Supply & Demand

Amos Lee - The Basement, Sydney

After what was turning out to be a rely sucky week work-wise, evening escapism was key in getting me through. Tuesday night we went to see Hot Fuzz, and then Wednesday, I was in for a treat as Amos Lee came to visit Sydney.

The Basement is located 2 floors below my first real Sydney job and is a tiny little venue almost purpose built for small intimate gigs. A pretty decent support act played for us before Amos and his small accompaniament of bass guitar and a drummer entered the stage. We'd gotten there pretty early and as such managed to secure some great central spots to stand at.

His voice is pretty unbelievable on his CDs and his live performance really did not let down. By the end of the set I was grinning from ear to ear as it really felt like I was the only person in the room. Absolute Class.

Thursday night cooked up another long hard graft before I met Craig, Jarrad and friends at an opening of a fashion store where I could relieve myself with a free beer. Afterwards a short trip across town and we were able to party it up in Establishment with Mr Burgess getting some stark surprises from some of the local girls ;)

Relax

Craigs arrival, Sydney

On Tuesday afternoon, I strolled back home, unlocked the front door and said hi to Craig. An old mate from my Thurrock Council days, and the first visitor to my new home from my old home.

Now, some of you may well know Craig, and you'll certainly know that he's not the errm, how do you say, 'busiest' of people, well you can imagine how he'd be with 11hours worth of jetlag to cope with! Of course I jest, I'm sure anyone woulda been the same ;)

So as the week developed, I gave Craig his first experiences of Australian football - or soccer as it's known more commonly here. First off, we played - at my regular game each week with my old work mates. Then second, at the Aussie Stadium.

The game was a real tantalising prospect - the Asian Champions League first group stage round matchup of Sydney FC Vs Urawa Reds (Japan). The creme de la creme of Asia-Pacific club football.

The Aussie Stadium was used in the 2000 Olympics for the soccer events and again in the Rugby world cup 2003 for some of the pre-final games. With a capacity of over 40,000 it was certainly worthy of the matchup. Tonight it was just over half way full up.

As I caught site of the turf, a tingling sensation came over me, it was only then that I remembered how much I used to enjoy going to see live football back in the UK. We bought some grub, then found some seats down near the away fans as they were going nuts even before the kickoff.

I've never come across fans like it in fact, the Japanese were going crazy every time there players scored a goal - in the pre-match kick about!

So finally kick off came, and within 1minute, Sydney FC took the lead with a pretty well worked goal. The stadium went crazy - including the Japanese fans - it seems they can't be distracted by the odd goal against them. Within another 10minutes, the ref awarded a penalty Sydneys way which they duly converted. It was about this time it went downhill. I won't talk down the Aussie/Asian game too much, but once the initial adrenaline boost had subsided, the game was scrappy and quite frustrating to watch. The score ended up at 2-2 with a horrendous blunder by the Sydney keep handing the Reds an equaliser.

Those Red fans though, kept going like no fans I've ever seen. Even 1-0 down, then 2-0 down, it took them all of about 10seconds to get their noise levels up again. Not even a chance to sing "You're not singin' anymore". They even managed to sing a slightly incomprehendable Japanese karoake version of "1-0 to the Urawa boys".



The weekend came and it was time for Craigs intro to a Sydney night out - we met with my usual crew of ex-work mates and went about things with all the usualy low-carb intentions. A miniature pub crawl that didn't really end up anywhere good finished us off for the night.


The following morning I showed Craig down to my old neighbourhood of Coogee where we grabbed a great brekkie whilst soaking up the morning rays and keeping cool with a perfect breeze. A little wander around showing off the cliffside wonders and the midday sun peaked off at 34degrees. Not bad for an Autumnul day if you ask me!


Craig split for some lawn bowling action, myself and Aaron headed down to Maroubra, our new local beach - for a dip. We got more than we bargained for as the surf was up and for the 10minutes we were in the water for, got belted thru and thru by the unrelenting waves. The lifeguard had to whistle us out after the rip carried us out of the safe area. Oops...

Waiting For The 7.18

Some may have noticed that I've been a little quieter on the blog lately, I can confirm that the working life will do that to a man.

After officially starting my new job mid week, I've now had a grand total of 10 days back in employment. After such a long layoff, I was looking forward to working again. Now however, I'm already back to looking forward to my next holiday! That's not to say that I have a bad job, far from it - it's just I'm being worked in a way I've never been worked before.

I have a bunch of clients assigned to me, and I visit them on a scheduled basis. Usually 3x2hr visits per day - and all on foot and public transport. Which is why my body is usually reeling after a few straight days working. But it's certainly cool, and very interesting with clients based all over Sydney; North, South and inbetween.

The head office is somewhat poignantly located on the same street where I spent my first night in Sydney a little under one year ago.

Citizen Erased

Feels like home, Sydney

A stressful and busy week was about to unfold. Monday started out in my new job... well kinda. By the end of my first day, it was discovered that my visa wasn't quite ready for me to start working. So by Tuesday afternoon I was again waiting to work, and doing all I could to get my application rushed through. With the wait being up to 4 weeks at the moment, it made for nervous times. Lady luck shone down on me though, and gave me an awesome contact in the immigration department.

Luck of a different variety also helped us secure a great new property to rent. So by the middle of the week, Jarrad and I had somewhere to move to - and move to fast, with the keys being ready by the end of the week. Some frantic buying done with my new found time off and the weekend had us moving all our possessions to the other side of Randwick.

Under the radar and outta cash, the weekend slid by productively but pretty well quietly compared to any weekend I can remember on this side of the globe... nice however, I was starting to settle into a place I could call home, and had some amazing nights sleep after being re-introduced to walking on carpet bare-foot. You'll think I'm nuts but other than 2 weeks at home in October, my bare soles have rarely felt carpet!

On Tuesday, I recieved the news I've been after... for, well, deep down, well over a decade - since my 1994 visit to WA. My business visa for Australia.

Ignition

Mardis Gras 2007, Sydney

After spending most of Saturday in bed, and then wasting the few daylight hours with a few chores and random wanderings, the weekend was wasting away so I thought I better get myself back into the fray.

I headed out to Paddington to meet with friends for a pre-MardisGras BBQ. After some hair of the dog, beeds were dished out and we headed out into the rammed streets around the Liverpool St, Oxford St and Flinders St intersections. Along the way realising that my beer supply was a little low - a big surprise after feeling pretty ruff all day!

Thousands of people were fleeting the streets, the freaks out in force with pretty much every gay in the village of Australia making it along.

Initially we could see very little of the carnival parade, until we came upon a stray wheelie-bin - toppled on its side and we could at last see the psycadelic show unfolding in front of us.

Now there's not really much to tell now, it's probably quite obvious as to what we saw, naked people, the usual giant inflatable falic symbols and even a float for MAG - those Matura Age Gays will get in everywhere.

Bottom line (excuse the pun), Mardis Gras is one killer street party - unbeliably staged on part of the route on my day to day bus journey home.