Manly Beach Clean Up

On Saturday, Martin and I joined a large number of fellow volunteers to help clean up Manly Beach, organised by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and the Two Hands Project. Rubbish from all of Sydney's beaches eventually finds its way into the water, and carried on the currents is dispersed into the ocean and can have a disastrous affect on marine life. 

Sorting the rubbish for recycling

It was a gorgeous warm early Spring day, sunny but not so hot that spending a few hours on the beach was unpleasant. At first glance the beach looked pretty clean, but we collected a surprisingly large amount of rubbish. Our main focus was plastics and other toxic forms of polluting rubbish, such as cigarette butts.

One of the Sea Shepherd team

Sydneysiders love their beaches, and use them a lot. While I was collecting rubbish on the beach it was really encouraging to have a number of people say "good on you" or "thanks". Clearly people care for their beach and are glad to see people taking care of it. There is no good excuse for littering any beach, especially the metropolitan beaches of Sydney which are very well supplied with rubbish bins.

Recyclables being separated

Hopefully one of the offshoots of any sort of action such as this is that next time any of the people who saw us cleaning up on that day use the beach, they might be more careful about not leaving any rubbish behind.

One of the Two Hands Project team

We were asked to collect for one hour, and then we returned with our buckets of rubbish to have them sorted into recyclables and general rubbish. There were some speeches made, and a substantial donation that had been collected through facebook was given to the crew from The Sea Shepherd.

Around half of the volunteer crew

Afterwards Martin and I joined a few of the other volunteers for a light lunch, before hopping back on a ferry and making our way back into the city. All in all a truly fantastic day!

A Colourful Walk

The recent wet and cool weather suddenly turned to bright, sunny, late Spring over the weekend. I spent almost all of the day out in the sunshine with Peter yesterday, either walking in the sun or sitting outside with a cheeky lunchtime white wine with Peter and his friend Kai. Glorious.

What happens Sunday to Tuesday?

So I grabbed my camera this morning and decided to enjoy the continuing sunshine and walk into work. (And work off a bit of the food and drink excesses of the weekend.) I changed my usual route a little and along the way spotted some street art I hadn't seen before.

Smoko break.

The curious wizards of the Bureau of Meteorology have read the entrails, cast the stones, and forecast yet more rain and cool weather later in the week. Bah. Until then I think I might make the best of it and see if I can't try a different route each morning, and see what else I can find.

Vivid Festival is Vivid

We've had weeks of cool, rainy weather in Sydney so when yesterday turned out to be a fairly mild and sunny day it was quite the pleasant surprise. Not exactly Spring-like, but more like a mild Autumn day that Sydney normally does so well. (I figure we're owed one, given that we bypassed much of Autumn and went straight to Winter this year.)

One of the benefits of my new job is a 7 hour working day, so I finished work at 4 o'clock and the sun was still out and shining merrily. Blue sky. I decided to make the most of it and walk home from work, and burn a few calories in the process. It has rained almost every night for the past however many weeks, and given the total absence of clouds it looked like we could count on a clear night.

So while I was walking I decided it might be a nice night to grab the camera and go and check out the Vivid Festival later in the evening. I rang a friend who was sadly busy, but figured I'd go home and make some dinner and see if I felt like it afterwards. Almost a very big mistake. Friday tiredness + the lure of sofa = inertia. However, I gave myself a kick up the jacksie about 7.30pm and headed out into a pretty cool, but clear, night.


Wow. I'm so glad I did. These pics don't really do it justice, but it was amazing. The centrepieces of the Festival are the stunning 3D projection mapped animations by The Electric Canvas on Customs House, and the sails of the Opera House by SUPERBIEN.


The walk all around the foreshore of Circular Quay was also littered with light sculptures, performers and interactive artworks using light, colour and sound as their common themes.


Some of these pieces were static (like these jellyfish) but many of the pieces used movement and interactivity. Hard to capture in photos unfortunately, but in the flesh they gave everything a carnival like atmosphere.


People, especially families, were everywhere and all along the foreshore people were lined up with their cameras taking pics of the changing animations on the Opera House.


There was a bit of the usual push and shove that seems to be a feature of Sydney crowds, but it was generally a pretty fun crowd. And boy it was a crowd. It seemed like everyone decided to take advantage of the clear night also.


I shot soooo many pics. These are just a small sampling, and I've already put some more up over in this Flickr set. I'll probably add some more as I sort through them.


After a few hours I was starting to tire of the crowds, so I started to head back to the train station. I'd almost bypassed seeing the amazing Customs House light show, but I'm so glad I didn't because the projection mapped animations were stunning.


Here's a film clip of the Customs House light show, which really is the only way to do it any justice.



Such a fun night, and even home in time to see the room reveals on "60 Minute Makeover". Now that's what I call a good night.

Newtown Winter

Today was one of the mild, sunny winter days that Sydney seems to do so well. In the shade it was quite cool, but out in the sun it was mild enough to take off the jacket and get some sun on bare skin. All that, and a public holiday too. Thank you QEII, and happy birthday!

Winter sun through vine leaves

Grey green foliage in the shade

I wandered into Newtown shops, had some breakfast, window shopped and cruised through the bookshops looking for desirable second hand finds or bargains (and found neither), took these photos, and generally enjoyed the sun. Not a bad way to spend a slightly hung over morning, before heading home to... clean the bathroom. (Sometimes being an adult sucks, FYI.)

Just say the word

Barby

My town, Newtown

No the cute earlythirtysomething boy I was dancing with last night, and very nearly went home with, didn't call. But that's ok too.

Bake Sale

I had a lovely afternoon this afternoon. I hied off to the Bake Off fundraiser for the AIDS charity The Bobby Goldsmith Foundation with my friend Judy, her son David and David's friend Kai. The BGF Bake Off is a long standing tradition, a bake sale on steroids (so to speak), where intricate cake creations compete for prizes and are then auctioned off for extraordinarily generous donations.

Festive decor in the Paddington Town Hall.


A cake creation.


Anyone for a sticky date?


One of my favourite drag queens, the clearly insane Joyce Maynge.


Quiet please, there's a lady on stage.


GaGa phones it in.


Another of the cake creations, Christiano!

I hadn't been to the Bake Off for a few years and it was a hoot, even though it lacks some of the crazy wildness of the early days. (For example, years and years ago I remember a certain German Mr Leather in backless chaps applying liberal amounts of canned whipped cream to his anatomy, and selling licks for charity. A bad time to be lactose intolerant.)

It was a nice mild afternoon but by the time we left the venue it was sigh dark, cold raining again. After negotiating our way through the crowds leaving the nearby football grounds, I stopped by at my regular Sunday afternoon watering hole to see if any of my friends decided to go for a drink. Not surprisingly it was quiet as few souls braved the rain and cold to go out for a beer, so I caught a cab home for a nice quiet night in by the heater.

Boozy In The Afternoon

Up until about 2 or 3 weeks ago I was working 2 part-time jobs, for a grand total of 6 days a week. Unfortunately the better paying 4 day a week job ended when the company I was working for finished the big project they were doing with one of the major banks. I've had trouble getting another job to replace that one, so I've been trying to subsist on the 2 days a week I am getting at the yarn store. Not very successfully, it has to be said.

When the project with the bank ended, the subcontracted company I was working for said some lovely things about how well I had done and sent me an invitation to attend the staff Christmas party. So earlier today, a postcard perfect Summer day here in Sydney, I headed out to join them for their Christmas lunch.

The Sydney Opera House from this morning's ferry ride.

The invite said that lunch was at a restaurant called "Sails" at McMahon's Point, on the norther side of the harbour. As it was such a beautiful day I was glad that it seemed that the easiest way to get there was going to be by harbour ferry. So once dolled up for what I assumed would be a fairly posh, yet waterside relaxed, restaurant (in what I hoped was a casual with an edge outfit of 501 jeans, slim fit blue military style shirt and skinny leather tie) I grabbed my camera and set off. With the intention to have an enjoyable afternoon and not think about the stressful stuff.

Wave to all the people doing the Bridge Climb everyone!
[Click to enbiggen it, they are the row of tiny figures along the top of the bridge]

As someone who was primarily working on site in bank branches for the company, I had spoken to many of the staff and management but had not actually ever met them, so it was great to put faces to names and voices. The restaurant was nice, a fairly small affair right on the edge of the water and our table butted right up against the window which we were able to open to let in the breeze off the harbour. The food was pretty good, but it was the rivers of alcohol that were memorable. Lordy. I think I had the equivalent of about 3 glasses of Champagne before the food arrived, and by the time we rolled out of there at 4.30pm I had added plenty of lovely Sauvignon Blanc (and one strong coffee) to the mix.

Luna Park, the restaurant was in the little bay just behind.

I kind of hoped it would be an opportunity to network with the management of the company, and thankfully it was. I've been a bit down about the work and finances situation lately, so to have a nice swish lunch at someone else's expense was a nice respite from that stress, but best of all I got some genuine, heartfelt and effusive praise and gratitude from them for the work I put into the project.

They are keen to get me back, and have some large new projects in the works. On the way to the restaurant I had a very disappointing call from my temp agency telling me that a job I was due to start next week has fallen through, and that they were struggling to get other work in. So the praise and the talk of possible new work starting after the Christmas break gave me a boost I needed. Three separate members of the management team all told me independently that they wanted me for this new project.

So boozed and schmoozed, clutching my Christmas gift of luxury chocolates and free movie passes from the company, I caught the ferry back across the water. Feeling a bit happier and more optimistic.

Esther Williams, Eat Your Heart Out

Yesterday morning I was kind of futzing around the house, pottering, messing around on the computer and generally being a slacker, when my friend Judy rang and suggested we put the day to good use and go for a drive. So, after collecting me about eleven, we headed up to the Blue Mountains to the lovely little town of Leura, about an hour and a bit drive from Sydney. Yesterday was hot, so the secondary plan was to escape the heat (although, in hindsight I don't think it was any cooler).

I really enjoy Leura, it's kind of touristy but also a bit chi chi and quaint. The main street through town has a fabulous collection of shops, with a heavy emphasis on upscale wine and food, homewares, and the sort of fabulously engaging (but thoroughly non-essential) shops that always win me over. Moontree candle shop and gallery, Elizabeth Rosa fine stationery and Ikou natural products being three that had me before I'd even stepped over their airconditioned thresholds.

After a lovely lunch at the bakehouse cafe, I window shopped like I could do it competitively for Australia, while Judy plonked down some true cash money and was given goods in return! (I love how that works.) It was a little depressing being in Retail Heaven whilst being skint, but helping someone else spend their money is definitely the next best thing.

Safely back in Sydney, I grabbed my swimming gear and headed over to my friend Mike's house for our new weekly swimming regimen. Mike has a very nice, and generally underused, swimming pool in his apartment complex, and a couple of weeks ago started inviting a small group of us over to swim laps. I'm technically a pretty good swimmer if not a strong one, so the pool is a good size for me (about 20m long we estimated). The plan is to get together once a week for lap swimming, with a goal to increase our personal baselines by at least 2 laps each session.

Synchronised naiads! Hot jazz trumpet! Colour coded handmaidens! This bitch knows how to make an entrance...

Not exactly an intensive training regime, but every little bit helps, and it's nice to do it in a friendly and supportive atmosphere. I love the water and have since I was a little nipper, and it's so nice to slip into the pool after a hot day. My natural inclination has always been to slide straight under the water, ever since I was a kid I just about spent more time swimming along the bottom of the pool than anything. However it's nice to break out the old freestyle, side stroke and backstroke. Certainly more taxing physically!

Of course it's then off to the pub for a meal and some beers, but then every elite swimming squad needs a team building exercise now and then.

Under A Bloody Sun

I've been in a habit of waking up earlier than I need to for the past week or so, instead of 7am I've been waking up at 5.50, 6.05... any number of really, really too early times. So when I woke up too early again this morning, I cracked an eye open and saw bright orange light against my window blinds. "Wow, bright sunrise." I thought and rolled over to try and catch some more zzzzzzs.

Except, an hour later the light was still bright orange.



This is how Sydney looks this morning. Early this morning gale force winds drove a huge dust storm of red dust in that has blanketed the city. A 'once in a lifetime event' the morning news shows are calling it. Everything looks surreal, like the city has been blanketed in bright orange fog. I nipped outside briefly to see what was going on, and I could feel the dust in the air in my eyes and the back of my throat.

They are recommending anyone who can should stay indoors but I'm still going to try and get to work, as I don't have any ongoing respiratory issues to be overly concerned about. (Plus, I'm going to grab my camera and see if I can't get some pics of my own.) I am going to set out much earlier than normal as well, I can't imagine that our already fragile public transport system hasn't gone into complete chaos.

Wish me luck.

[Pic via The Sydney Morning Herald.]

Love, On The 28th Floor

When I'm not working as a yarn enabler at one of my two part-time jobs, I'm working behind the scenes doing a huge file archiving project in a major bank. Earlier this week I was yanked out of the battery hen hell-hole cube farm situated two train rides from home, and relocated to the rarefied corridors of power that is the city Head Office.

Where tea rooms are not some vending machine, a microwave and the ubiquitous Zip Boil instant hot water 'system'. Oh no, funky colours, modernist furniture, mood lighting and floor to ceiling picture windows are the name of the game in the 'Break Out Rooms'. (Seriously, the way that they look like some queen's efforts on Top Design they should be called Come Out Rooms.)

Yesterday was my first day, and I took the advice of one of the guys I'm working with and tootled up to the small cafeteria on the 28th floor to get lunch. I remember thinking how gorgeous the view was, but it was actually this morning when I went to get my coffee that it really hit me. OMG.

Firstly it's a vertigo sufferer's nightmare because the huge picture windows go almost all the way to the ground, but to those of us who aren't bothered by heights (weird, for someone so short?) it offers an amazing view. An entire corner of plate glass windows with a view that sweeps from the Harbour and across Woolloomooloo and Kings Cross. Nearly 180 degrees.

This morning I felt like I fell in love all over again with this city I chose to call home 20 years ago! (In fact next month is my anniversary.) While my passably good coffee was being made, I stood transfixed looking out over the Botanic Gardens and across the top of the arches of the Opera House to the glittering harbour. Today was one of those perfect Spring days Sydney does so well, and as I was watching the morning sun hit the water and a harbour ferry stitch a silver lame line across the water I thought I could burst. Maybe it was just all the glitter.

It was a completely different view of the city than I'm accustomed to. Looking down from Where The Money Is, across rooftops with surprising lap pools and little gardens, watching people amble through the Botanic Gardens or ride a ferry across the water. I wanted to play hookey so bad. Nothing reminds you more of how stunning this city is than getting up, way above the grimy trains and the casual rudeness. The scourges of pretty much all big cities.

Back at ground level I was making my way home tonight, at dusk, through my favourite 'off lead' doggie park and I was still feeling the love. There was a definite Spring vibe in the air, people out with their dogs enjoying the lengthening twilight, kids in tow, small groups of people sitting on the grass chatting and having a drink. Feisty little terriers and bemused large dogs seemed to be everywhere.

You know what, even the train ride home wasn't so bad.

Birthday Weekend: In Review

Who knew that 45 was the fun one? Seriously. I had an absolute blast this birthday!

Friday night I met Mikey (TLE) & Evan, David, Brad and Christopher for cocktails and dinner at the Japanese fusion restaurant Uchi Lounge. Two of my favourite things are lychees and alcohol, so I had to start the night with a nomsworthy Lychee-tini. Lychee sake, gin, a splash of lychee syrup and one of the luscious pearlescent fruits to garnish. Yum.

We settled on a banquet, and the food (and wine!) just seemed to keep coming in an endless stream of delights. The eggplant with a sweet/savoury miso and parmesan dressing sounds like it shouldn't be, but it was heaven! Miso! And Parmesan! Crazy talk.

Numerous courses and four bottles of wine later, we poured/rolled ourselves out the door into the night. Being that well fed, with little distended round bellies all, the only logical thing seemed to be to make our way to the Flinders Hotel for the Harbour City Bears night. Some of my no stamina soft cock friends fellow diners decided to call it a night, but the rest of use headed off to the Teddy Bears Drink-nic.

You're in for a big surprise, at least that's the hope we always hold for it.

It was one of those busy but sociable nights that stick in your memory. New people met, old friends bumped into, good times had. Completely sleep deprived but happy, I had breakfast the next morning with David and a new friend Deen. Coffee, a plate of hang-over cure greasiness, sunglasses, sunshine and good company. Perhaps a little too much coffee, as any possibility of an afternoon nanna nap fled in the face of an over-caffeinated buzz. It was ok though as I had a quiet night in on Saturday, and a fairly lazy Sunday also. Nice.

So, one of the good ones, and big thanks to the boys for such a great night.

Lost In Redfern

I know posting this pic right after the previous entry's 'pot belly' find makes me seem weight obsessed, but truthfully could this have been a more serendipitous mash up of posters?



Ha! If anyone locates my old 28" waistline in the Redfern area, please contact me asap. Sweet babby Jebus, for that I'd even consider a reward...

Early Summer

I'm getting to play hooky from work today! I'm still working the 2 part-time jobs (yarn pusher and office temp), but the office temp job has dried up this week and will be back on next week. I picked up a bit of extra work in the yarn store earlier in the week, so as a trade off things aren't too bad.

The biggest upside is that today is absolutely gorgeous! God Bless global warming, because we are having a CO2 based early summer at the end of winter that has to be felt to be amazed at. Glorious! So far this morning I've had a sleep in, breakfast and coffee in the sun, and then this afternoon I'm having coffee with a friend and seeing a movie with another, before going to The Flinders Hotel tonight for beers with the bears. Seriously, if it suddenly turns to the depths of winter again there will be misery of epic proportions because I am already in Summer Mode!

All I have to do is shake off the winter fat... and pasty white legs.

Guerrillas In The Midst

"Guerrilla knitting" (aka "knit tagging" or "urban knitting") and crochet has been around for a while now, but locally seems to have been back in the public eye again just recently. A guerrilla knitter was 'tagging' the columns in the ABC foyer during the ABC702 Knit-In that I wrote about recently, and on a very local level bits of guerrilla knitting have been cropping up around my 'hood of Newtown.

A new example in Camperdown Rest Park, Newtown.

The other day when I was at work in the yarn store, I sold some Australian made 'self-striping' sock wool to a woman who was heading off to the US to meet some other knitters and get her guerrilla knit on.

Tagging with a spray can or paint marker I can't support, but this kind of non damaging tagging I love. Like many things that spring up in the alt craft community, the origins are shady and various claim have been made about who had the idea first. It seems likely though that the best candidate for inventing the idea is the Knitta crew, who have been knit tagging since 2005.

Whomever it was, the idea certainly took root fast and knitted 'tags' started cropping up all over. Some international examples are the Swedes Masquerade, Knit Sea and Niclas & Jonny of KnittUps, and Chicago's The Micro-fiber Militia. Another website, The Knitted Landscape, has many great examples contributed from all over the world.

My favourites are examples where a specific and unlikely object has been wrapped, transforming it into something different. For style, colour and the sheer joy it gives me, my all time favourite piece of guerilla knitting is this maritime piece from Sweden by Masquerade. So gorgeous and unexpected.

Another tagged tree in Camperdown Rest Park, Newtown.

I find guerrilla knitting as being somewhere between graffiti style tagging, street art, murals and even performance art. The act of wrapping an object in something soft, handmade and colourful makes us look at the object differently. It's part joke, part leaving a mark to say "I was here", part civil disobedience, part advertisement for just how cool craft can be, and partly a gift of fun to the community. It's certainly non harming, and quite charming in my eyes. There is a great post on Deputy Dog which calls it the "world's most inoffensive graffiti".

Similarly, some artists have used ephemeral and community based knitting projects to great effect. Josie Schimke created the beautiful A Tree Undone at Burning Man in 2007. A 9 foot tall artificial tree was clad in hundreds of knitted leaves contributed by individual knitters, with the specific instructions that the knitting not be properly bound off. The wind, and Burning Man attendees, where then invited to unravel the leaves throughout the course of the festival. Josie has posted albums of in progress photos and one of the tree in situ. Fabulous!

If any of my local Sydney peeps see anymore guerrilla knitting about I'd love to know. Just email me the location to andrewmr(at)ihug(dot)com(dot)au!

Multiculturism In Action

At the moment I'm working in a suburb of Sydney called Campsie. (At job #1, that is. The yarn store is still located in the city, where it's always been.) I don't know if my fellow Sydneysiders know Campsie, I certainly didn't until I started working there on a temp assignment this week. A half hour on the train from my 'hood and truly it is like another world. It has an amazing eclectic mix of migrants, the sort of place where you can hear Cantonese, Mandarin, Korean, Vietnamese, Arabic, various African tongues, Tongan... well, almost anything. (And lots of English of course.)

There is a really bustling, vibrant atmosphere about the place that I'm digging. Like all areas that have large migrant populations the shopping is kind of wild, lots of grocers, butchers and fishmongers, the latter two specialising in things with their heads still attached (it would seem). Not catering to the sqeamishness of your average Woolworths customer. More like a "Survivor" food challenge.

So, the one thing I have been unable to find, is a decent coffee place. Zip. Nada. On a shopping street, in Sydney! (For those playing along overseas, Sydney - like all major Australian cities - has a very strong coffee culture. Thanks mostly to a long history of Italian immigration. Any shopping street is likely to have at least a few small coffee shops where really good, thick, rich coffees abound.)

On day one I missed the one caffeination opportunity I've been able to find entirely, a little outlet of the chain DCM (Donuts, Coffee, Muffins) right next to the train station. I walked the entire length of the shopping strip looking for a coffee. I passed beverages of all other kinds (with or without tapioca pearls and grass jelly), bargain shops, kebab places, and a whole dead eyed parade of grinning things with their heads still on, but none of the bean. No Arabica. No macchiato, affogato, or even cappuccino. Where are the Italians when you need them?

Thankfully since then I have discovered my enablers at DCM, otherwise it would not be pretty.

Knitter #328, Media Whore

Early (OMG, early) on Friday morning I headed into the ABC radio and tv headquarters in Ultimo for the ABC702 Knit In. The knit in is an annual event which first began in 2002, and is a focal point for the charity Wrap With Love. 28 25cm x 25cm knitted or crocheted squares are sewn together to form single bed sized blanket 'wraps', which are given to people who would otherwise not have something warm to wrap themselves in. In Wrap With Love's own words "Cold humanity is our concern, humans caring about other humans."


I arrived shortly after 7am, just after the doors opened, and was already the 328th knitter through the doors. I had to leave about 8.20am to head off to work but by then there was something like 600+ people there. Later in the morning they set a world record for the largest number of people knitting simultaneously for 15 minutes at just under 600 people, and estimates of total attendees were at well over 970 (which was the number where the door volunteers stopped counting). In addition to the knitters there was a large group of people sitting sewing or crocheting together completed squares that had been turned in, to make finished wraps.

Some completed wraps on display.

Late yesterday afternoon I went to the monthly underwear party at my local leather bar, and as it turned out one of the guys there was at the Knit In crocheting squares together. Small world, eh?

Highlight of the morning was being asked up on stage and interviewed for the ABC702 morning radio show.

Angela Caterns and myself, grinning like a fool. Photo by James O'Brien.

James has very kindly put up an mp3 of the interview here. Listen for the bits where the male interviewer, Adam Spencer, exhibits a total lack of gaydar by asking me about a) rugby league and b) meeting chicks. Cue nervous laugh from me.

On the ABC website there is a gallery of pics from the event (which curiously I don't appear in) and a video of the news story that appeared on the ABC evening news (likewise, without me, and frankly these oversights needs to be dealt with). Later in the day I even had some knitters come into the yarn store I work in 2 days a week and mention they had heard the interview.

A fun morning, and a lovely way to share the enjoyment of your craft while doing something meaningful for others.

Occupation: Towel Boy (Volunteer)

I just got home from a fun night at my local leather bar Manacle. (See, this is what unemployment looks like. It looks like big, semi-drunken nights out on a Wednesday.) Tonight was the Grand Final of the all male jelly wrestling, and my dreams were finally realised. I was picked out of the crowd as a Towel Boy! Towel Boy duties include; handing bottled water to the contestant between bouts, towelling off the contestant between bouts, pats and short words or encouragement, more extremely diligent towelling of the contestant, and trying to answer questions of the host in an entertaining manner.  ("What do you do?" "Um, I was retrenched last week." ...*crickets*...) Fortunately my particular contestant was an extremely buff African American contestant visiting from San Francisco, so frankly the diligent towelling was no hardship.  None!

Oh yeah, I also helped shine the latex suit of one of the hosts... but that's a different post entirely.

Weekend Recap!

It used to be part of my Monday ritual to do a weekend recap. When did that fall by the wayside?! I've kept most of my other Monday rituals; hangovers, an industrial strength coffee pick-up, crying bitter tears all the way into the office... So I say, revisit the recap!

What's more relaxing after a frenetic stressfull week at work than a weekend that cracks along at a breakneck pace? When all you can do is hang on and hope for the best. T&H was here all weekend, and we kicked off Saturday morning with breakfast together at my favourite cafe Barmuda. Then God help him T&H got to see the anxiety-fest that is me shopping for a gift at the last minute. Given the time, inspiration and money I love gift buying, but deciding to buy a wedding present on the morning of the wedding is a recipe for exasperated sighs and string lips.

After all the shopping and apologising for being a strung out asshat it was time to get changed for the wedding and sample almost every form of Sydney public transport (ok, 2 trains and a taxi... so we did skip buses and ferries) getting to the venue. And what a lovely venue! Adding to the strung out asshatness of the day were nerves you see, because I was shooting the pics for my friends Shawn & Megz' wedding! So I ran around with the camera all afternoon, whilst socialising, and here's a tiny teasel:


Could they be more adorable? And don't they look fab in their Victorian outfits? (Once they're back from their honeymoon, and with their permission, I'll post some more pics because they looked thoroughly smashing.) Then we retired to the nightclub style cellar of Curzon Hall for the most fun wedding reception I have ever been to! I ate, I drank, I smooched T&H and hung out with my lovely friends. Shawn and Megz, if there are no useful pics from the end of the reception... blame the Champagne not the photographer. (I kid! I'm still working my way through the hundreds of pics I took. Fingers crossed!)

T&H and I stayed back to help tidy up like model citizens, and see if any of the gifts were worth stealing, before realising we had a) left ourselves a bit too late to get numerous forms of public transport home and b) failed to score a space in a car going back to the city. There could have been a more fun way of ending the evening than walking weary and a bit drunk (in the rain) to find a cab, but it was a small price to pay for a wonderful evening. (And hopefully the cost of the cab ride will help the driver put his kids through private school. All of them.)

Sunday! My friend Judy recently upgraded her sofa, and as her second son has just returned to the roost with furniture of his own, kindly donated her still-in-great-condition old sofa. So, long story short. I had some rearranging of the living room to do in order to make space in my tiny house for a second (soon to be only) sofa. Cue opportunity for more anxious asshat behaviour! Sigh. The sofa arrived with two big strong boys in tow (one of whom was startlingly handsome), was quickly and deftly deposited, whilst I parted with a reasonable amount of cold hard cash.

Once that was dealt with, T&H and I headed off to my regular Sunday afternoon knitting at the Courthouse Hotel. We had a lovely afternoon of knitting before heading home to meet up with our friend Christopher who, as soon as we knew Peter would be in Sydney last weekend, we had arranged to go to the leather bar Manacle with. (PS. sorry Speedy, we organised it even before we got your party invite.) One extremely enjoyable evening later... and suddenly I find myself back at a Monday morning hangover.

So now T&H is back home on the other side of the country, I'm sitting here looking at my new(ish) sofa and seriously contemplating an early night. Next weekend I'm thinking... not so many plans.

Prepare Yourself For A Diabetic Coma

Because really this is more sugar sweet cuteness than anyone can handle.

Sydney's Taronga Park Zoo welcomed two new additions recently, Meerkat pups! I'm plotzing. Can I have one, pleeeeeeeeeze?

Food Coma Of Epic Proportions

I just had the most amazing Mexican meal of my increasingly longish life. Now Mexican is not a dominant cuisine in Oz, not as ubiquitous as Thai for example, but I've sought out Mexican restaurants wherever I can find them over the years. I'm a fan. Well, be gone shredded 'tasty' cheese (that isn't) and goops of sour cream because The Flying Fajita Sistas have got your number.

The service was friendly and non obtrusive, the Bohemia beer was tasty nom noms, the food fantastic, and the restaurant was one of the few on Glebe Point Rd that was actually full of diners, and atmosphere. So. Much. Food. I wish I could have managed a third course, but it was not to be. Even though there was something on the dessert menu that combined orange, coffee and caramel in what only can be described as (probable) brulee heaven.

Home now, and frankly I can barely type from the food coma.

GLBT Mardi Gras Fair Day, 15 Feb 2009!

Sunday, part 2.

OMG, what a fabulous day! Yes the weather was a bit crap, cool but sunny one minute, bucketing down with rain the next, then sunny and humid. Hello, pick just one and go with it Global Warming, at least I could plan my wardrobe.

Speaking of which, kilt pics! (As promised.) I LOVED wearing it, and got lot of attention, including some favourable comments from strangers. In my opinion though there was one guy that looked better in a kilt on the day, and that was Mr Leather Sydney 2008 in a leather micro kilt. Woof.

Oh yeah, and there was this other rather attractive boy there. OMG IT'S MATTHEW MITCHAM. SQUEEEEE!

He and his partner Lachlan were just hanging out, watching the drag shows, while gay men all around (and I speak from first hand knowledge) were plotzing so hard. I could. Have. Died. I was too shy to talk to him but I did snap some pics, and I took a pic of Graeme with him for Graeme. (Who was braver than I). And you know what, he and Lachlan couldn't have been nicer and more gracious. Crush! These guys are a class act.

Gratuitous underwear competition photo, no explanation required.

The fair was as fun as always. The unpredictable weather was a nuisance, but didn't dampen (ha!) the spirit of the day. I wandered with Graeme and James, chatted with other friends I ran into and hung out at the Leather Pride stall and chatted with Fin and Bec (right) for some of the afternoon. Speaking of hot bitches (sorry ladies!) there were adorable puppers everywhere (left). I could die from the cuteness. Couldn't you?

The Budweiser Bunny! Sometimes the funny things you see, really. You could not make this stuff up.

How about that pink fur, and the licorice button nose! OMG, diabetic coma!

So it was a really fabulous afternoon, one of the most enjoyable Fair Days I've been to. A few beers, and lots of fun just hanging out with James and Graeme, and meeting up with people was had. It was so refreshing to be reminded of the diversity of the community again, and that is one of the great things about Fair Day. In my own small way I did my bit for the team by answering every darn community questionnaire that came my way.

AND DID I TELL YOU I SAW MATTHEW MITCHAM?!