Who says being a whinging pom doesn’t pay?

The other week I was keen to get some new place mats for our lovely new dining room table, I was really busy at work so nipped down Myers (department store) Home furniture shop which was very close to my work. There was the cream faux leather ones I wanted, so I grabbed an assistant as I could see them on display, but no where to buy. I was told I needed to go to the main store which was 2 blocks away. I wasn’t best pleased, (and told them) but off I went, across 2 blocks, up a few floors and into the home-ware department. They didn’t have them, so I asked if they had the cream faux leather ones, I got the usual, if its not out there, we don’t have them. Can they let me know when they’ll next be getting an order? No. Can they order them in for me? No. By this time I was really cross so told them that Id already come from the other store and had now spent over 30 minutes on a fruitless treck around the city.

I got back to work and emailed a complaint form off to them via their website. Didn’t really think too much about it, I was just venting really – not really a complaint, I was just peed off cos I still didn’t have any place mats. Anyway, that afternoon I get an email from the regional manager saying how she was disgusted with the service I had received, she’d checked and the mats I wanted were being dis-continued. But she had sent someone to the store, rounded them all up and seeing as they were ex display, they couldn’t sell them to me, but if I gave her my works address, she’d get them delivered to me! I was gob smacked, and quickly gave her my works address. The next day 2 packs of place mats arrived with a note of apology. It was only when I got them home that I realised they should have cost nearly $90!!! (that’s about 50 quid) The funny thing is, if they’d only had the price on them, I would never have gone on to buy them! Imagine spending that on place mats. Anyway, they look great on our dining room table.

Curries & beer are good for you! Its Official.

Last Friday when we came home from work, the Rawsons were there to greet us, there was much excitement and fun, before a nice dinner and bedtime stories. Seeing as we only have 2 bedrooms, we have a child in each – this time we had Louise in with us, who woke up very early with a bad cough, I was very sympathetic, until I realised it was 5am and she was up for the day. So we crept into the lounge and she helped me with some silent jobs (sorting washing was a good long game) then Sal got up around 6.

The forecast for the weekend was terrible, so we decided seeing as it was bright and dry, that we’d go out for a walk, to get Louise some fresh air, plus to let the others sleep in some more…so off we headed to the beach, walked along the pier, it was rather bracing, and found a café serving breakfast. It was only 7am and it was heaving! Busy with people who actually chose to wake up then, cos we were the only ones with a young un! Whats is wrong with these people, breakfasting at 7 on a Saturday – when they don’t have to? It’s a crazy out there, these aussies need to learn a thing or two about being lazy, if you ask me.

So we went to the supermarket, walked home and Macky was still asleep! I left him til 9 then woke him up – well that’s a lie, I let Benjamin & Louise do the waking, in their affectionate, gentle and delicate way.

Off we all went to the market and enjoyed a few hours stay there, browsing around, eating samples and eventually sharing cake and coffees. The kids were happy to stay as most of the play area is under cover and it was a real sunshine/showers day.

We then spent the afternoon playing games and giving Ben/Lou permission to rub cream in mine and Sallys legs and feet whilst the Grand Final was on. A bit like the FA Cup, for Aussie Rules, St Kilda were in the final this year – but lost, its ok – we’re used to it. They then played with my hair and we pretended we were at a spa. Other than Louise literally slapping cream on, and me having to protect my eyes from the comb, it was rather nice.

When the kids were in bed we had naan-bread-pizzas, (an idea I got from my brilliant Nigella Lawson recipe book – they are so much nicer than any dough base/pitta bread base) and watched Hancock, which Sally had said was the best film she’d ever seen. Afterwards, we debated Sallys taste in movies.

Sunday we all slept in til the usual 7am and then after breakfast, Sally and I went to get some plants for the balcony, hopefully I keep them alive through the Australian summer elements, drought and ash from bushfires cause the most problems…Ill keep you posted, this year I am very much “The Good Life”, I am planning to cultivate tomatoes, chillies, mint, basil and coriander as well as a few colourful additions.

They left after lunch, me and Macky were EXHAUSTED, I don’t know how Sally & Simon do this everyday. So we did the decent thing and headed off into St Kilda for a few $10 jugs of beer and met up with Tash/Max and one of their friends from UK. They’d been camping on the Great Ocean Rd, and I think were glad to be back in the relative warmth of the city. After taking full advantage of the Happy Afternoon, we headed next door for the best curry we have had in Australia – all those wasted attempts, and we had one in walking distance the whole time. Andrew ordered a curry which, if you completed it, gave you automatic Indian Citizenship, the waitress kind of recoiled when he ordered, and asked on a scale of 1-10, just how hot did he want it. Thank goodness his ego wasn’t that inflated, and he chose a respectable 6. I had a lovely lamb rogan josh which was just right, with a side serving of Macky crying. He went through about 5 beers very quickly. I had a spoonful of his, and that was enough! There was so much red chilli you could barely see the meat! We then ended the night in the local pool hall, I think the quick succession of beers had really affected him by this time, cos I was pretty good! He still beat me twice, but it wasn’t a thrashing like he’ll usually do!

Last week I also had had a general health check, I wanted to know my cholesterol number and my GP suggested I went for the full check of everything, I have a fantastic cholesterol level of 4.1, no sign of diabetes or deficiencies and other than a slightly low vitamin D count all is good. The vitamin D low level is quite common in the cooler months apparently. My lovely GP said to continue with whatever I was doing as I was a picture of perfect health – woo hoo, more beer and curries over here mate!!

*The clocks changed here on Sunday 4th October, so the time difference will be 10 hours until the UK clocks change at the end of October, then it'll be 11hrs*

September Catch Up...

Ok, I know I've been a bit slack recently - but Ive been really busy with work and catching up on the drinking that I missed in August.

We havent really been up to anything all that interesting, as Macky said we had fun at the races, apparently I did really well chosing a winner to boost our total - despite his twitter/FB status indicating it was all him!! I let him take the glory now and then.

We got a great deal to stay at a new Hilton hotel in the city, a BOGOF so to speak. So seeing as we didnt have much planned last weekend we headed off to the Hilton on the tram, funny staying in a hotel we can see from our apartment. We had a night out on the Friday at the casino and had a lovely meal at a greek restaurant, Macky commented on how classy I was - going away for a romantic weekend and Im drinking beer and eating kebabs. Posh kebab was my argument. We also saw Ainsley Harriott in the foyer - very exciting!

I've had a hair cut, I was getting sick of always wearing it in a pony tail seeing as I have helmet hair from riding to and from work. I'm really happy with it at the moment, but no doubt Ill regret it soon and decide to grow it again! Its a bob higher then my shoulders with a slight fringe, for the girls reading this.

We went for a beer degustation night at an asian restaurant with a few friends, it was lovely food - matched with different James Squires beers, a nice change to wine really. It was on a school night, so we didnt go mad - but I felt a bit bloated after 5 beers!!

We now have new lounge/dining room furniture, the stuff we bought when we first got here was pretty cheap and VERY flat packed, so they've lasted 4 years, but we wanted some more solid stuff really. So we got a new 8 seater dining room table which I love, a new sideboard and coffee table. Sally thinks she'll take the coffee table and maybe our old sideboard, as they have so much space in their house, so we seem to have a lot of furniture in the house right now!

The spare room has also been painted, we noticed how scuffed and grubby the white walls were, no doubt due to the 50 suitcases that have been and gone in the room in the last 4 years! So its a nice warm cream, which is much more welcoming than the clinical white that the rest of the apartment has. I realised I'd need to gloss a bit of the skirting board due to some huge black marks, but once I started, it was so obvious and clean that I had to gloss the whole room, including window sill and wardrobe border - so the whole task took days longer than we expected, but its done now and looks great. The Rawsons are visiting this weekend, so they'll be the first ones to see it.

I promise Ill try to keep a bit more up to date, so I dont get told off again (mina!)

Setting the record straight and The Beatles

I was in trouble with Ness this week after I posted on Facebook that I had won over $200 at the races last Saturday.

Therefore, I would like to set the record straight and stress that the money won at the races was from both Ness and my winnings pooled together.

In fact our biggest win of the day came in the feature race 'Makybe Diva Stakes' @ 4pm, where Ness rather quickly picked (due to being slightly under the influence at this point) Master O'Reilly purely because it was the first horse in the list and she's heard of it before. So at massive odds I handed over a $10 place bet never expecting to see it again, but good old Master O'Reilly came home in 3rd and pocketed us a $110 win. Well done Ness!!!

This Wednesday (9th Sept) marked the re-release of the all The Beatles albums, either individually or in a box set, after being digitally remastered in stereo for the first time.

It's been a fabulous few days on the TV with plenty of Beatles related shows and music to watch.

I went to the nearest record store to where I work yesterday to buy the box set, however, sadly none of the box sets were available, they said their entire order had been pre-purchased. I don't know why I was surprised, as these albums are probably the best thing to happen to music this decade. Can't wait to hear them.

Spring has sprung and summer is around the corner

Welcome to Spring everyone down this part of the woods and happy Autumn back home in Blighty.

Well what an exciting week it has been already!

I won my first 5-a-side trophy in god knows how many years on Monday night. A 6-2 victory, including one goal by yours truly, was enough to win the Grand Final of the Monday Division 3 League at Richmond. The trophy we each got is very nice and is a pretty big size. (I'll have to post a photo)

Tuesday morning I watched Newcastle United beat Leicester 1-0 to go top of the Championship. Such rare good news on the NUFC front is worth a mention here for that alone.

This coming Saturday sees the return to our apartment of Maxi and Tash, or the travelling nomads as the have been recently. They have just spent 3 weeks house sitting and looking after cats at Steve & Trish's place in Brunswick whilst they have been in Europe, and now this week they are house sitting at Wax's place in Prahran. The good news for Maxi and Tash though is that they can move into their own Elwood apartment on Sunday, so with Wax back on Saturday we are saving the kids from a night on the streets before their final (hopefully!) move whilst in OZ.

To celebrate the kids return we going to Flemington Races this Saturday. The Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival is only a month or so away so this day of racing looks to be a good one with several big name horses making their return in preparation of the carnival. Can't wait.

September also means end of detox!!!! Well to be fair it also doesn't mean we are going to go wild and start 24 hour drinking, but at the same time I'll not turn down a drink. One thing I have found out is I haven't missed coffee at all, so I won't be rushing back to drinking coffee on a daily basis. I have loved drinking hot water & lemon so I think I'll stick to that.

We are back!!

Its been 2 weeks now since we got back from our European travels, so we are definitely back in the swing of work and life down under.

After 6 weeks of curries, pizzas and pints of ciders – we are attempting a detox!! No alcohol, no caffeine, no processed food, plenty of exercise and sleep. We feel great, and I had no idea weekends could be so long. Every day we avoid alcohol we put money in a pint glass, (its called Ness & Mackys Piss Pot) and sometime in September, we’ll do something great with the cash we’ve saved up. Not sure what yet, maybe a 24 hour bender somewhere!

I am joking… (ish)

So since we got back there has only been 1 day, so far, where we did have alcohol – and mine was only 2 glasses of rose. It barely counts does it.

Sally, Simon, Benjamin & Louise have been in Hamilton Island, (Great Barrier Reef island) and got back last week, so it was great to see them again after 8 weeks! They got the airport bus to our house and then stayed the night with us, we had Louise in our room who woke up at 6.30 (not bad for a work day) and was playing with all mine and Macky’s old teddies, very sweet.

Due to no hangovers on weekends, we’ve been off at the market for 9am! And guess what, other people were there as well!! Its amazing really. I also have spent hours tidying out drawers, cupboards and something that even disturbed me – I folded all our carrier bags and sorted them into neat and labelled bigger bags. I am really turning into my mother. All I need now is to perfect a fruitcake recipe, and I am Ange.

Last Saturday night we drove (yes drove!) down to nearby suburb Brighton to try out a curry house that had a good name, its was “ok” service and bits of the food were good, but the main event curry was just mediocre. Its so disappointing really.

Tasha & Max are house sitting for some of our friends who have cats, so me & the big fella are home alone again, hence the detox is easier!

June Birthdays...

There have been some very important birthdays this June.

Firstly, Australia celebrated the Queens Birthday, and she gave us a public holiday to say thank you. That weekend we went out with the kids to a lovely pizza restaurant nearby called Mr Wolf, yummmo. Naturally with a few drinks before and after. The Rawsons had been up to see us on the Saturday, so we had a bite to eat and really quite a perfect weekend.

We saw Lily Allen also, which although it wasnt her birthday, she deserves a mention cos she was brilliant

Then it was my friend Trishs 40th birthday, she held a 1920's themed party in a function room in a pub in North Melbourne - Macky was a ganster, and I was his moll. We looked great if I say so myself. I had a dark bobbed wig and as soon as I put it on I was the double of Mammy Jordan! It was very funny how hair completely changes your look. We had a fab night with them in the speakeasy. Will link to the photos.

Then it was Maxi's 25th birthday, so we decided on an impromptu curry night, on a school night as well. We are crazy. The curry place we love is near where Corey lives, and he came along too. The Flavours of India is really more cafe then restaurant and has a BYO policy which really wins us over.

After that we went to a nearby 'colourful' pub which had a drag act on later on. I was introduced to the 'drag' (what is the correct term here please?) 'queen' maybe? And due to the amount of BYO I was only too keen to be on stage with him/her telling her all about us, and that Max was celebrating his 25th, and that Yes I was from the Mother Country, Newcastle upon Tyne to be precise.

We were playing pool and later, he/she came over (with the mike) and spoke to Maxi as part of his/her show. Just so happens at the time, Max & Macky were sitting next to each other, he/she asked if they were together, and playing up to the audience, and maybe to fit in, they said yes in a rather camp way. We were pissing ourselves until he/she looked at Macky and said "oooh dont you like em old" in a REALLY bitchy way. I think there was a bit of jealousy there. Poor love.

Then it was the start of MY birthday celebrations!! The Saturday before my big day we had an open house and invited people over to say bye as we are off on our travels. We had loads of fun playing games, eating food, drinking babbles and playing on the wii. Sal had brought up a huge cookie, so I had a happy birthday sung to me. Ahhhhh.

Then on my actual birthday, I went to work, for the last time for 6 weeks - what a birthday present!! Tonight we are setting off to come back to the Mother Country. A 15 hour leg to Dubai, then straight into Newcastle! What kind of present is that? 24hours or so on a plane, next to Macky with no escape!

Just kidding, Ill be fine as long as we get our leg room seats. Or even better, be cheeky and ask for an upgrade. Im going to use the old birthday/newly weds/terminal illness angle I think...and hope it doesnt backfire if they think we have swine flu!

Ive got my movies sorted to get me almost to Dubai, then might sleep on the 2nd leg. (Yeah right)

Anyway, for those that Ill be seeing over the next couple of weeks - I cant wait to see you and be there for the main event, Amanda & Kevs wedding this Friday, 26th June. Cant wait x