding it.

Friday night, our old friend Emily was back in town from Cairns, and so a catch up session at the Royal in Randwick kicked things off. Having been avoiding alcoholic consumption on the most part, I bailed early fearing I'd had enough already.

Saturday was the Aussie Rules football Grand Final. Given that we'd just got a new BBQ for our back yard, we hosted a get together of friends to watch Geelong take on Port Adelaide - a match which Geelong thrashed Port by about a hundred points. I'd lost interest by the end of the 1st quarter and instead went on to grill vast quantities of meat.

The drinking stretched from 1pm, to the early evening when we disbanded from the party and headed on to another. Which then meant the beverage consuming was stretched further still... until, about 4am.

So with about 5hours sleep, it was time to get up and head to Todds for pre-festival drinks. Shakier than an altzeimers sufferer on a sugar low, I put a red-bull in my belly and marched onward to the showgrounds in front of the local cricket and football stadia. By 1 o clock, I had been re-aquainted with my old friend 'Beer'. He made me feel better and I was happy to hang around with him for the rest of the afternoon.

The problem with my mate Beer, is that he made me dance, scream & shout all afternoon. He made me feel so tired, yet he has this way of instilling motivation in even the most tired of legs. So After I'd shifted shapes in front of the headlining Shapeshifter, I was happy to leave Beers side, and head home for a long, long sleep. And then play Halo 3 for the entirety of my public holiday. Perfecto.

Keep on Runnin'

Sydney Running Festival 2007

*All photography on this post belongs to Warren Clarke Photography published on the official Bridge Run Website.

The past few weeks have been nice. Meals a plenty, nothing too stressful, and good weather returning, meaning several days at the beach sun baking... albeit in 22-26degree heat - regardless way better than the past few months.

Staying out of trouble I was half training for another organised race/run. This time it was the 9km Bridge Run starting at Milsons Point, shifting up and over the Harbour Bridge, across Circular Quay and then up and into the Botanical Gardens before returning back down Macquarie Street to a final finish on the Quayside.

Myself and Aaron managed to get up at 6am and to the start venue by 7.25am - pretty bad going since we could've stayed in bed some extra time, or stayed out a bit longer at the previous nights engagement party in Wooloomooloo. But hey, heroes we are and a race we were to run. So after Glen McGrath had started the family 5km run off, it was, an hour later, our turn.

Unlike City 2 Surf, this race was about me bettering a previous known time, rather than about extending a personal running boundary. I was aiming for 5minute KMs, considering my C2S ones were about 5mins 14seconds. I was going for the full distance in 45mins.

So the start pistol sent us all packing, and pretty soon we were jogging across the highlight of the run. The police had shut off the Harbour Bridge to Traffic and it was the one chance of the year to run across it. So a completely different perspective on one of the big tourist attractions I see and travel across day in day out - pretty amazing really. I remember being a little in awe of the steel girders rising above me in perfect symmetry.

2kms, all good

3kms, I was wishing it were 4

5kms, I was into the Botanical Gardens watching the race winners running the opposite direction past me - not the best thing for running morale!

8kms, Finally the home straight down Macquarie Street. I dug deep and upped my tempo down hill to the Quay - only to find out what I'd thought was the finish line wasn't... and I still had the length of East Circular Quay to run to the finish line. Luckily the power of the people stepped in to help me out. A real roar of encouragement, and I found not just a 2nd wind, but a hurricane. I sprinted down those last couple of hundred metres feeling almost floaty light. The shouting crowds making me feel like I was finishing the Olympics rather than a Sunday morning Running Festival. One last lunge and I was across the line and virtually motionless other than my rapidly expanding/exhaling chest. I looked over my shoulder at the clock and noticed I'd not only cracked my target of 45mins but also cracked 42minutes - official time 41minutes 22seconds. 462nd place. Stoked Fon.

Lilac Wine

APEC week & The Hunter Valley

Politics are generally not something I follow too closely, or get myself into a state worrying about. This particular occasion, they directly effected my life (for a week) and so I couldn't help but sit up and take notice of what was going on.

For 7days, Some of the most 'important' world leaders descended upon this fair town to have a chat about the economics of the Asian region, and the rest of the world. Inclusive was a certain George Bush. For the American Premiers arrival and stay, Sydney went into lockdown mode. For the whole week, 8ft metal fences lined a large portion of the central business district and meant buses, cars, taxis and people could not flow down the streets and walkways as usual.

Email virals circulated showing the city rooftops inhabited by snipers, the streets lined with large numbers of police and mobile phone jamming devices wherever Dubya was at the time.

So with all this extra activity, I went about my usual days work with not too much interruption. It was kinda cool too, as the journo in me came out; taking my camera to work in the hope that I might capture something dramatic, to then sell my world exclusive scoop to the mass media... alas, nothing really happened and my picture of a bin lined with police tape didn't fetch a dollar.

On the upside, the Friday of APEC week was declared a public holiday, to which employees rejoyced, and employers slapped the foreheads.

Some old friends from my Asian travel days arrived in town on the Saturday, Kathi and Irmela. The boys and I took them down to Coogee for a dinner in the evening before we would head out to the Hunter Valley for some wine tasting... and buying.

A similar trip to the one I went on last year, this time around I actually recall some of the wineries I sampled though :) The sun was in and out all day, so not exactly a hot introduction for the girls first day out in Australia.

Swing

Rastawookie

The forgotten blog! I can't believe I forgot to write about this.

So, Benny tells me how great this band called Rastawookie are, and after his Shapeshifter recommendation - I figured to give it a shot. A little more Drum & Bass fused with awesome female vocals and a great vibe of cool.

This particular gig, the band were shooting footage for their new video clip, and required all attendees dressing in 1920's attire. So with the help of Benny's shopping trip, we got our funk together and rocked up with Jeanelle and Matt.

The venue couldn't have been better, and did nothing more than to get us all in character, and mood for the gig ahead. A DJ span 20's - 40's instrumental tunes with the odd scratch worked in, which worked... every now and then. Though when the band finally came on stage, they set the place alight. Another great band that I felt unworthy to be watching... fun to $$$ ratio was through the roof.

My original lure of this gig was the possibility of being in a music video, though once I realised how much of a great time I was having, getting my mug on camera was the last priority.

Hold On, Hold On

"I'm over drinking"

Something I haven't experienced in some time.

The last time, was as far back as when I owned a car.

An experience of normality that's only an experience because everyone around you is filling themselves with booze. As the night draws on, social links meander, and the conversation about time-travel, or the tramp that lives at the end of the road with hair matted thick enough, and grown long enough to sleep on like a camping matt - don't quite hold your attention like they usually would...

The Alcohol free party... x5.

So my 'de-tox' was on, and with it came several evenings out with friends in usualy fashion where I had to exercise some self control to make it through the evening... or mainly the first half an hour where everyone would quiz you as to why you weren't drinking, followed quickly by some attempts to get you to cave.

In the middle of some of these gatherings came a return to the Teppanyaki place we'd visited for Aarons birthday last year. This time, it was Benny's turn to be the target of the eggy cannonballs served up by the crazy Japanese chef.... or so most people would have guessed.

After a few guys had thrown some stray raw eggs about the room last year, I figured it my duty as Benny's mate, to make sure he got hit by some a chickens finest produce. Though upon launching some of these across the room at speed toward the host, the chef caught site of me... and since I was then 'the trouble maker' (albeit one of the only people in the room with no alchohol flowing through his bloodstream), he decided to re-route his attacks toward me.

Needless to say I walked away with yolk all of me... along with some hard and crispy rice - thanks Lowen ;)

The Sunday of that weekend seemed a lot like the first day of Summer, and with it I visited both Coogee and Maroubra, and even ended up in the sea... for a second as it was still wintery cold despite the suns best efforts to warm it up.

After 12 days of alcohol free clear headedness, at approximately 7.15pm I broke with a bottle Pure Blonde followed by a few cool wines. I had travelled to Woolongong with Todd, Rog and Mel to meet with Anna at her folks place. A cool and calm weekend followed with some late nights, rambling in the undergrowth nearby and then a short trip around the 'Gong and a wander down the beach.

I slid back to Sydney early on Sunday morning to make the most of the weather, and again, head to Coogee Beach for a spot of lunch.

Better Than

John Butler Trio, Hordern Pavillion

After a midweek jaunt, Friday soon crept up and with it came a second gig in 3 days. This time, the John Butler Trio. Not a band I've ever really spent much time listening to, though I've certainly been told a lot about them - especially how great their live shows are.

For this reason I bought myself a ticket some months ago, and was really looking forward to seeing what they had to offer. Soon after the first notes had been plucked, the Hordern Pavillion started to smell a little different, and from no help of the stage smoke machines, the atmosphere a little hazy.

So with the crowd about as mellow as they could be, the gig played through to the delight of everyone in the building. Even without knowing too much of their work, I could really enjoy the talent that John and his two buddies brought to Sydney.

The following, surprisingly pleasent morning, I rode my bike across Randwick to spend some final time with Em before she jumped on a plane to Cairns. Em's goodbye brunch was followed by some weekend down time. The evening time Jock & Di were in town, Aaron, Jarrad & I met with them and their friends for some Spanish Tapas.

The weekend ended with yet more drinks, this time over in Pyrmont.

After some careful thought and deliberation, I decided I'd had enough of drinking for a while. So from that day forth I was to be T total... for a while anyway...

Apply Some Pressure

Maximo Park, The Metro

I was happy that one of those dates I always look forward to was upon me; one of my favourite bands coming to Sydney and me having snared a few tickets for it.

So along with Az and Benny, we headed to The Metro on George Street - probably the last significant venue I'd yet to visit in Sydney to watch the Sunderland boys twang out tunes from their two albums. Really good to hear the bands new stuff after getting to see a part of their set at a very muddy new bands tent on the first day of Glastonbury 2005. My voice took a beating which is generally one of the marks of a good gig for me...

In a week when the Arctic Monkeys, Editors & Bloc Party all visited, it's looking a bit bleak on the UK bands front... fingers crossed that changes soon.

Last This Day

Long Distance Weekend, Sydney

Another Year, another Long weekend, another one with not much rest....

I was given a traditonal Bundock wake-up call by my Aaron and Jarrad - bursting into my room at 7.15am; party poppers blazing with a body slam thrown in just to make sure I was awake!

Once the boys had gone off to work, I set about a day of forgetting myself and the world. Into Randwick for a haircut (though I'm not sure how much I actually had taken off) before grabbing a Boost Juice and going for a read in the park - I got some new; very much appreciated reading material from my old travel friend Flee; now based in the UK.

After some lunch I packed my camera and a book and headed to Maroubra beach for nothing much in particular. I took some random shots, I read some book, I even did some study - it was all good on a Sydney Winters day of 23 degrees.

I headed home and treated myself to some noodles from the Spot before I finished speaking to my family back home in England.

Jarrad, emma and myself then headed out to the Palace to start the evenings festivities off. By the time 9.30 rolled around, everyone was with us on Pitt St ready for Tapas.

Sangria, good food and great company meant the evening rolled out real nice. Now was time to head onward - Le Cross of course, and a late night as we danced into the early hours.

Of course I woke up feeling like a million dollars, luckily some musical therapy was at hand, and an impromtu jam session took myself and Aaron through the latter morning hours of the day. After a brief sleep, it was time to move on to the 2nd engagement of the weekend.

Our good friend Emily is leaving us for the tropical climbes of Queensland; Cairns to be precise. Not sure why, since she doesn't like scuba diving ;)

So of course, this called for another party. And since today was the warmest day since (from my recollection) around early May, it seemed only fitting it should be a BBQ party. My biggest problem with all of this, was the fact that my third engagement of the weekend - was a 14km run the following morning. Great will-power won-thru though and I stayed sober for the whole day. Which, I found can really give you the upper hand in playing tricks on drunken friends... 4 peoples big toes painted with pink nail polish before anyone noticed.

City 2 Surf (The following picture is obviously not mine and props go to the Sydney Morning Herald Website)

So after 2 months of very occasional training (I think the total stood at 1x10km+ run, 3x6km+runs and a bi-weekly round trip to the gym and back (at 3kms a pop)) 6.30am rolled around and it was time to slip on my running gear and make my way with Jarrad (along with 64,000 other people) to the starting area for the 2007 37th annual City 2 Surf 14km (8.7miles) run.

As Jarrad had already qualified last year, he disappeared off to the front of the pack group, I was left in with the 3rd group to be allowed to start the race. After one false start, we finally got going a full 10minutes after the initial pack had been let loose on the route. I didn't start running for around 300metres due to the sheer amount of people surrounding me, but eventually started to pick up pace as I headed toward the Kings Cross Coca Cola sign.

If I'm honest, I felt pretty dreadful at that point. I was well warmed up - yet really not feeling the running, and I needed to pee. Luckily, as we exited the under-pass - I was well into the spirit of things, passing by the odd pub with rock bands up on the awnings serenading the rapidly moving crowds. So from kilometre no 2, to around kilometre no 6, I was happy - exploring suburbs of Sydney I'd yet to see, appreciative of the gorgeous sunshine keeping me warm as I bounded past the marina near Double Bay.

I finally stopped to relieve myself under the comfort of a large tree, before heading onward to tackle "Heartbreak Hill". Several straight KMs uphill were definitely the hardest part of the run, and I had to stop for about 20metres of walking just to let my breathing recover. Though from that point I managed to see out the rest of the race without stopping.

Far from it, as I entered the last 4kms of the run, I was pleasently encouraged by the fact that the majority of runners surrounding me were from the group that started 5minutes ahead of my pack - I was confident I would make the top qualifiers group.

As I came down the final hill at North Bondi, I picked up my pace, some crowds clapping me on... before my actual fitness got the better of me - some severe wincing directed at the road before me; I levelled my pace out as I headed down Campbells Parade. Right at this point, I heard a familiar voice shout "Come on The Fon!"... Aaron and Em from the sidelines gave me an adrenaline shot that I figured would carry me home... that boost picked up my pace and wore me out again pretty quickly, but with the final hairpin, I started really motoring, and sucking for as much air as possible.

The Finish Line, 72minutes and 54 seconds - I made it.

Jarrad and I took a quick dive in the Wintery Bondi waters, and were ready for some big lunch. Which pretty soon ended up in the pub, chatting to friends about the mornings accomplishments and trying our hardest not to let our physical states get the better of us.

6 or so beers later, it was time to bail... and on arriving home, I passed out on my bed after a shower, and then went on to sleep pretty damn well.

The Tuesday after the event, the results were published in the Syndey Morning Herald, and out of the 60,000 that took part, I came in in 4,888th position! I prefer to think of it as coming 4th out of 60 ;)