Monday, July 24, 2006

Of Christmas, Small Dogs & Pirates

Weekend recap time! This weekend was a busy one. A weekend marked by long train journeys, social events with good company, small puppy dogs & pirates.

Morgan had a full weekend of his own planned, one which involved a trip to Canberra to meet up with a couple of friends, so in order to try and fit all of the things we both wanted to do this weekend we had to divide and conquer. I stayed in Sydney while Morgan went to Canberra.

On Saturday two good friends of mine Ian and Steve hosted their annual Christmas In July party at their house.* I spent a large part of the day just getting there, because the 1 hour trip out to where they live stretched to almost double that on account of trackwork and the need to take a different route. Curse you CityRail! Once there I had a great afternoon and evening, catching up with the boys, my good friend Stephen who was down from Brisbane, and other folks I only see once or twice a year. I stayed over in order to avoid a long train ride home late at night. That way I also had more quality time to play "Where's The Monster?", "Get Your Ball!" and "Why Does Your Breath Smell Like Ass?" with their adorable little Jack Russell terrier.

I was invited to go to a wedding on the Sunday, which was the other reason my friend Stephen from Brisbane was visiting. The wedding was in the mountains in the afternoon and the logistics of getting there and back ended up being too hard unfortunately. I could have gotten a lift up there, but as most people were staying over Sunday night getting a lift home afterwards was too hard to organise. I couldn't take Monday off without giving up a day's income, so had to skip it.

Instead I made the trek home on the train, scared the shower alcove to death by giving it a major exfoliating scrub (ewww!) and then headed out in the late afternoon to meet up with some of the Sydney Photobloggers from Flickr and Morgan (freshly back from Canberra) for some food and a movie. We saw "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" and I loved it. A real romp of a film, which although it covered some of the same sort of ground as the first film, stood up fairly well as a sequel I thought. Good old fashioned uncomplicated fun. With pirates. And squid faced people. A good night!

So a busy weekend, with lots of socialising and many miles covered.

* It's hard to explain the Christmas In July concept if you are used to a Northern Hemisphere Christmas, but imagine having Christmas in the middle of a Summer heatwave. Sound odd? Well that's what we have every year, so some enterprising hoteliers started to popularise a second Christmas 'Yule' type event in the middle of the year (when it is winter here). Christmas pudding, songs about sleigh rides and pictures of snow covered trees all seem a bit more enjoyable when it's cold outside. Basically it's an excuse to have another big eat-fest, without the need for airconditioners.

15 comments:

worldpeace and a speedboat said...

a bunch of ForBattlers went and saw Pirates2 last week (I think it was last week... hmmmm... my brain hurts). it was fun! - although I think it had some dumb, contrived and very self-conscious moments. Bill Nighy, Johnny Depp and the CGI made it well worth it.

Therin of Andor said...

worldpeace_and_aspeedboat, didn't anyone tell you? You were supposed to leave your brain at the door.

Andrew, always great to see you at Midwinter Christmas. We are wondering now if next week is Midwinter New Year? any excuse for champers.

worldpeace and a speedboat said...

Therin, I would, except I suspect I've already left it at someone else's... sigh.


Q60 (that always makes me think of Spike Milligan's Q series) girl: Keira Knightly has done nothing but really annoy me recently, as in Pride & Prejudice, and Pirates2, so it's hard to say anything nice about her. also, Cozling found some horridly skeletal photos of her on Go Fug Yourself, which makes me think get thee to a doctor, more than anything else.

Mikey (TLE) said...

Steve and I went and saw it (Pirates 2) last weekend. Lots of fun but a bit indulgent and overlong. I mean (warning spoilers) how many times did they need to be attacked by the Kraken... and the love subplot with Capt. Sparrow and whatever Keira Knightley's character's name is, made no sense. Fun to watch Johnny Depp camping it up, though.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, Mikey, I was hoping that Capt Sparrow and Will would kiss and make up... but the Kraken was good. If it works, try it again...

worldpeace and a speedboat said...

god knows what Cap'n Jack sees in the female scarecrow. leave her to Will - and I must say, Orlando was a lot less spunkariffic than usual. maybe because he was too earnest... although I never thought that was possible. has Orlando lost his sheen of beauty?


how many times did they need to be attacked by the Kraken...

as many times as the big boys shelling out $$$ for the CGI says so...

worldpeace and a speedboat said...

mind you, I thought the CGI was pretty astounding. all the little barnacles and starfish and whatnot on their faces. you have to say, it was beautifully done.

The Other Andrew said...

C'mon, if you had control of the Kraken... wouldn't you use it all the time?

"Hello, CityRail Customer Service? Well, say 'hello' to THE KRAKEN!"

BTW - Orlando has not lost his sheen of beauty. Trust me on this one.

The Other Andrew said...

Oh, and I meant to add. Keira Knightly = Sticky McStick Insect. And she's gotten worse since the movie, she a skeleton with a hairdo now. It's horribly sad.

worldpeace and a speedboat said...

Orlando has not lost his sheen of beauty. Trust me on this one.

I'm really not sure any more. I think I preferred Scrummy Davenport, even when he was covered in pig muck...

The Other Andrew said...

Yeah, I see the attraction of the lovely Jack Davenport. Scrummy voice for starters!

Fran Carleton said...

scrummy voices ehh... well I always remember falling in love with Jumpin' Jack Flash aka Gov'ner Swann Jonathon Price (Sticky McStick Insects' Dad in Pirates)

Therin of Andor said...

Hey TOA! I found a puppy pic for you: here!

The Other Andrew said...

What a gorgeous pic! Hey, Jack was a 'markdown'?!... just goes to show they didn't recognise a treasure when they saw it.

Therin of Andor said...

Jack was part of a litter of six or seven little bundles of patchwork dynamo and, week by week, I'd notice fewer and fewer in their window at the pet shop, as certain puppies caught their prospective owner's eye. For some reason (maybe the dark, almost-bare spot on his snout?), Jack was the last one left.

I recall saying, when only three were left, "Who in their right mind would buy a puppy who'd spent four weeks in a pet shop?" (Me, of course, the very next day, when the bargain price was announced.) But he was certainly a gregarious little dog as a result, with all that attention from humans and otrher animals.

He answered to Jack in the shop, of course, so the name was a no-brainer - and when the salesgirls in the shop asked me to sneak him back into Penrith Plaza for a visit, they announced: "Three of his brothers are called Jack!"