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

Weekend In Mildura

We went to a lovely country town inland on the Victoria/New South Wales coast for 4 days on 21st May. The main purpose of the trip was to go to a horse race meet, cunningly called The Mildura Cup on the Sunday. Some of Corey's family still live in Mildura so he was going up this weekend also for the race.

Anway, we left foggy and cool Melbourne, and after an hours flight arrived in balmy and warm Mildura, its a small town with a surprisingly cosmo feel to it. Some country towns are a little bit tired and not much going on (remember Seymour Brian & Jen? If not, dig out that book :-)) The weather was lovely and we had an amazing dinner that night at a place called Stefanos which is something of a treat, we had a 5 course degustation menu, and we didnt know any of the courses until they arrived at our table. This meant I hadnt had time to prepare Macky for the quail, so he was a bit disturbed at a baby whole chicken on his plate.

The next day we got our bearings, and booked ourselves on a 4WD tour to the Mungo National Park info here http://www.visitnsw.com/Mungo_National_Park_P629.aspx there's some fantastic sand formations from a lake that dried up approximately 14,000 years ago, give or take.

'Mungo Man' & 'Mungo Woman' remains were discovered here, Man was 62,000 years old and a woman, not thought to be his wife was 26,000 years old! Crikey.

Then before we knew it, it was Sunday and the 3 of us got frocked up, and on the free bus to the races and settled in our marquee for 'free' booze and a carvery. It only cost $110 (55 quid) each all in. And we certainly got our value for money - I kid you not. We were sitting with Coreys mums friends - but we were all very well behaved, until we all went out afterwards and from about 7 is rather hazy, but it involved Me, Coreys mum and a sex shop I'm told. Damn, I always forget the best bits.

Macky had asked every establishment we'd been in whether they'd be showing Newcastles last game, and as it turns out, no where in the whole town would show it for him, Sunday was early closing. Begging, pleading and offers of $$ didnt swing it either. So in the middle of the night, we huddled around my works phone, accessed BBC.co.uk's website and read the updates.

The next day we were too ill for breakfast so we headed out for a walk and met up with Corey for a bit of a post mortem of the night before over a strong non alcoholic drink. I was shown the sex shop again but it rang no bells. Macky was still a little tender from the news of the relegation, so I bought him a bouncy ball from one of those street machines where you put in a coin and turn the nob. It helped.

We had lunch then found a pub that was showing a reply of NUFCs game, so Macky watched it with the other random Monday Afternoon Bar Flies (mostly toothless) and me & Corey played on the TAB machines (thats betting machines, not cigarettes by the way) I was putting 50c on the grey hounds, they are so sweet.

Anyway, we got home on Monday about 8pm and I was pooperscoopered, I needed another break before getting back to work. No such luck.

And 2 weeks tonight we'll be getting on a plane!!! Some birthday present that is, a 24 hour flight!! Just kidding, cant wait.. x

EDIT:
Photos from our wkd in Mildura can be found here

Aussies beat the recession - but not Swine Flu

In Australia we have avoided a recession for another quarter, just...This surprise result means Australia has escaped two consecutive quarters of economic contraction - the definition used by some economists for a technical recession. (See you can learn a lot here, its not all boozing and partying)

Is this because 'down unda' we are literally behind the US & Europe in most things, and we'll get it later on in 2009 - or amongst other things - did Kevin Rudds stimulus actually help out?

Everyone who logged a tax return last year was entitled to a tier based payment, into your account, totally tax free. Up to $900 (450 quid) per person. Not bad, there was no demand on what we did with our cash, but we were encouraged to spend, spend, spend (on aussie goods of course) - not save, save, save. We almost did what they wanted, we bought a wii & some clothes, maybe we should send him a Thank You note?

So whilst we can be slightly na na na naaaa na on that front - our swine flu numbers have gone through the roof! There are 1000 reported cases of Swine Flu, the majority in Victoria! The total number in the UK is only 621. As of 9th June.

It is winter here (yes its bloody freezing at the moment - well, ok its under 15 degrees) so this is traditionally flu season anyway, and a huge amount of people travel in and out of Melbourne, and we are almost the coldest place in Australia right now....but still a bit bizarre....

But anyway, its kept our house mates Tash & Maxi in employment, they continue to be paid on differing roles in relation to the governments dealings with Swine Flu. God bless the mexican pigs we say.

Phillip Island with the Rawsons

Sally knows someone who had a rented out cottage on Phillip Island - they were going for the weekend and asked me & macky if we wanted to go along for the Saturday/night.

Sal had told me when they arrived on the Friday not to expect much, and that it was similar to our chalet in Withernsea, which is on the Costa Del Humberside coast. (known by me as a teen as The Shltty Chalet - sorry mum & dad, fine as a kid, not as a 15 year old!!) But it really wasnt that bad, there was a 2 inch gap under the front door which made it a bit cool (read cold) on an evening, none of the curtains met in the middle, but it was clean and comfy.

We met at the Phillip Island Chocolate Factory at about 10ish on the Saturday and had lotsa fun seeing how chocolate was made, or rather the fun was in trying out all the samples. At the end you could make your own chocolate, I made a dark chocolate with wasabi - which had a certain kick to it! Yummo!

In the afternoon we headed over to the motorbike grandprix, where the boys all went go-carting around the track. Louise was too young, so Sally said if I wasnt bothered about doing it, should we say it was a "boys only" activity, this went against my equality tendancies, but when I saw Louises bottom lip we went along with it. Benjamin was in Simons side car and those 2 & Macky went round and round for about 20 minutes - they really enjoyed it. We'll probably head back again when Louise is old enough, we'll tell her times have changed since 2009.

By then it was time for a coffee in a open fired cafe in Cowes to warm up, a fish n chip feast, then home to the shack for duvet on the sofa, tea and hot water bottles!

Sunday was Mothers Day here so there were presents for Sally then we headed off to the beach, then onto 'The Nobbies' a national park with a rugged coastline and lots of wildlife.

After a drive back over to Cowes with a pic nic, sit out and play, we headed back home to see what our grown up kids had been up to. Fortunately no wild parties.

Phillip Island is just under a 2 hour drive from Melbourne - connected to the mainland by a short bridge. A really nice little holiday destination.

Happy Birthday Mam

Happy Birthday to my Mam who is ** today!

We both know how old you are, so I thought it best that I preserved your dignity and refrain from telling the whole Tinternet world your age :-)

Hope you have all a lovely day in Greece and I look forward to speaking, and of course, seeing you very soon.

Lots of love.
xxxx

Super Sports Sunday

The other Sunday we decided to have a sports-festival of an afternoon.

The 4 of us went to the pub nearby for about 12 to watch some boxing, met up with about 8 of our mates, got some pub grub and waited for the Ricky Hatton fight. Yes, the one that he got himself knocked out in about 3 minutes. Mmmm, the pub was full of brits who had only just arrived. In fact, Jon one of our friends arrived after it was all over!

Then we got the tram along to South Melbourne, sat outside in the sunshine in a pub 'garden' then headed to watch South Melbourne play football. It was a draw. And to be quite honest, a pretty boring match. (Even Macky said that!)

Never mind, we headed back to ours for a bit of group WII action, and looked forward to the last installment of the day - NUFC vs Liverpool.

Well the less said there the better. So the sports element of the day was pretty poor all round, fortunately the social element more than made up for it and we all succeeded in feeling pretty hungover going to work the next day.

Chester-le-Street on TV

It was nice to watch the cricket from Chester-le-Street on Foxsports last night.

Shame the stands looked pretty sparse but with the cheapest tickets at £35 per day and with the Ashes coming up later this summer, plus the football season still being on, there is only so much people can afford to spend especially in the current GEC. Yet again though the ECB has missed a trick, we paid about £35-£40 each for a 5 day pass at the Test Matches in New Zealand last year.

Never mind the sun was shinning so the shots of the Lumley Castle and the surrounding area looked great. Apparently it was only 10 degrees though, but it looked warm enough on TV!

It certainly wetted my appetite for being back in the region soon.

Last Months Shenanigans (April)

Early April, we went to see Snow Patrol who were great, and Andrew wrote a review for the site I work for, read it here http://melbourne.citysearch.com.au/music/1137651705566/Snow+Patrol+Review

It was great having the 4 days off over Easter, on the Thursday night we went out for a drink with a couple who have just moved to St Kilda, Maxi & Tash who are friends of Dan, Andrews cousin. They are trying to find work here as they want to stay for a year – but they are still looking, the job market isn’t so buoyant right now (where is it?) We took them to a few bars on Ackland Street which is about half way between us both.

On Good Friday we did a few jobs around the house, but really lazed around and watched movies. We nipped out for fish n chips late afternoon, and drank some rose. It’s a hard life.

Easter Saturday we drove down to Sally’s, Andrew went off to play golf with Simon and me, Sal and the kids went to their favourite shop – Bunnings. A DIY big warehouse store, we got some herb plants and Sally planted them up for me, so my next plant project is those, spinach, basil, lettuce, parsley & coriander. Fingers crossed I don’t kill these before we get some harvest! Sally made a lovely roast on the Saturday night and we settled down to play Trivial Pursuit, which I struggled with as the questions were pre-1992! (My team lost)

Easter Sunday we had a little egg hunt in the garden for the kids, then made our way with a pic nic to Mornington Racecourse for the afternoon – it was great, a family day and we had a great spot right near the finishing post. There was a food and wine festival on that naturally me and Macky had to sample.

Monday we went for a BBQ at a wildlife park, then headed home.

Its been a really warm autumn, just lovely sunny and warm without burning your retina. Although you can tell the weather is turning now, we are desperate for rain as our dams are at an all time record low. There is rain forecast for the next few days, so Ive briefed Sally on how this is good and never to complain to an Aussie about the rain.

Also in April we were invited to a wedding in Daylesford which is a town about a 2 hr drive north of Melbourne, there was about 6 of us that had a house for the Friday & Saturday night. We got up there about 7 after work and the stars were just amazing, it was like we were in a big dome painted black with bright stars everywhere. Other than Ayers Rock, Ive never seen stars like it. We had a great time in the house, playing on the Xbox, playing monopoly, eating, drinking and chatting. Oh and the wedding was great too!

Maxi & Tash moved in with us at the end of April as the lease on their short term apartment was up and they are still to find regular work. Tash is working on a Monday & a Friday in a Clinic dealing with drug addicts, I was aghast to learn that this clinic is only a 2 minute walk from our apartment!! I’ve told Tash to tell her parents that its miles away.

We’ve just bought a Wii, so we’re now gaming on the evenings when the telly is poop. (when?!)

Congratulations to Whitley Bay FC

Congrats to Whitley Bay for beating Glossop North End at Wembley Stadium yesterday to win the FA Vase.

Ness and I both know Whitley Bay manager, Ian Chandler, from our days at Sage Software.

Also great to hear Andy D and Dave were both at the match, but I am very jealous that they can say they have seen a Tyneside team win at Wembley!!

Well done to Whitley Bay FC, the best team in Newcastle upon Tyne.

Whats Going On Now?

Welcome to the new place for Macky & Ness, as you may have noticed, mackyandness.com.au is no longer working. This is because we havent paid the bill for this year yet and they finally noticed and flicked the switch on us.

Sooo, we decided that seeing as there were plenty of free places on the tinternet - and that we were already using Facebook for photos now, we'd leave mackyandness the website, and create Macky & Ness the blogger page. Means we will save quite a bit of cash - and you know in these hard times of the GEC thats very important.

Another advantage is that we can update this from anywhere in the world, so you may get updates whilst we are on our travels. Its just all good.

Forgive me any teething issues - and feel free to leave any comments so I know someones reading. :-) x