Rai's Blog

Monday, October 23, 2006 - oops, missed some news

Some of my friends and family I've been in touch with via phone recently will be aware that I was not feeling well before my trip to New Zealand, and that afterward I felt really really bad.

Well, I finally sorted my medicare stuff out and went to see a Doctor. She gave me a course of antibiotics and I'm now feeling much better. Turns out both my ears had middle ear infections and I had a mild case of bronchitis.

That was two weeks ago. I still have blocked ears and a rattly chesty cough, but both seem to get a bit better every day.

Anyway - I just updated my bog today and forgot to include this, so read on!

Monday, October 23, 2006 - Busy little bees....

At time of writing this it’s been a couple of weeks and a few days since my last entry. Since then there has been so much going on that I have had little time to update my blog. Apologies to my friends who have been watching the blog for updates, please take heart in the fact that I have been off doing some of the things I really wanted to achieve while in Australia.

My cousin Sam arrived not long after my previous post, and we’ve been really busy this last two weeks. I’ve spent more evenings out in the last two weeks than in the previous 6 months!

My friendship with Pi is also coming along OK. He’s started dating, so am really not sure whether I will see as much of him as I have done lately.

Sam and I have found some nice pubs and some lovely restaurants. We’ve been to the Opera House… Twice! We went once to see Pirates of Penzance, which is just great! Then we booked again to go see a comedienne that we remembered from our childhood. She was very funny, and though most people cringe a little when we say who we saw, it was a good night out. We saw, in case you are now wondering… Pam Ayres.

For anyone who doesn’t know there are two main theatres at the Opera House. There’s the Opera Theatre and the Concert Hall. The Opera Theatre is where we saw Pirates, and Pam Ayres was in the Concert Hall. The Opera Theatre is nice enough, but the Concert Hall is really something special to see. It’s the really pretty one that you associate with The Opera House. I have taken some photos that look like they’re quite good on the little screen on my camera, so as soon as I can I will post them on my photo album page, and post a link here.

We were also quite surprised at how comfortable the seats were. Sometimes when you go to the theatre you end up with a sore back and/or bottom after sitting down for so long. Not there, they are really nicely cushioned and big enough for me to sit comfortably for a couple of hours at a time. Apparently the seats were designed by a prominent micro surgeon, so should be ergonomically sound.

Sam seems to have the worst luck though, always seems to pick the seat behind someone really tall, or who likes to lean over to one side blocking her view. We had really great seats for Pirates, but the guy in front was a real pain for her, sat hunched over to one side. Which would have been OK but our seats were positioned so that we could see between the people in front, of course this meant Sam couldn’t. And it’s not like Sam finds these people, they seem to follow her.

Even when we went to Katoomba in the Blue Mountains on Saturday we’re in the Cable Car and some 6’5" guy stands in front of her.

That was a great day out too, we had morning tea and while having morning tea we were separated into two groups and given Boomerang throwing lessons. What I didn’t know before is that there are several different types of throwing & returning boomerangs. We were throwing duck hunters. I was quite surprised that I wasn’t that bad at it. On my first throw it returned and landed about 6 or 7 feet away. Pretty good except that there were people in our group stood very close by ;-) I also have a tendency to tip the boomerang a little too far to the right as I let go, which with a duck hunter boomerang means that the boomerang flies out flat and then rises fast, then drops and comes back to you (fast).

The tour guides were of course really good, and it’s really something great to see when it’s done properly. I did buy a boomerang, and given enough space and solitude I’ll definitely be practicing. I mentioned to my boss that I had done this at the weekend and she laughed, said I'm definitely not an Aussie, that no real Aussie would throw a boomerang.

As I said we’ve been doing loads of things, eating out and finding pubs to go to. Tonight I’m joining Sam in town and we’re eating out at Darling Harbour and off to the Aquarium. I’m going to miss having her around.

A friend of mine from 6th Form days arrived late last night for a weeks visit. To my friends back home – Simon arrived safe and well. Thanks, Sharon for your greetings. Hope you are all well back there.

My first sailing lesson (a one-day introductory lesson) is booked now. I was introduced to A and N through a mutual friend (I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before), and they are both keen to learn to sail, so we’ve all decided to go together and have booked the same dates. With Pi dating now and K not being available all that much it’s good to know more people, besides which they both seem lovely people and I hope we are able to build that friendship.

Really this is all I can think of for now… more updates to follow... eventually

Wednesday, October 4, 2006 - can't think of a title for this one...

it's been so long since I last updated the site - apologies for that, it's been crazy busy around here...

At work we've been testing and going live with a new piece of purchasing software, then we've also still been supporting the old system, and P has gone on holiday leaving me with Billing support.

T has been helping with Billing Support - actually she's done most of it, simply because I'm still new to it... and it's been easier for her to do it than to sit and go through stuff with me... (her decision not mine), also - the users keep going straight to her, they don't approach me hardly at all. And it seems when they have approached me first I have been away from my desk seeing to a purchasing problem... I know that T is annoyed with me about it all... I know because she has stopped asking me if I want a lift. She used to drop me off near the bus stop that I normally get off at, but ever since I got back from Melbourne and haven't picked up all the Billing stuff she doesn't ask anymore... she really sneaks off now without even a goodbye.

Its customer service week this week. I thought it was just something that our company was doing, but I saw on the TV brekky show this morning that it's national (if not global?). Within our company I've been nominated for a team award, and an Individual award. no idea how many other nominees there are, but as a Finalist you can win $1200 (more if you choose computer products) and the overall winner can win $3500 (up to $5000 of computer equipment if you choose equipment over cash). But I like the thought of the money in my hand!

I'm crossing my fingers for luck!!! Or as a friend from South Africa says "holding thumbs"... not sure how that works exactly, but I think it's the same as crossing your fingers... Pip - if you read this how do you hold your thumb for luck??? or do you hold someone elses? What's it all about?? ;-))

As usual it's been a mixed bag of emotions recently. More highs than lows I'm pleased to report. When things are rough at work of course I find I'm in a 'lower' mood, but most other times are good.

I haven't yet booked my sailing course as I thought I was going to. First of all they didn't pay my expenses when I was expecting them to and now there's someone that also wants to learn and we think we might go together if we can agree on which sailing school... I think A wants to go with Pacific Sailing School and I'd like to go with Eastsail... I think that PSS are more expensive and not RYA accredited, and they sail J24's, which are not the boats that I want to sail... but there's also a lot to be said in favour of J24's... PSS do offer a better overall deal with free practice sessions and a spinnaker course included in the crew package...but the crew package is only up to Inshore level, and I want to get up to Offshore crew level. The bonus with them is that they also put graduates of their sailing course on a crew register... apparently it's common for the sailing school to be approached for students to make up crew for races and so on...

Eastsail on the other hand offer RYA (Royal Yachting Association) courses, they are cheaper overall and the crew package includes offshore crew level course. But it doesn't offer free practice sessions and no Spinnaker course included...

Nothing to stop me going with Eastsail and then doing a Spinnaker course with PSS though... which would also put me on the crew register, give experience with Spinnaker sailing and J24's... hmmmmmmm. What I know about J24's could be written on a postage stamp to be honest.. they are smaller and very quick, usually sailed by a team of 4 or 5 people... the boats I want to sail are bigger and look more like the yachts that you can take holidays on, or even possibly racing yachts, similar to what you might have seen on TV... though not as big as the Volvo Ocean Race yachts... ;-)

Other recent activities - the weekend just gone was a long weekend in NSW (Monday was Labour Day)... so I took Friday off too and went to New Zealand for the weekend to see my friend S and her family.

Had a fabulous time and saw a little more of New Zealand. I'm ever more in love with the place... We went for a walk around an old Goldmine site (no gold lying around on the floor I'm afraid), and spent the afternoon on Sunday in Hamilton doing a little shopping and had a family birthday meal with my friends husbands family.

Never having met me before they were so welcoming and friendly. Even on our walk on Saturday people on the paths around this old Goldmine were so friendly and everyone said Hello as they passed us. It's been a long time since that happened to me anywhere - even in England you are more likely to walk past someone on the street and barely acknowledge them, and even pretend that they are not there...

It was just great to see S and her family again. I love being there and it's so lovely to be able to spend time with someone who has known me for so long... we did the usual and gossiped about old friends and enemies from school and college, and generally had a great time. The weather turned grey and horrible and cold the closer it got to leaving, which kind of mirrored my mood. Reminded me of a scene in Men In Black 2 when Will Smith (I think) says to the alien girl that she doesn't cry when it rains, it rains because she cries. I felt pretty awful having to leave, maybe one day I will make the move over there... you never know.

Monday, September 18, 2006 - Short but sweet

This is a short entry but good news...

Sunday we had the expat meetup at Bicentennial Park.

Aside from getting burnt to a crisp sat in the sun all afternoon, it was a great day out. Good to meet new people, and feel a part of things - even if I was the only single person there, and the only one without young children... At least for the first couple of hours.

Then N arrived and spent the next couple of hours chatting and laughing. N came back with me to Rhodes to have a look around Ikea for furniture ideas, and has invited me on Thursday to a night out that his friend who has sailing contacts has arranged to introduce K and a sailor he knows who is looking for some crew members.

bit by bit it's getting better and better....

I've just chased up my expenses claim, so hopefully that will get paid this week, and I can book in some lessons.... though I have to admit I'm a little nervous about it. I know it will be better than fine when I am on the boat, but before hand I do get a little nervous "what if I am rubbish at sailing... what if this.... what if that" you know the sort of thing...

Now I'm off home for the evening to go and buy some aftersun, spray application if possible, as my sunburn is too sore to touch.

Saturday, September 16, 2006 - Latest...

Wow, it's been over a week since my last entry. I didn't realise that it had been so long, or I would have posted something.

Overall it's been good.

I'm just beginning to see how busy it's going to get over the next few weeks. Did I mention before that I found out that I'm not just going to be covering for P in the Billing Support area while he is on holiday? Apparently when he comes back he's going to be working on the re-bid for a major client and I will still be left with all the Billing Support, as well as my normal workload, which has just exploded as we are now in the deployment phase of introducing a new e-purchasing system. Thursday I started training people, and training and testing will not stop until the end of November.

While we phase in each department to the new software there will be people still on the old system who need support, people on the new system who need support and we'll be training and testing the data for each department/client account before they go live. This is more than a full time job for one person, and my colleague who should be sharing the workload equally has been sat at his desk working on his baseball team activities (he's a coach and umpire). His excuse is that he doesn't like users. I know he has no patience with them, but that's a rubbish excuse, considering that his job is to support the users.

I'm going to try and talk to him this week diplomatically and hope that we can reach a fair solution.

I'll keep you posted how that goes.

Other than this situation at work - things have been much better outside work.

The really awful weather in Sydney last weekend (more rainful that weekend than the average rainful for the whole of September) meant that the British Expat meet-up did not happen. It's on tomorrow instead.

Thursday night I went for Dinner at a place called Zanzibar in Newtown with the two friends I made from the British Expats site (K & N). They have a lovely roof terrace there, though it got a little chilly by about 9pm. The food was pretty good, though the drinks could have been cheaper...

Friday at work we had a departmental event at lunchtime. Great food and a game of Risk played out on the floor. It was actually really well thoughout, but then I would think so as my team achieved total world domination! Fighting a Rock/Paper/Scissor war we defeated more than 60 people and ended up only losing 1 person, but gaining 3 new Prisoners of War.

It was actually a really good game, we had a lot of fun. And I won a pen! Bonus!!!!

Friday evening I was going to go to the movies as I've not been in weeks, but was tired after work so just grabbed some dinner from Coles and went home to watch the last episodes of Supernatural on DVD. It's a great show but I have to watch with all the lights on, or watch it during the day. Too scary.

At the meal on Thursday we talked a lot about Sailing. I desperately want to learn, and K had learnt to sail years ago in Bermuda. She's even sailed J24 class boats at World Championship races, so we talked about that a lot. N had brought someone to the meal with him who knows a lot of people who sail, and he was going to hook up K and these friends of his.

I kind of felt left out a bit, but decided not to get too miffed that he was not willing to introduce me to these people so I can increase my experience. Note to Self: Maintaining a blog that's all about me does not mean that the world revolves around me Instead I decided that today I would look at the sailing courses again and when my Melbourne expenses are paid back at the end of this week I should be able to book a course.

So I was online this morning and thought why not just go down to the harbour and talk to them. I called K and asked if she wanted to take a trip there, and so we went for a walk around the harbour and to talk to a couple of sailing schools. I've decided to go with the same sailing school that I had picked out previously, as they were cheaper and they are Royal Yachting Association courses which are internationally recognised qualifications that will be fully understood back home.

What is good is that the sailing schools are always being asked for students to help crew on boats. So both K and I can get some sailing in outside of the sailing school. Need to rack up those nautical miles.

After a quick bite to eat at the harbour we took a long and arduous walk from Rushcutters Bay to Double Bay and waited for the ferry back to Circular Quay. Then at Circular Quay I got the ferry back to Meadowbank which is one stop up from Rhodes. It's a much nicer commute home from the city than the train, but there is a long uphill walk from the ferry to the train station, and by the end of the day (ie right now) I was/am totally knackered.

The weather has been lovely today, but I'm feeling a little light-headed now. Too much sun I think. And it's not even summer yet!! The guy at Bing Lee on Friday evening laughed at me when I asked what fans they had in stock... But when your apartment has no heating during the winter and is still 25 degrees on a cold day, it's going to be unbearable in the summer when it's 40+ outside.

I've been writing/rewriting this for nearly an hour now, so I think it's time for me to sign off, drink some more water, and go get some sleep.

Thanks for reading!

Friday, September 8, 2006 - Greetings from Melbourne

Erm, meant to be a quick one, but like normal it got out of hand.

Enjoying Melbourne so far. Staying in a very nice all-suite hotel near Collins Street. Not had much chance to shop - which my bank manager will be pleased to hear as on the walk into the office in the morning I pass some very very interesting shops. Though I did a little shopping Wednesday morning and bought myself an umbrella, as it was pouring and there's never a cab around when you want one. Of course then in the afternoon I managed to get a cab back from the office and left the brolly in the cab!! stupid!

On the way over I've seen a sign for a shop selling British food and goods. Thought I might check it out on Thursday evening, see if they have any Hellman's Mayo. Aside from friends and family, my car and some of my possessions there isn't much I miss from home, but good old Hellman's Mayo is one thing I do miss. The Mayo I've found here is no way near as nice as back home. It's a small thing, but you find it's the small things that can have a big impact on your perceptions.

I know my good friend Al will want to know this stuff... so Al - this is for you!

Lunches have been pretty boring:

Monday - Lasagne that tasted good but left me with a bad stomach ache for the rest of the afternoon.

Tuesday - ham & cheese sandwich and a muffin.

Wednesday - Chicken and vegetables with Rice.

Thursday - Risotto

Dinners have been much better:

Monday evening I ate at Harry's Bar, which is attached to the hotel I'm staying in. Food was cheap and plentiful. I ordered Wedges to start and burger and fries for main course. They brought them together and I was expecting a small portion of wedges and a few fries with a small burger. Boy was I wrong!!! The bowl the Wedges were in was huge and it was piled high. The Burger was pretty big and there was a huge mound of fries too. I ate nearly half the wedges and the burger, and was totally stuffed. I'm getting better at only eating til I'm full rather than clearing the plate.

Tuesday evening I met a friend and her husband for dinner. It's been a long time since I last saw Ro and although we worked together at a pub nearly 10 years ago and got on well enough we were friends mostly because we shared a mutual friend in Pip. I was worried that we wouldn't have all that much to say, but it wasn't like that at all. It ended up being a really great night out. We went to a bar for a drink first and then onto Chinatown for dinner. A woman in my office in Sydney who used to live in Melbourne told me I should go to Chinatown while in Melbourne, and she was right on the money. I had Chicken Satay to start and then we each shared our main courses. I had chicken wings, Ro had curried beef and Shan had fish in chillied sauce. I preferred the chicken, then the beef, the fish was a little bland - despite the chillied sauce.

Wednesday I had room service - lovely fish of the day (Breem) with Prawns and Pavlova dessert.

Hope you enjoyed that Al!!!!

Friday, September 1, 2006 - Melbourne here I come...

OK, quite a lot has happened the last few days... here's a short summary...

Got back from Wollongong, and back into the office. I enjoyed my time in the gong, but was also glad to be back to normal. Back in my comfort zone, safe in my little flat and in my routine at work.

It started out quiet as G was out of the office and it's always a noisy place when he's about. We have a laugh at work normally, but it is sometimes nice to just have some peace and quiet and get your head down to get on with some work. G also has a sense of humour that I am struggling to get used to. His humour has really started to grate on my nerves. He is always cracking jokes and we laugh a lot, but most of the time his jokes are at other people's expense, or he turns an innocent comment around and takes the piss out of whoever has said it. Not having him around for over a week it was nice not to have that going on in the background every day.

So when he came back to the office after his holiday it was a bit of a shock to the system. He said good morning, and the next thing he said to me was some stupid sarcastic comment. I have to admit that I snapped back, I told him he wasn't very funny. I know that I over reacted. Even at the time I was saying it I was thinking that I shouldn't bite. Not that he says these things to get you to bite - he genuinely thinks he's being funny.

Anyway... that over with my boss comes over to me and says she wants me to go to Melbourne next week, so I'm all booked up and going to Melbourne. I fly down Monday morning and back on Friday afternoon. I was going to stay the weekend, but part of me just wants to retreat back to my little flat. I've done enough exploring for a little while and will make a tourist visit to Melbourne another time.

Then Tuesday night I went out for dinner with someone I hope will become a new friend. There's a lovely Italian restaurant not far from Rhodes train station overlooking Brays Bay. I'd never been there before, but we decided to risk it. We got on really well, have a few things in common, and would have arranged another night out next week were I not going to Melbourne.

However we will arrange something when I get back, and on the 10th of September there is a big get together going on, which both K and N (from the zoo) are going to. Someone told me this park is within easy walking distance of Rhodes, but I think that person must be very keen on walking. I've just checked the map and with the speed I walk it's far too far to be comfortable. Best for me I think is to get the train one stop down to Concord West which is much closer.

Anyway - I'm looking forward to that and will no doubt have a great time on the day.

Other than this - i have got quite a lot done at work, and some books I ordered by one of my favourite authors have arrived from the US. So I've been sat reading those for the last four hours solid. That's always the problem - they are so engrossing that you read them too quickly. I always plan to read a chapter at a time and savour them slowly, but end up getting swept up in the story and then find that I've finished it.

I had to force myself to put the book down for a while, and find something else to do - hence this post

I'll let you know how Melbourne goes, maybe even post if I have time in the office down there!

Tuesday, August 29, 2006 - Taronga Zoo

I just had the best day on Sunday. I met up with a guy who I met online and we went to Taronga Zoo. To set the record straight – I did not meet this guy via a dating website and there was nothing remotely romantic going on, not even a hint of it anywhere!!!! Sorry Mum – no grandchildren ;) I say this because my colleague T keeps saying “Well maybe something will happen” and “Do you like this guy?” and it’s nothing like that at all.

Anyway…

I had a bit of a journey to get there, as the trains weren’t running through Rhodes to Strathfield (trackwork), so I had to get a bus to Strathfield and then get the train to Circular Quay. Then from Circular Quay you get a ferry over to the Zoo, then the bus or cablecar to the top entrance (we took the bus). On the way back I got the cablecar (called Sky Safari), ferry, train and taxi.

So yesterday travelling methods included (in the correct order): walking; bus; train; ferry; bus; walking (for 5 hours!!!); cablecar; ferry; train and taxi. I think that’s covered most regular forms of non-flight based travel!!

We were supposed to meet at 11 by the Taronga Zoo ferry. The latest my train would arrive before 11 was about 10:30, so I’d already been hanging around for about half an hour before the agreed time. Then he was late arriving at Circular Quay, and I was a bit worried that I’d end up standing there alone for ages. I decided to wait til 12 and then go to the zoo by myself, but he arrived about 30 minutes late apologising that his train was late. While I was waiting though I did some people-watching and took some photos of the Harbour Bridge and Opera House (Circular Quay is between these two landmarks).

We got our tickets and got the ferry over to the Zoo, and got the bus to the top. We sort of had the idea that we would start at the top and work our way down to the bottom, but it doesn’t really work like that. The layout of the zoo has you walking up and down and all over the place to see the different exhibits. The map was completely useless, and gives you no idea at all of gradients or what was up or down hill. We spent ages at the end trying to find the seals, and then after 5 hours walking we went to the cable car to leave. Totally knackered!!! At least this week I can substitute the Zoo for a session in the gym!

My knee started hurting during the day, so I tried to take it easy Sunday evening and even though it still aches a bit now – it’s not as bad as it used to get after only an hours walk.

I took loads of pictures and have posted some on my photo album page. I think the highlights for me were seeing the native Australian animals that I hadn’t seen before. The Koala’s were so sweet and even though two of them had a bit of a fight over who got to sit in the nice branch I still think they are soooo cute! They make the softest growling noises, and I always thought these animals were just soft and gentle and cuddly but these two really went for each other. We even saw a mother Koala with her joey… so sweet! Photo’s on the album…

N and I both had a great day out and I hope that we can arrange something else sometime soon. Tonight I am out to dinner with K who I met on the same site as N. She sounds really nice and has been here a few weeks longer than me.

Good news – I finally have my SIM card and a new handset sorted out and am back on the air again. Which is great and as a bonus we’ve all been very entertained trying to set up the phone. Three of us in the office have been trying to figure out how to turn off the keypad tones. We spent 45 minutes trying to figure out how to do it. I’m sure a 10 year old could do it in under two minutes! Between us we’ve spent about 100 years on this earth, we are software consultants and degree educated and yet we can’t turn off the bloody keypad tones on a mobile!!!!!

Saturday, August 26, 2006 - Wollongong continued...

Briefly on the subject of place names...

Jethro27 contacted me and told me of a place called goonoo goonoo (pronounced gunna gahnoo).

Also - Wollongong is nicknamed "The Gong" by locals, which does not have the same musicality as the full name but does manage to suit the place.

I liked it a lot there I have to say, mostly because I hope that I have made a new friend, but also because everyone there was so friendly, and there was instant acceptance of me by the people I was working with. For the first time I felt like I belonged.

OK, so I said that I would write more about Wednsday evening...

A came to pick me up about 7 o'clock. We went just to a local pub, and had a meal. Had a GREAT meal actually. A had lamb shanks which were so beautifully cooked that the meat just fell off the bone at the lightest touch. Accompanied by vegetables that were perfectly cooked..

I had beer battered fish with chips and side salad. Fish was perfectly cooked in a really nice light batter, the chips were good and the salad was really tasty and nicely presented.

Certainly the best meal I've had since I moved to Oz.

A and I talked a lot, turns out that we have a lot in common. We've read the a lot of the same books, and have some of the same interests, and have been through some of the same experiences. A moved to Canberra a while ago and didn't know anyone and went through there what I've going through recently. She hated it and spent 14 months trying to get a job out of Canberra back here, and she was only spending weekdays in Canberra!

After the first pub we went to the 2nd pub and had another drink there. A went to the bar to buy the 2nd round (which I think was going to be the last), and she bumped into some people she knew who both work for the same company as us. So we had a drink with them and then suddenly two more people arrived and we had a few more drinks with them and it ended up being a really good night out.

A apparently knows someone who wants more people to help him race his boat. So she asked if I was interested. I can't go this weekend (going to the zoo tomorrow), but in a couple more weeks he's going again, so she's going to talk to this guy and find out if we can both go. It's a great way to learn to sail without any costs involved in lessons. I still want to take lessons, but will be good experience to do this first.

Thursday night P actually invited me to join him and a friend for dinner. We ate in the hotel and the food was edible is about the best I can say for the hotel buffet. Was nice to have some company.

Then after dinner I went back to my room and watched an SBS programme on the BPO (business process outsourcing) trend to send work overseas. I wouldn't normally have watched something like that (though it was very interesting to see), but our Australia President (can't remember his exact title) was interviewed for the show.

Friday afternoon I got the train back after having a little tour of Wollongong. There are some pictures on my photo album that you can see. Click here

I'll take some pictures tomorrow at the zoo and post them too as soon as I can.

Thursday, August 24, 2006 - The Meaning of Liff

Had a great night out last night, will add more later, but for now - here's something that came up in conversation.

A and I have lots in common and both love Douglas Adams "Hitchikers Guide" trilogy of four books.

Turns out rather fitting with my last blog entry... There are apparently many many places in Britain whose place names don't mean anything (unlike Llanfairwhatsit), and so Douglas Adams and John Lloyd wrote "The Meaning of Liff" in an attempt to give those place names meaning.

EDIT: These place names are not just in Britain, sorry - my mistake. I've just found some American towns too.

A sent me a link to the website where you can see all the entries: http://folk.uio.no/alied/TMoL.html

Check it out - it's really worth reading. Unfortunately the website doesn't show the map of where all these places can be found, but if you try Multimap you can probably look them up

Or you could get a copy of the book which does contain the map.

Tuesday, August 22, 2006 - Greetings from Wollongong...

I love the place names in Australia, they just roll around your mouth like verbal delicacies. They are a real reflection on the original culture which is really good to see.

There are loads of places in Australia that have English names, but it's really great to see there are places with local names. It's the same with other countries too - like America where you can see the Native American places (Milwaukee and so on). Even in England you can see it - all those places with names ending in chester were named by the Romans, though probably there were settlements there long before the Romans!

My favourite so far of the ones I've heard of in Australia is Mooloolaba. It just rolls off your tongue... When I lived in Wales while at Uni I just loved the name of that town with the really long name that I tried but failed dismally to pronounce: Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantyssiliogogogoch. I can only say the last bit (llantyssiliogogogoch) with any sort of proficiency, and even then I am way off... I used to ask my friend Sarah to pronounce it for me, but she always said it so fast and I could never get it right.

For those who are interested the town is in Anglesey and the translation into English is: “St Mary's Church in the hollow of white hazel near a rapid whirlpool and Saint Tysilio’s church near the Red Cave”. Locals apparently just call it Llanfairpwll (pronounced thlan vire puth) Now you see why I had so much trouble with the pronunciation!

Anyway - that was not meant to be the topic of my blog today...

I've been in Wollogong two days now, and not seen much outside the office.

My colleague Pete said that he wanted to be in Wollongong the same time as me to sort of oversee my training and work on making some process changes to the way we bill one of our clients. So we are both here in Wollongong staying at the same hotel, so yesterday I asked if he wanted to eat together (I hate eating in restaurants and hotels alone), and Pete said OK, but he could only eat with me that evening as he was going out with friends every other night this week, which is fine by me. I thought for one night at least I will have some company. So last night after work we checked into the hotel and went out to find a place to eat (or so I thought)... in fact we each ended up buying a chicken burger (which I didn't really want) and going back to our respective hotel rooms to eat alone. Not quite what I was thinking when I said "do you want to eat together".

Jeff is back in the Wollongong office for the rest of this week and he has suggested that we go out to dinner, and the lady who is training me has said about arranging something, so I hope those two evenings work out. I'm prepared in my own flat to be alone, I've never travelled (for work or otherwise) with other people and felt so alone.

I was expecting something very different, something much more social. When travelling for work in England, USA or Germany, where I've been either the visitor or the host, with colleagues of many different nationalities we've always used it as an opportunity to be social and go out. Not always expensive, sometimes just a take away pizza at someone's house, sometimes just a drink or two in the hotel bar, but I have never sat alone in a hotel room eating my dinner while a colleague sat in their hotel room a few doors down the hall eating their dinner.

Anyway - I have arranged a trip to Taronga Zoo on Sunday with a guy from the expat website, and also hope to arrange a night or two out with the other people I've been in email contact with, and then there is the big British Expat meet-up for which the details are all agreed for next month, then in October and November I have people visiting and I'm hoping to squeeze in a weekend in the Whitsundays with my friend. Then in December I go on leave for 5 weeks, where I will be surrounded by loved ones the whole time. Like oases in the desert!!!!

Seriously I'm hoping that the next few weeks will pay off and make me feel more like I belong here.

funny I should be writing this now... Pete has just asked Amy if I have told her about the wonderful place that he took me to for dinner last night (he was being sarcastic of course)... I just laughed out loud and said that was the first time I've ever been taken out to dinner and ended up eating alone. We had a laugh and he said that was normal wasn't it? I told him not in my experience, that we always used to use travelling as an excuse to go out and eat and have a few drinks, sometimes a lot of drinks... and the others here agreed with me... then Amy said lets go out on Wednesday night... So it's not a total social loss

He did apologise for not taking me out to see the sights of Wollongong, I said don't worry I wouldn't complain, I'd just write about it in my blog...

Friday, August 18, 2006 - No News is Good News

well, it's true what they say - no news is good news!

I've been a bit lax in keeping up the blog lately, and it's because I've been putting my plan of getting 'out there' into action...

I've raised a forum entry on an expats website proposing a meet-up and it looks like some time next month there will be a big get together. It's actually gone down really well, and if the weather keeps improving (recent hail storm and tornadoes notwithstanding) it should be a good day out. When I suggested a meet up I had no expectations of what that meet-up would be, and it turns out that most of the people who have responded have been people with families, so it's sort of a big group get together now, with kids and families and so on.

That's great, but it's a nearly a month away and there are some of us who are single without children, so I've been in touch with a couple of those people off-forum and I think we'll be doing something smaller scale pretty soon.

My cousin is coming to stay for 3 weeks in October, another friend might be coming over in November and using Sydney as a base to visit a few places. Plus Simon - an old friend from 6th Form is coming to Sydney in October for a few days to visit his family, so will try to catch up with him too.

Also - G (a friend of a friend from some years ago) has said she'd like to meet up soon. She's on holiday at the moment, but will be back soon.

If that weren't enough - I've joined my local gym, and started going last night. I joined for numerous reasons, partly to lose weight and get fit, partly for the social aspect, but also partly because each piece of gym equipment has a TV screen and they have Foxtel (equivalent to Sky), so it saves me installing Foxtel for the few shows I like. I can go to the gym when my TV shows are on and get fit at the same time! How cool is that! Well really the TV thing is like the cherry on the top, it's NOT the reason I joined the gym!

Last night I did a "Body Balance" class (which is a mix of T'ai-Chi, Yoga and Pilates). Well, it was supposed to be a Body Balance class, but the instructor wasn't available so they had a Pilates instructor instead. So we actually had a Pilates class - and wow is that harder than I thought it would be! It was good though, and although I expect to ache a lot later today, I feel good for having done it. Also I made a new 'friend', well we exchanged names and chatted a little. It's a start.

After the class I spent about 25 minutes on a treadmill doing a brisk walk (not up to running yet), while I watched The Simpsons, and Christina Aguilera. I will have to be careful with The Simpsons, as last night as I was walking on the treadmill I kept laughing out loud, I'm sure they thought I was a complete nutter!

Tonight I'm going back for my official induction and personal trainer session, where we'll put together a plan. Saturday and sunday I have the chance to do a 'Bodypump' class and a 'Spin' class. Not sure if I will do both, but will see how it goes.

Next week for work I am going to be in Wollongong, so I am also going to be seeing a bit more of the area. Everyone laughs when I say I'm pleased to be going, but I am. It seems that people here view Wollongong as like a poor distant relative to Sydney. It will be a change of routine and a chance for me to start learning Billing, which I am supposed to be supporting in October when P goes on leave. I know my colleague T will be pleased, she hates Billing and though she hasn't complained to my face - I know that she has been complaining to other people that I haven't yet been able to take over. Strange then that as she is the person best placed to train me - she hasn't done any training, even though I've been asking and asking her to involve me, and show me and so on.

Oh well, at least we are getting started now.

I just hope that she understands that she will not be able to drop Billing totally for some time to come as while P is away she is still the most experienced Billing support person, and I have a major project on my hands to deploy a new Procurement system at the same time that I am supposed to be giving primary Billing support. Something tells me it's going to be a busy time

Monday, August 7, 2006 - Crime Drama is taking over the world, or at least Australian TV

I've had a lot of time lately to watch TV, and I'm sure I can't be the only one who has seen a surge in TV shows in the Crime genre. It's getting so that you can't watch TV any night at all without coming across at least one Crime show... Lately here they've also been doubling up the episodes, so you get two episodes at a time.

Right now you can watch a whole evening's primetime entertainment almost every night of the week enjoying the very worst of (fictional) humanity's propensity for horrific violence, torture and murder. If that doesn't fill you with joy and laughter you can watch Reality TV... Oh great!

Don't get me wrong I like a good Crime show, but you can't move for them. This week I just seemed to be turning the pages of the TV mag and getting nothing but Crime, Reality TV and The Simpson's. I enjoy Crime Dramas, and love the Simpson's to a point, but there comes a time when it's too much. And I think by now you can probably guess my thoughts on reality TV...

If I want to watch the worst of humanity in fiction I can watch Crime Drama, or I can watch TV stars I don't recognise ice-skating, or watch people trying to become Stars, or I can watch a woman picking out a husband... hmm... and for those of you back home in England there was also Friday Night Live (It's a Knockout for the Big Brother housemates, but worse!)... thankfully that's over now...

And so great TV shows like Firefly and Dead Like Me and all the shows before and after get cancelled so that what is left amounts to no choice at all. The good shows that have managed to stay on the air are shown here at 11pm or later; Alias, Stargate, Battlestar Galactica are all on after 11pm! I know that not everyone will agree with either my opinion or my idea of what constitutes good TV... but it's my blog...

And if one of each crime show a week isn't enough as soon as there is one show that has proven itself the networks are churn out little clones all over the place... Seems to me that if all that is on the air is Crime Drama it stands to reason that those shows would be considered successful, and there's bugger all left to watch. But anyway...

First CSI, then came CSI Miami and CSI New York, there's Law and Order
and then Law & Order; Criminal Intent and Law & Order:SVU and I don't know how many others.

Some of this weeks TV listings are shown below, most are fiction, most are long running TV shows (ie a series of 6 or more episodes), most last an hour:

Saturday

The Bill,
The Last Detective,
Jonathan Creek

Sunday

Criminal Minds (x2),
JAG,
CSI,
CSI Miami

Monday

Criminal Minds,
Boston Legal (loosely),
Cold Case (x2),
Body of Evidence,
Law & Order: SVU (x2),
NYPD Blue.

Tuesday

The Bill
Crime Team
Human Trafficking (1 of 2)
The Closer
CSI

Wednesday

Human Trafficking
Forensic Investigators (2 of 2)
The first 48 (x2)
Without a Trace
Suspicious Minds
NCIS

Thursday

Bones
Medium
Law & Order

Friday

Wire in the Blood
Veronica Mars

I'm not moaning about Aussie TV in particular, there is some really good TV here, and that includes the crime dramas... I'm sure back home in England it's the same... though maybe I didn't notice it before because we had Sky and around 200 channels to choose from... *sigh*

Monday, August 7, 2006 - Reply to comment from tentimesaloser

I would normally post a reply to a comment underneath the original comment, but thought this comment deserved a decent response... For tentimesaloser's comment - see entry titled Visitor below...

Hi, thanks for your comment, you are totally right! I didn't really notice how much I was writing about how nothing was happening over and over...

I think I've done it because things are so different here. I used to be busy back home and even on nights where I wasn't doing anything in particular I would spend hours talking to my parents, well my Mum anyway, Dad's not much of a talker, sharing my time with them, or enjoying what time I had to myself. These days I only seem to have time to myself, and
no time spent with anyone else, simply because I don't really know anyone else.

That's why I like people leaving comments - it's my only contact with people in the outside world.

It's my own fault, and only I can do anything about it. I know this... I just need to get up enough courage to put myself out there... It seems weird to be saying that when I was happy to jump on a plane to travel half way around the world to live in a country I'd never been to before, where I didn't have any friends or family... Now I'm here going out and meeting people and doing things seems so hard.

Most people have told me that making that move was a brave thing to do... maybe that's where my courage ran out ;-) Because I'm not that brave really...

Thanks for your comment - I know you weren't being critical, and I am not upset by it... sometimes it takes a stranger to help you see things differently.

I'm not unhappy with my life, but I do recognise that I need to change some things. And stop moaning about not doing anything and actually do something about it.

I remember from some of the counselling seminars I went to - the hardest thing to do is take the first step, after that it gets easier each time.

Here's to taking the first step!

Monday, August 7, 2006 - Visitor

Sorry for the sparsity of new entries recently, it’s been pretty uneventful lately. There is one notable exception, but otherwise there’s been absolutely nothing going on…

The One exception is that at last I have a confirmed visitor. This means so much to me I can’t stress how much… My cousin S is coming to stay for three weeks.

I can’t have any time off, but I can work from home on odd days here and there, and we will have weekends and evenings too.

One thing we’ve already planned is a night at the Opera House. I’m so excited about this. We’re going to do the tour, have dinner and see a show. S is treating me to this, and I am going to arrange something for us to do too. I was hoping to be able to take us out for the day, if not for the whole weekend, but will have to see how far my budget stretches.

I’ve got a few weeks to go, but lots of things to get. I need to stock up on food and get a bed for her to sleep on. Luckily my colleague wants to sell her Sofa-bed and has agreed to sell it to me for a lot less than I could buy one new. Other than this I’d like to get a table and chairs, so we don’t have to eat sat on the sofa.

I must find out what she likes to eat, and all I remember from a family wedding is that she used to drink Malibu and Lemonade, but that was years ago…

Other than planning for her stay I have really had nothing going on at all.

Really…

I mean it…

Nothing at all…

On the plus side – I have got loads of my cross-stitch pattern done. I think in a couple of weeks I will have finished it, then I’ll finish off the final bits of the other one that I’ve been doing on and off for about 4 years… then… I don’t know what I’ll do.

Thursday, August 3, 2006 - Strange Dreams

I had the strangest dream last night. I dreamt that the VP of Finance at our company took our team for a meeting and announced that I was fired… why? Because the security camera that watches the corridor outside our office was able to see my desk (there’s a glass wall there), and they’d counted the number of people who passed my desk and found that the number had fallen since I started work there…

There were fewer people who passed my desk therefore I must be having a negative impact on the company because nobody wants to walk past me!

I got no chance to respond and only when I came back a few days later was I able to ask if they’d considered that the most likely person to walk past my desk would be me and because I now take a different route to the toilets/ fax/ post/ kitchen areas that naturally there would be fewer bodies walking past my desk!!!

I called them idiots and walked out...

Just a silly thing, but sometimes fun to write about your dreams, see exactly how screwed up you are. Also to be honest I have not much else to report… it’s been pretty quiet around these here parts.

My Colleague T also had a weird work dream last night. She dreamt that she went out for coffee and when she got back M had barricaded our set of 4 desks off and was hiding all the laptops in case T’s boyfriend stole them… M and the boyfriend started to fight and I was trying to keep them apart…

Must be the day for work dreams ;-)

Monday, July 31, 2006 - It's been a while

It’s been a while since I posted anything, have been a bit down (these see-saw moods are really no good at all), and so I’ve not really posted anything… but I’m on the upside right now…

Some stupid thing happened at work last week, somebody said some careless throwaway comment that left me feeling a bit of an outsider, which is not good when the only people you really know are the people who make you feel like you don’t belong. It was short-lived though, as I’m trying not to let work bring me down. I’ve been thinking about what I can do to get out there, and am going to do some research this week.

My cousin has booked her flights to Sydney, and she will be here in a couple of months. I’ve been looking at things for us to do and have a nice long list to consider. One of the things we’re definitely doing (in fact it’s booked already) is going to the Opera House for a show; we’ve booked the best seats, a meal and a tour. How exciting!!!

This weekend just gone I had a lazy at home weekend. Now that I’m finding it easier to walk about I can do something more interesting on my weekends. But - I’ve decided not to do something touristy every weekend, as that can drain the bank a bit, plus I want to save some things for when family and friends visit.

This weekend I did the normal – shopping, washing, cleaning, watching TV, cross-stitching, and movie-going. I saw The Lake House, which is a very sweet romantic film, and I saw You, Me and Dupree which is very funny, and better than I thought it would be.

I also finally managed to contact my sister, we talked for about 45 minutes, then my cousin (the one who is visiting soon) called and we talked for half an hour, then Mum called and we talked for about half an hour as well.

My cousin told me about her break-up with her ex… that was really funny… we laughed a lot… especially when she told me about some of the things he did… like get his Solicitor to write a letter to her listing all the things he wanted from the house. It doesn’t sound funny until you know that the letter was hand written on Winnie the Pooh writing paper… hilarious.

I mentioned previously that I was going to join a dating website… I did, and have some thoughts on the matter that I will share with you soon… Watch this space…

Sunday, July 23, 2006 - Yesterday's News

Hi… good to see you back again, or if you’re reading for the first time – Welcome! mostly this is musings, observations and rubbish, as you've seen or will see. I hope some of it is in part entertaining...

Yesterday I actually ventured out of my suburb and went to Bondi Junction. It's other side of the city to where I live, and took about an hour door to door to get there. There is a huge shopping centre there. I thought it would be good to walk around for a while and see a different place to my local centre. It is much much bigger, and there are bigger and more varied shops there but at the end of the day it is still a shopping centre, and they are all the same. I wonder how it’s possible for a place teeming with people to still be so soulless. Maybe if I had unlimited funds and a smaller figure I might find it more attractive ;-) but of course I don't...

I did a little shopping, bought some DVDs and a book on photography. Also a reusable hot/cold pack. I can freeze it for when my leg hurts after walking too much. Even though I was out for about 6 hours yesterday, and spent about half that time walking around my leg did not hurt that much, so it must be healing... It's a little stiff this morning, but not painful.

Next time I think I will take the bus to Bondi beach, and wander around the beach, but will probably wait until the weather warms up. I also want to look around a suburb called Edgecliff which is 2 train stops from Bondi Junction. It's very close to the bay where the sailing school is that I want to join... and I would quite like to live there for a while when my lease is up in Rhodes. Rhodes has served it's purpose well, it's been pretty convenient for work and while I orientate myself, but I don't want to stay here all that much longer than I have to.

Must get on now, I have some work to do this weekend fixing a problem that arose last week. Going to put in an hour or so which should be enough, then I'll do my household shopping and sit with my cross-stitch project for the afternoon. I’ll probably watch Much Ado about Nothing. I love that film and found it for a pretty reasonable price yesterday.

Oh – and Bookers has Firefly box set for $27.95!

Linda – if you’re reading this – It does sound much like the letter I sent you, a little edited though. I’ve been lazy and thought I would not write it all out again…

Now I really am off to get some work done...

Saturday, July 22, 2006 - Sapphire and Steel

Before I start on about Sapphire and Steel, let me just say to my Sister a really big

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

I Love you!!!!

ok, so Sapphire and Steel...

I found the DVD box set of the entire series at HMV a few weeks ago, and have been watching it bit by bit since then.

It's one of the few TV shows I remember from my early childhood (others are Dr Who and Play School).

I remember Dr Who specifically because it was the first TV show where I realised the opening credits music was the same every week. I realised this when I heard the theme tune upstairs and came downstairs to watch it. Seemed to be pefectly logical that the theme tune was the same just (and ONLY) so that people who were upstairs would know to come downstairs and watch it... but then I was probably only about 6 or 7 at the time

Anyway.... the point being that suddenly I was very aware of TV shows and their opening credits/music etc... and Sapphire and Steel had a very distinctive opening credit sequence. It all came flooding back when I started watching the TV show again.

Back in the late seventies/ early eighties the opening credits were (to my mind) quite astonishing.... this time around I fell of my chair laughing... You have to see it to believe it. It's still a great show, but really does show it's age.

The credit sequence at the beginning looks like someone was hand-cranking a machine to roll the credits up in front of the camera... and it shakes so much that machine had to have been stood on a wonky table. then a grid appears waving down the screen soon replaced by another white grid which then turns brilliant yellow orange and red colours before disintegrating on the screen. Now maybe the TV technology at the time had something to do with making this look pretty awesome, or maybe it was my youth, but it did seem impressive.

Now that I'm older, and my TV is an HD flatscreen TV, it seems like someone's drawn the grid, and then coloured it in badly in felt-tip pens... so funny....

And the commentary.... I'm parphrasing here: "...heavy elements cannot be used where there is life, instead medium atomic weight elements must be used. The available elements are...... Sapphire.... and Steel..... Sapphire and Steel [pause for dramatic effect] have been assigned"

OK, so the show is old, and the effects were befitting a TV show budget... but the show itself is still good. Joanna Lumley (Sapphire) and David McCallum (Steel) were great. And the guy who played Silver is really good too... I laughed a lot when I shouldn't have done, but there were times when it was really creepy, and I didn't know what they were going to do to get out of whatever jam thy were in... and the ending of the final assignment??? How shocked was I? I couldn't believe it.

So I was thinking how great it would be to resurrect the show... my mind going over how they could be brought back and what might have gone on in the 25 years since the last show in 1981. What sort of damage to the fabric of Space and Time could have been done in those 25 years... It's not likely to ever be back on screen, but it's fun to imagine...

Sorry, that's all I could think of to write today.....