Easter fun and beyond...

Had a wicked Easter.

It started with a visit from Nits and the girls. They arrived a little dishevilled from the epic drive from Brisbane. The Sat Nav phone (which turns out to be a piece of crap) sent them all over Sydney until winding up on the wrong part of my street.  Nits called me almost at the edge of sanity saying that they were on my street but it was very short and they couldn't find my house. Turns out they were right outside Spikes school which is Elizabeth street but the wrong end.  In between was Oxford street and not that easy a way of getting over unless you know it, so I raced over and drove them the last few metres.  Poor things...talk about stressed to the eyeballs. Luckily it didn't last for too long and before you knew it we were all pretty drunk and dancing on table tops.  Unfortunately the lunicy that entailed was witnessed by a visitor from London, Simon Noble and his friend Claire...feel like I have to send him an apology - we were just a little out of control. Nits stayed for almost a week, which was quite enough to be honest.  This house echos a lot with no carpets and high ceilings - not the best combo...and with 5 kids running around like lunatics - well - let's just say we had to get out of the house every day or we would have gone slightly nuts.  Thank goodness the weather was still nice....got to go the beaches etc.  Had a great time having them down. Would have been nice if Tom was here for more than one night of it, unfortunately he had to fly out to LA to make an ad......

On the Friday we all got up at a hideous 4.15 am, packed up the last few bits and bobs into the cars and then bundled the kids in and set off for a 12 hour drive to Chooks.  It was pretty intense.  Nits gave me a rest for about an hour but all the rest was up to mua.  We managed.....great effort from everyone involved including the kids who were very well behaved, even if they did ask if we were there yet about 15 minutes into the trip. Only 11 hours and 45 minutes left to go kids.  At least the drive was long enough for even them to give up asking after a few hours.....THANK GOD!  We stopped off for Breaky and Lunch and got there just before it got dark.  Fi, Dave, Cindy, Paul and Juan were all there already which was great.  A bit crazy to see everyone at Chooks, so used to being there with just us.....  We had a nice chilled first night, in fact I was so exhausted I went to bed long before everyone else which must be a first for me....

The next day had to go and pick up Tom from Lismore airport which was about an hour and a halfs drive away...MORE driving - just what I needed.  Went a dirt back road which saved us a bit of time.....  Was good to see Tom again and get back to Shane's 40th party which was in full swing.  Had a massive lamb on the spit (SO YUMMY) people in wigs everywhere..and of course a lot of booze and other things.  All the kids were trying to watch movies behind a live band (they still managed).  Had a great evening although am starting to think I prefer smaller groups these days.  GETTIN OLD!  We had another night at Chooks which was very chilled around the giant fire pit, then headed up to Brisbane for a few nights at Nits.  

Was fun to just hang with the fam.....went down the coast and stayed with Ant for 2 nights in his amazing new pad...and then made our way back to Sydney. Stopped in Yamba which was sweet and made it home mid afternoon on the Saturday. PHEW....was a great trip all up and definitely makes me feel like I have a lot more places to go than I used to in London.  Starting to feel like it's nice to be home even if I am in Sydney.

the view from Ant and Laurens amazing new pad

A parting pic...after Dim Sum...YUM YUM

a storm rolling in at Cape Byron light house.

the little cabin we stayed in in Yamba.

The view you always hope to see when you look into the back seat..... :0)

So now the days are getting colder and shorter....feeling a bit more like I am back in London now.....but still enjoying our new life.  Went to the gym 3 times this week, which is amazing for me.....need to lose this flabby gutt before it completely takes over.  Gettin old ain't a lot of fun.

Bathtime for the boys. Tom working late as usual but at least I get to watch whatever shite I want after the boys are in bed.  

That's it for now...

xx

Life goes on.......and on.....

Can you believe it only dawned upon me today that this year I am turning 38! Wow - blink and you miss life it's only too true.
Anyway there are a few things right now that I want to write down about what I am thinking about the world and what's happening.  It's a little hard right now because I burnt one of my fingers cooking dinner tonight, what a knob. Every time I burn myself though I always think of those poor sods who have burns all over their bodies, I could think of nothing more painful. Anyway - I will make this short and sweet because I don't want to have to type for too long.
A) 911 was SO set up by the American government it's not funny. The only reason the whole world let them go into the Middle East is because 911 happened. THEN they had to follow that up with a whole bunch of proven lies. IF 911 wasn't a cover up then why did it happen at the time it did...when there would be less deaths. How were the off course planes NOT detected....and if the reason was because they were running a simulated operation that was exactly what was happening in reality - HOW can that not be too much of a coincidence to believe??? WHY do they still insist that what hit the pentagon was a plane when there there was no plane wreckage, but only wreckage of a missile???  There are too many questions that don't make sense.  As far as I'm concerned after watching a brilliant documentary called "The hidden war" it has only helped back my beliefs. It's all so crazy it doesn't bare thinking about.
B) People of Sydney....(I don't think this applies to Brisbane - they seem a lot more real up North)....are rude, up their own asses, wankers!  I am not talking about the few folk I know personally....but the commoner on the street.  They have no manners....  What is happening to this country?  It's almost like if  you own a shop in Sydney - you have a license to rip people off.  There are a few great places I have found - but generally if one lives in Sydney you pretty much feel like you've been shafted on a daily basis.  I thought London was bad????  At least there you can get a bargain every now and then.......and they don't charge you restaurant prices for food in the grocery stores.  We are on a pretty healthy salary over here....and to be honest I do not see how we will ever afford a house we would like to live in, in an area we would like to live in......and afford to live at the same time?  Sydney really has to rethink a lot of things.  INCLUDING public transport and parking.  It's just nuts.  If they just want this city to be full of money chasing wankers - then they are going the right way about it. Where is their sense of community and fairness....... It is hard to find here.

Update on new years resolutions

So....I have now joined a gym. Went there on Monday for my first PT session and let's just say that I am now, and it is Thursday, only being able to start walking properly again. Alex, the name of my PT pushed meofo hard, too hard I think. I told him i needed to be able to function during the week, and did he listen? SHOCKER. anyway apart from the muscle pain I am also feeling dizzy and generally look and feel unwell. So much for exercise making you feel better. Needless to say I am scared shitless about my session on Monday. After I kill alex will let him know that I am not going through this again.

Reuniting with old school friends, 20 years later.....

A few weeks ago now my lovely sister Nits, organised the Mount Gravatt High School reunion, class of 91.  When we all first heard that she was planning on organising the reunion I immediately thought...BRILLIANT! This is gonna be a lot of fun!  I think a few people were a little unsure how it would go, and seeing peeps they hadn't seen for so long.

As time past and the reunion date got closer and closer, I must confess to quite a few strange thoughts and emotions going through me...like....what if everyone has changed so much that I hardly recognise them??? Or....I should have been more successful with my life....what have I even done that I am so proud of that I can talk about......will they think I look really old now??? Blah blah, the list goes on.  Some nights I was even kept away with these thoughts.

So....the big weekend arrives.  Nikki (an old school friend) and I , who both now live in Sydney are catching the same flight together, which is a happy coincidence, so I guess you could say my reunion starts even before I get to Brisbane.  It was lovely to hang out with Nik and chat about old stuff and new stuff.  She drove us to the airport and we had even more time to nabber on because our flight was delayed.  We got to Brisbane and Nits and Chook picked us up from the airport, which was extremely kind of them seeing that we didn't land until about 10.30 pm.  We dropped Niks off at Fis place and then headed back to Nings.  Of course, all three of us were so excited just to even see each other that we stayed up until about 1.30am chatting.  Finally we got to bed, but honestly I hardly got a wink from the nerves of it all and neither did Chook......so we woke up feeling hardly refreshed but with still excitement in our bellies.

Needless to say - the evening started well.  Fi, Nik, Jules, Kath, Chook, Nits and I, all booked a room at the Garden City Motor Inn....which was too funny for words.  We rocked up and there was a pool on full display of the car park covered in mosquito netting.  BRILLIANT!  So wish we all got in our togs and took a pic of that now - would be too funny.  The rooms turned out to be really comfortable..so we all got ready and then headed to Garbo for a bite to eat.  Had some wicked burgers, then jumped into a cab, after being haranged by some friendly drunks, who took a particular liking to Fi...and then we were on our way....just a short trip down Logan road to the Mount Gravatt Tavern.

There were a few disputes as to wether or not this was a good location, but I honestly thought it was perfect.  They may not have had the greatest wine selection and it might have smelt like we were in the middle of a sewerage plant....but it completely made sense that we were there.  If we hadn't of been we couldn't have walked up to the high school to take a wicked trip down memory lane.

Well the 7 of us rocked up early, just so we would definitely be the first seeing Nits was the host after all.  The first people to arrive were Chris and Dave, who left in year 10, so none of us really knew them very well.  Then the peeps started to flow in.  The highlights of the night for me were Dave Perry - who has such a great laugh that took me back 20 years instantly, Lee Webber who used to be the shy boy down the street, who has now turned into a sexy, confident fireman.....Lee Smith, who well seems to be exactly the same....Brad ,Trent Allen and Darryl Pryde - who stole the show really...and gorgeous Chip...who is such a sweet guy, always has been and still is.  Chris Wardle was also there whom I spoke to for a lot of the evening - and what a great man he has become as well. Later on in the evening Mick and Saylor turned up which was more than wicked. Ramsay was hilarious - such a dry sense of humor, and it was good to see Monty again - who also has hardly changed all these years. All the girls that were there were so good to see again, especially Rens who is always so good to see.  Danielle has blossomed and is looking amazing.....some blasts from the past like Kerry Lynch, and Tina (who unfortunately I didn't get to speak to very much)......were also good to lay eyes on again.  It was too brilliant though hanging out with Jules and Chookster...and Katherine (man....so many memories with Kath that I had forgotten about, probably because we were stoned most of the time).  To cut a long story short the whole night was spent chatting about old memories, and dredging up things long forgotten.  I for one hardly spoke about life now....and it really didn't seem to be much of that going on in the conversations I joined into.

The high school oval

The night flew - and before I knew it I was rallying the troops to head to the oval.  It was too funny.  We were a bit everywhere - some people were getting drinks from the bottle shop, whilst others had already started walking. Half way up I got stopped by Lee Smith who suggested we break into groups of 3 and all meet on the oval. I thought it was hysterical...."Haven't changed a bit Lee!  Live a little - don't you think it would be a giggle if we did all end up in the lock up?"  He didn't find it very amusing.  So we all eventually made it onto the oval steps.....  On the way through Trent was making hysterical comments about the new found Fen Shui that the high school has seemed to have adopted since we had left.  There were trees, grass and little hills everywhere.  Covered areas for students to hang out in....benches, chairs.  I must admit when we were there as students the school looked more like a concentration camp than anything else. Even the benches we got to sit on were made out of wire fencing.....VERY COMFORTABLE.  We also had to stand on parade in the hot sun in the mornings, and we all clearly remember people fainting on parade because of the heat, but now the pampered little students get plenty of shade. None of that going on anymore - I bet they even get to sit down!  Anyway -it was very funny.  It was great to be there with everyone......and to share old memories and a laugh in the very spot it all happened 20 years ago.  At one stage Trent tried to get us to play some drinking games.....we were meant to form a circle in the dark on the steps..and if we got it wrong we were going to have to skull warm beer...I don't think so - we have to draw the line somewhere!  It took quite a long time to get Trent to give up on it......but it was very funny.

Jules, Me and Chook, great to be back together again.

Eventually the night had to draw to a close...or we had to head out of the high school, surely we would have roused some of the neighbours by this stage.  We headed back to the pub, which impressively was still open until 2.30 am (so used to London bars closing at 1!).....then we headed to Micks parents house which was even more of a spin out.  Some very funny things happened there - "You look like you've swallowed a fridge!" Some fine words from a fine man..... ;0)  It was crazy being back in one of my main party houses from when I was 16. I went out with Mick too all those many years ago - so all those memories came flooding back as well.....CRAZY!  Chook, Kath and I (who I might point out at this stage have always been the last standing)..then had to sneak into our shared room with Nits and Jules who went home earlier in the night with Nik and Fi - a lot of giggles for sure.....and a slightly peeved off Jules....sorry Jules!  We arrived home just as the first birds started to sing, which put an even bigger smile on our faces....JUST LIKE THE GOOD OLD DAYS.  Chook stated something pretty obvious though which was when will we learn????  To get our own room so we can stay up and not piss anyone off????  I'm not sure Chook - I don't think we will ever learn.

Chookster, Jules, Me and Lee

Fi and Nick with Trent

So in a nutshell, it was so good to step back in time for a night, and see all the old faces and hear all the old voices.  It would be something I would love to do again - and I don't think I'm alone in that.  The only problem is is what then?  It seems to be one of those nights that can only happen once..... All I can say is that I'm happier for it that it did happen....and it's just so wonderful to be assured that we really were surrounded by some wonderful people while going through those traumatic years of puberty.

Slowly ticking off my new years resolutions...

OK -well I do walk or try to walk at least 3 mornings a week.  This week however it was a little screwed up because I went out on Friday night and Tom had to start work early a few mornings, so I only managed 2 walks. It has been a really hot week in Sydney as well - today it's reaching at least 40 in the city....man - I swear it feels more like 50.  All the fans are going in the house....which helps cool things a little.

Here are some pictures from my walk. I start it with a stroll down a lane way of gorgeous paper barks and mid way round pass a beautiful Lake/Pond.  There are horses doing their morning exercises and plenty of other walkers and runners.  It's a great way to start the day and I am so much happier for it.  Life is good at the moment...which is wonderful...

The lovely lane way of paperbarks....

Am sure this is a little too large to call a pond no??

x

Spike starts school....

Can't quite believe it but the little guy started this week.  He is off to a good start with no tears so far, am hoping they don't start when the novelty wears off.  I thought he looked too cute in his uniform, although starting on a day that was 35 degrees was a little harsh, especially with the chunky school shoes.  Tom and I are so pleased that he is not too upset about the whole thing.

Haven't really met any school mums yet - they seem to all know each other already.  Am not too bothered, have enough mates already - besides the school is so small with no canteen, pretty much no anything, not too sure how I would get involved with the school. Am sure there is a way.  Am hoping to do some freelance work for Juan for his pizza boxes, have a feeling I need to buy a new computer and software first though..which Tom is keen to do.  We will see how this old machine deals with it all.

OK - well first one at school and one to go.  HALLELUJAH!  No tears from me I can tell you!

xx

New Years resolutions....

• Try not to worry too much about the ageing process, it happens to us all.
• Get fit again
• Find a new job that I can really sink my teeth into and enjoy
• Make friends with Sydney and new peeps
• Be a better Mum and Wife for my family

and that about sums it all up.  Will be interesting to see how I am going on all these things. My first promise to myself is to get my lazy ass out of bed at 7 tomorrow morning and go for my walk. I will feel so much better for it and I am certain Tom must be pretty fed up looking at me snoring every morning. I could make up a million excuses for my behaviour but none of them are good enough. So early night tonight and up at a decent hour for gods sake, and then at least I can fit some exercise into my day.

As for the rest, well I think they will follow when I am feeling better and fitter. We will see.


Had a pretty awkward day today with Spike.  That boy sure knows how to push my buttons. He is always a worry for Tom and I.  The difference in personalities with Spike and Rudy is immeasurable.  Example, I decide to have a bath when Tom gets home.  Rudy sees me in the bath (which isn't a normal place for me to be at that time), and says, "Are you having a bath mummy?  That's nice....."  Spike sees me in the bath and looks at me with a strange look on his face, unsure if it's a look of "What the hell are you doing in the bath....", or a look saying "Oh...you're having a bath"...but he doesn't say anything he just looks for a mo and then walks off..yelling something down the hallway.  We just don't seem to get much joy out of Spike.  When he's being good he's just not being annoying.....there is nothing very endearing about him at all.  He has absolutely no respect for other adults either. We were at the doctors today because he has a bit of a bad cough (turns out it could be pneumonia)....but he was being so obnoxious in the surgery I was completely embarrassed. The doctor was amazing though and actually brought his mood around.....(must have had a lot of experience with grumpy patients)...but in a situation where he is usually good as gold...he was a bloody nightmare. Which for a boy who is rarely as good as gold was quite upsetting for me.  Anyway - the doctor was very surprised to see a boy who's lung was so crackly....(a sign of pneumonia)....running around with so much energy and looking so well.  I told him I have NEVER seen Spike flat out and floppy like a "normal" child with any kind of illness.....even when he had chicken pox or even this kind of hideous mouth ulcer virus. He sent us home and said if his symptoms change (which he is half expecting) to come back tomorrow and get some antibiotics.  We will see.  Think he is on the mend anyway.

Rudy had his second day of nursery today which was ok. He had a few tears when I left but was reported to have had a good day.  He doesn't cry when I pick him up, which I think is always a better sign if they are ok or not.  We all headed to the playground after for some outdoor action.......

Anyway - it's getting late and I am breaking my promise for an early night.  Will head to bed now and read a bit more Shantaram......a rocking book..thanks Nits.

Signing out for today and hopefully for not too long.