April 2006

April saw the arrival of "Rat" from the UK. Rat, or John as he prefers to be known, is an ex-pat Aussie who moved to the UK a few years ago. Quite a few years ago, now that I think of it. Anyway, he's spending about six weeks in Oz, so I'm sure we'll get a chance to catch up.

I'm pretty sure we will.

I hope we will.

Greig and I went to what must be our first seventieth birthday dinner. (You notice that at seventy, you have dinners, not parties?) It's a bit of a worry that our social circle is starting to turn the big seven-oh. At least I suspect that we were the youngest at the dinner. We dined at the Balkan on Oxford Street, a restaurant that has been a fixture there for ever, and yet this is the first time I've ever been. Very nice, anyway.

In a week of dinners, I also went to a very nice restaurant with Jimi - his shout! Actually, he didn't have to pay, he'd been given a $150 voucher to spend at a very nice restaurant in Darlinghurst. Naturally, I will re-edit this later and find out what the place was actually called.

$150 bought us several very nice cocktails in fancy glasses as well as a few not so fancy mixed drinks. There was even enough left over for an appetiser, main meal and delicious dessert each! The place can't be that expensive, but it certainly tasted it.

It was a busy month for work. As well as my regular day job working for the "man" (actually, the man is really a woman, but that's not the point), Greig and I were contracted to help put on some outside broadcasts at the Sydney Royal Easter Show, for NOVA 96.9. We managed to divide the work with another couple of guys (they initially wanted us to do all two weeks) and ended up spending every other weeknight at the Show.

It wasn't the most exciting gig in the world, panelling for the guys who do the evening shift on air. But it did have it's highlights, like sending them on very intense show rides with a microphone broadcasting "I think I'm gonna throw up" live on air. Curiously, that particular presenter didn't come straight back to the stage after that ride - he was missing for quite a while.

Anyway, the gig reminded us of why we never go to the Easter Show (unless we were being paid to do so). The crowds of families and pubescent teenagers all hunting in packs for cheap show trinkets are enough to put anyone off.

Hiding out the back of the Horden
"tracking" the promo's to the PC.

The first few sets were great. Our favourite was 20:20 Soundsystem, a live trance band. They played an excellent set. It was just such a great sound to "groove your thang" to, which of course we did, while trying to remember that we were on air and had to play pro-mo's, etc.

It did give me a chance to give the new mixer a run for it's money and it performed a treat.

The night after the 360 Party, I (maybe foolishly) went out to the Homesexual Party at Home Nightclub with Jimi. Unfortunately it was way oversold and the crowd on the dance floor really gave me the shits. I ended up leaving early. Actually, someone twisted my arm to leave early and of course it didn't take a lot of twisting. :-)

We also caught up with Rose and Danny. I've talked about them before here - you just need to search back if you really care. Needless to say, it was a pretty quiet affair, just catching up because we haven't seen each other in ages.

Greigs mother is having problems with her back. Pretty serious problems which has already seen her in hospital having one operation. Well, things are playing up again and she's off to see the specialist again.

Wellington, NSW.
Horses, paddocks and stuff.

We decided to take a drive to Wellington, where Greig's parents live. (Wellington: near Dubbo in country NSW - population: bugger-all. Not the other one in New Zealand.) This was partly an excuse to get away from Sydney for a while and also to pick her up and bring her back relatively quickly and comfortably. The alternative for her was of course, public transport. Urgh.

The drive to Wellington was uneventful. The overnight stay in Wellington was uneventful and the drive back to Sydney was also uneventful. But really, when you are talking about 5 hour drives, uneventful is really the best you can hope for.

There was also an Anzac Day holiday this month, but we took the opportunity to sleep. Very sensible, I think under the circumstances.

Oh shit, I haven't caught up with Rat yet!