Monday 26 November 2007

Some might call me slack...

I've finally gotten around to updating this thing - it's been something that I haven't been putting off but also something I've not made an effort for. Might have to ask myself if I'll continue to do so.

But I've been enjoying myself immensely - lots of drink, women (well, not lots but some), fun and sunshine. Been to Melbourne (copious amounts of booze and very little sleep) and Canberra (in a day for work so not fun). Planning on going to Rottnest Island in a few weeks and a trip to Kalgoorlie is on the cards in the early New Year.

Finally got round to buying my ticket home for a couple of weeks at the end of Feb/beginning of March - everyone make a note - I'll be back in Wales on the 22nd of Feb!!! I'll be sorting out exactly what I'll be up to in the next couple of weeks and then let you know so I can try and catch up with you all.

Apparently it's Christmas coming up soon which really hard to get your head round when it's starting to get above 30 most days and the sun is shining hard... Still, I'm sure I'll cope just need to remember to post the cards back home in the next few days.

Paul, my old housemate from Beckhampton Road in Bath has just been over too. Was really good seeing him and we certainly had a blast for two weeks. Got drunk, saw some sights, got drunk again and chilled. One good day was his last on Saturday when we went to Perth races and had a cool afternoon and then watched Thirsty Merc straight afterwards. Pretty nice indeed. In fact, we kind of started his stay with a gig and ended it with one - Muse was on the 10th November and that was one of the best gigs I've seen. They were so fucking great it's hard to describe. Anyone who's seen them will understand!

It was also my little cousin Rhys' 1st birthday on the 13th November and the little bugger's growing up fast. Walking, shouting and eating sand. All in the day of a 1 year old! I'm going to be posting some pics up of him and Paul's stay on Facebook and then add the link to here. In the mean time here's a link to my photos from my trip to Melbourne - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=17454&l=8ee99&id=576745795

That's all for now - hope you are all really well and I miss you all - well, some of you, and only slightly...

ps my cousin James has done the honourable thing and proposed to his girlfriend Nicola and she's said yes! Well done Chesh!!!

Thursday 27 September 2007

It's been a while...

"The Chariot is destined for the scrapyard" - Telegraph 15/09/2007. Got to be one of the best lines I've read in a paper in a long time. Anyway, enough of that. I've been a bit lax on the whole communication front so I apologise for that. Although, those of you on Facebook have probably been alright in keeping in touch - as for the rest of you... I'll try harder. I think the lack of updates is very much correlated with how well I'm settling in over here. Met a bunch of great people and work is looking promising (even if it is very slow at the moment) so I've done well to be working for them. Not sure how long the Perth gig will last though - current thoughts are another 15 months and have a major reassesment then but who know what will happen in the meantime. I'm back in Blighty for 2 weeks in March, well, that's not strictly true as I'm spending 4 nights in Rome/Venice (one or both) with the family for my parent's 30th anniversary which doesn't leave me much time to catch up with a lot of you. The Cwmbran lot - I'll be around on various days, not sure when though but I'll work it out once Italy is booked. Bath/Bristol will be getting a visit the weekend of the 8th and I'm planning on being in London from the 13th (ish) as I fly back to Perth on the 15th. I land in Perth at 2am on the Monday and I'm planning on being at the 9am staff meeting... should be fun! My travels don't stop there as the following Saturday, the 22nd, friends of mine are getting married in Broome at the top of WA so that should be a cracker of a weekend as well! I'm hoping to catch as many of you as I can during the short space of time so I apologise in advance if I don't see you! Speaking of trips, off to Melbourne in 2 weeks for a long weekend with my mate Tim (it sounds a very gay trip I know but I assure you it isn't) which should be full of booze and enjoying the Melbourne nightlife. Aiming to blitz down the Great Ocean Road for a day as well so expect some good pics! This is turning into a lengthy update so I best warn you now that there's still a bit to go... Been to see a few gigs recently - most notable were Maximo Park last month and Snow Patrol last Saturday. Both gigs were stunning. Very impressed by both for different reasons. Klaxons and Muse are my biggest coming up in the next 6 weeks, both of which promise to be very good indeed! I've annoyingly met this really cool chick as well who weirdly really likes me too but it's never going to work. Situation far too complicated to go into here as to why it won't and it's starting to mess a little with my head so I should probably just walk away. Will I though? Hmmm... Actually, there wasn't much more to say... mainly because I'm bored of typing and conscious that most of you have fallen asleep by now. So until next time kids!! (Which should be a lot more regular than of late)

Monday 10 September 2007

I am still alive!

Ok, been rubbish but I've been busy. I am still alive and would like to congratulate Claire and Ewan for the birth of their baby boy Jamie (not James as I previously wrote!), and Michelle and Gaz for their baby boy Oliver!! Will get back to you all with a proper update soon but my sleep is limited what with trying to catch as much rugby as possible!! See you all on the flip side...

Tuesday 7 August 2007

Monday 6 August 2007

Forgot to mention...

Went to Kaiser Chiefs last week as well as the Shins. Both fantastic gigs. Was meant to be watching the Klaxons on Wednesday but Jamie the bassist foolishly broke his leg jumping off a stage in France so the Oz leg of their tour has been postponed until later in the year. Anyone who likes the Klaxons and is free on Saturday they're playing a small gig at the Luminaire in Kilburn NW6 - tenner a ticket and it's 1st come 1st serve at the door. Nearly compensated for the lack of a gig this week by trying to grab tickets for Birds of Tokyo (Perth band - highly recommend them) tonight as they were doing an acoustic set. Sadly I didn't get my arse in gear so have missed out. However, Muse have anounced they're coming to Perth in November so really looking forward to that! Maximo Park on the 19th is my next musical experience. ps - everyone should check out Enemy if they haven't already

Guess I'm going to be here a while longer...

Guess what kids? I've been promoted! Yes, I'm now a senior member of the team and apparently an executive of the company. At least that's what it's going to say on the new website when it goes live later this week. I had my 3 month probation meeting on Friday with my line manager and managing director and they promoted me so I'm assuming that I actually passed it. It now means I have a new line manager - my 3rd in 3 months. Doing well! Also, my 457 visa should be sorted out in the next few weeks which will allow me to stay for up to 4 years but I can apply for residency after 2 which will be Jan 09. Oh, I'm not talking about the rugby either. I will happily admit that we were shocking (well, fucking shite actually) and can except the ridicule due my way very soon - apart from Riley and Paul who've already given me a little bit.

Wednesday 25 July 2007

Calling all fantasy footballers (association and rugby)

I'm keen on getting a few leagues together for the RWC and the Premierleague this year. Those in the FSA will remember the good league we had going and reckon we should use the same site (premierleague.com). All those in DASA (both current and ex) - take a look at the site if you haven't already - rules are tops and it's free to play with the added bonus of creating mini-leagues.

As for the RWC, Heineken are running one with the same rules as Guinness did 2 years ago for the 6 nations (anyone who played that will remember that it was a good site) and there's also a couple of others such as testrugby.com or fantasyrugby.com.

I'll probably jack some leagues up and invite you all but if people have already done so let us know and I'll join in and spread the word!

BIRTHDAY!!

Last week I turned the grand old age of 27. Thanks to everyone who wished me a happy birthday and bollocks to those who didn't!! Did the whole family thing on the actual day and went to a great restaurant in West Perth called Julios (highly recommend the rack of lamb with a nice Chianti). Also had a couple of mates round on Saturday before heading out into Northbridge where I managed to come home with a football at 4am, where I promptly talked bollocks to my parents for half an hour. Why they didn't hang up on me I don't know! Tool also had a drunken call and either the Bunny was ignoring me or didn't hear his phone, but he narrowly escaped it also. Couple of pics on Facebook can be accessed through http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=9500&l=6d9f7&id=576745795 In the mean time, here's a pic of me looking foxy below... Well, grinning like an idiot at least!! Also, for those of you who may not know, I'm pretty much likely to be out here until the end of 2008/early 2009. Work are going to sponsor me to allow me to stay in the land of milk and honey (or is that beer and honeys?) for a max of 4 years but I can apply for residency after 2 years of being in the country. They're also going to make me part of the senior team within the next couple of months or so meaning things are going well indeed. Finally, there's a possible business venture that I may be getting involved in soon - got lots of details to sort out on that one but will keep you all posted!

Monday 9 July 2007

R.I.P. Bethan Harris 1991-2007

Some very sad news for you all. My aunt and uncle's dog, Bethan, passed away yesterday. She will be sorely missed by all.

Busy weekend for birthdays

I couldn't be bothered to send all those who's birthday it was this weekend a personal text message so I thought I'd just post it up here instead! Happy birthday to Dan Rose on Saturday, Danny McGowan on Sunday and Tom Newman today (9th)!! More importantly, it's my birthday next week, so for all of you who haven't sent me a card with $100 notes stuffed inside you've still got time! All donations will go to my beer fund... Congrats also to Wilcey for getting a new job at Ernst & Young - the man has now sold his soul to the devil... Only kidding - well done mate!

Friday 29 June 2007

6 MONTHS TODAY!!!

That's right kids, I've been in Oz for 6 months now which is a kinda weird feeling. It's flown by in parts, especially the last couple of months and I think that's a lot to do with feeling a lot more settled and getting into life over here. Taken a bit more adjusting than I thought it would... even Cwmbran isn't as backward as WA can be sometimes!! Then again, my last place in Blighty was London so pretty much most cities around the world aren't going to quite compare to it. I've also posted pics of Leanne's Immigrants party for her 30th and some from my trip to Sydney on Facebook, but those of you without an account can see them at:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=7058&l=d3639&id=576745795 I'm probably going to start putting all my photos up there as it's damn easy and quick so I'll post the links on the blog. I've also found some old photos from Uni that I didn't realise I had with me in the country... they'll be going up as soon as I scan the buggers in! Till next time... Da bye epaod!

Some pics...

Monday 25 June 2007

I should probably update this more often...

... otherwise my posts are just going to be huge each time. Got a load of photos to put up as well - may stick them on another site, not sure yet. The last few weeks have been busy - moved into a new place in West Perth, job's ticking along well with it getting nice and busy and I'm getting really involved, been to Sydney, booked flights to Melbourne for October (rugby semis weekend) and watched the first of the series of gigs I've got coming up over the next few months. It was also Leanne's 30th last weekend and that was a big party - didn't leave until nearly 11am after drinking through the night! Didn't go to bed until about 8pm on the Sunday either so I was pretty exhausted by then. Others didn't pull up so well including Leanne who I just found out took until the following Thursday to fully recover! Great bash and thanks to Leanne and Lynsey for a great effort - theme was Immigrants and there's some good pics I'll post up soon. Sydney was awesome too but I think I may have already talked about that (can't be bothered to read my previous post). If I didn't - thanks to Kat and her friends again for wicked weekend and I hope the spell in Blighty goes well for her. Me and my mate Tim are off to Melbourne the weekend of the RWC semis. Not sure why we're watching the games in Melbourne considering they're going to be on at about 6am (and we're likely to have drunk through) but it seemed like a good idea at the time. Should be a good weekend as I remember the city being awesome for night life and stuff in general. Watched Dallas Crane on Saturday, although I somehow managed to get really drunk really quickly and missed the end of the gig as I was being bundled into a taxi and being dropped off at my home. In fact, I managed to do something worse on the bank holiday weekend at the begining of the month- drank about 3 buckets of Guinness, decided at 11pm I'd had enough and walked out of the pub without saying goodbye, jumped into a cab and fell asleep. Thankfully Tim had followed me out but didn't know where I lived so I ended up crashing at his. 4am I need a piss and have no idea where the hell I am - figured that it would sort itself out in the morning and just went back to bed. Class. My homing beacon is usually so damn good!! Ok, that was quite a lot of random rambling about some stuff that's happened over the last few weeks. I'm sure there's more that's happened that hasn't involved me getting completely trashed but struggling to think at the moment. Hopefully I'll get pics up here soon and on Facebook for all you adicts out there. Alex

Tuesday 29 May 2007

It's been a busy 3 weeks

A lot has happened these last 3 weeks. I've left MSM and so not working for accountants anymore and have started my new job working for statisticians. Some of you may ask "how has that improved?" but for me it's a good thing. Although the lack of work at the moment has made it quite a boring couple of weeks. Been killing time reading old reports and attending some workshops and training sessions but it's still slow going. Although I should be starting on a new project tomorrow (was meant to be today but this is the company that took 5 weeks to decide whether to employ me or not!) which should improve things somewhat. I've also been getting into Facebook - some of you I've seen on there, others will probably just mock. Thankfully I don't care! There's pics up there of me being very drunk after the Wales game in Sydney at the weekend with a women's rugby team. It got very messy but lots of fun! Shame about those damn Wallabies nicking the game after the hooter had gone... The rest of the weekend was tops and thanks to Kat for putting up with me for 4 days! Got some pics of the usual stuff plus the game that I'll probably stick up here tomorrow or later in the week when I'm back at home and not hiding on the internet in work. Speaking of sport, I realise I've had to eat a few of my words after the (attrocious) FA Cup Final but you will never get an apology of me you Chelski scum! I even got up in the wee small hours last week to watch Liverpool fail to repeat the spectacle they put on 2 years ago. And as for the Heineken Cup - all I can say is who can choose between the Tiggers and Wasps unless you're deluded and foolishly support them (makes me glad I'm not in London as Riley is no doubt insufferable). Gutted about Bath in the Vase as well. We really needed that to make Europe again... grrr! I've also got a new gaff. Moving in this weekend so no doubt I'll be going to Ikea to get some flat pack for my room. Sharing with a girl and guy that seem pretty fun so it should be a good crack. Real bonus is that's only a 5 min drive to work so I'll pretty much get rid of my commute time. Seriously thinking of biking it to work as it's only about 3.5ks each way and I'd get to ride through King's Park for all those that have visited Perth. Best go - catch you all soon and lets hope Wales beat the Wallabies in Brizzy this weekend! After all, we're playing a nearly full strength side with a second string side of our own and doing very well... unlike England. Record loss?? Alex

Monday 7 May 2007

Pic from Gav's birthday

Thought I'd stick a pic up from last Thursday... In case you didn't notice - I'm in the yellow t-shirt!

WHO THE F@#K ARE CHELSEA

Need I say more? I think it would be fitting for Utd to receive the Premiership presentation at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday. All those in favour say "Jose is a fool"!

Thursday 3 May 2007

What colour is the sky in your world?

First of all, I'm not going to even attempt to defend Utd's loss last night. They were comprehensively beaten by a far superior side. Kaka was, yet again, inspiring. Now, we should all move on and focus on the double and ensuring that Chelski get nothing this year.

It's been particularly slow in work these last few days. In fact, mind numbingly boring is a better description. I think the guys are reluctant to have me start anything new before I go and so I'm wrapping up a few loose ends and doing the odd scrap of work. Still, only one week to go, but at this rate that could reduce to a couple of days.

I have been useful with my time. Been hunting the net for houses to live in and have arranged a couple of viewings. Saw one last night which was pretty good. Excellent layout and location, room's slightly on the small side but still enough room for my clobber. Talk of putting a pool table in the house, along with the 50" plasma, foxtel and 360 means I probably wouldn't venture out too much! Although if I did, Subi, Leederville and the city are on the doorstep with a whopping great big park only a couple of hundred metres away. The Subi Oval (where the super 14s games have been played) is only a 10 minute walk and the local is JB o'Rilley's which serves possibly the 2nd best pint of Guinness in Perth. Very tempting indeed. I'd be sharing with 3 blokes: a Saffer (who appears normal and not like most), a Swede and an Irishman. Got to decide this weekend but think I'll take it and I'll be moving in week Saturday. Nothing like a house move the weekend before a new job! Smacks of last year when I moved to London...

There's been a few birthdays that I should acknowledge that have happened over the last month. Liz/Gizmo/JBPN's was on the 8th (or is it the 6th??), Monks' was on the 23rd to coincide with some Roman's day of death, my bro's on Tuesday and my cousing Gav's today. In case I don't put out another post beforehand, happy birthday to Rudman as well on the 10th!

This weekend is going to be busy - 2 birthdays (Gav's & Nikkita's) and 2 sporting events (Force v Blues & West Coast Eagles v Western Bulldogs in the Aussie rules). Sunday may involve a lot of sitting!

All you girlies need to check out my cousin Nicola/Liquorice's website (www.peachiekeen.co.uk) and anyone else who fancies buying some funky pants! Seriously, go, buy, be happy!! I'm not joking... For the love of God, go and buy pants!!!!

Later kids...

Alex

Tuesday 24 April 2007

New job!

That's right kids - after weeks of interview, waiting, interview and more waiting, the kind folk at Data Analysis Australia (DAA) have offered me a job. I'll be starting on the 14th May (same day I go and watch the Black Keys) as a consultant statistician. Wanted a senior consultant statistician post but I think a lack of project management and commercial experience means that I just missed out as I'm going in at the top of the consultant scale. Also had assurances that my salary and status will be reviewed regularly to begin with (every 3 months) so I'll be working hard to prove myself and get the senior status. (They've already realised I'm pretty ambitious). They're also going to sponsor me as well as they've offered me a permanent position which means I'll be here in Perth I reckon until around the begining of 2009. This was much to the heart-ache of my mum! That date is still pretty loose but it's the commitment I kept re-iterating to them in the interviews. What happens in the mean time is anyone's guess. The sponsored visa means I can actually stay in the country until mid-2011 by which time I can apply for residency. That's a long way off yet, christ WC07 still hasn't been played! As it's actually a couple more k's south of where I'm currently working (would pretty much have to drive past the office) I'm really going to be looking for somewhere to live a bit closer. Going to look for a couple of places now...

Since I'm not going to be coming back for a while too, all of you lot need to organise yourselves for coming over for a visit - although I'd wait until October at least now as it's starting to get cold (relatively speaking - 20C sees me with a jumper on now!) and you'll want all the glorious sunshine and lazy days down the beach.

I've also organised a trip over to Sydney for the 24th May. Staying with the lovely Kat for a long weekend (all the Bath uni lot - you must remember Kat?!) and we're off to watch Australia v Wales on the Saturday (26th). It will not, as Riley alluded to, be meeting of two mediocre sides. That's disparraging to Australia! Fellow Taffs: surely you agree with me after an apalling 6 nations? If not, I shall be expecting a your tirade of displeasure at my comments in due course.

Monday 16 April 2007

Some pics...

These are a few from a weekend in March. Think it was a bank holiday and it was a scorcher (topped 40); a good summer day just before it started to get cold... relatively speaking!! From top: A sensible grandmother, annoying (but ultimately loveable) dog, the back garden where I've spent a lot of time either drinking, swimming or just generally lounging, and an uncomfortable looking me (although it's not true - the kid is tops with me except when he pulls my chest hairs out or tries to rip my lip off).

Busy weekends

So, back to my busy weekends. The week after Donna's bash, Gav and Rich were working up in Karratha (top of WA) and Les was going to be at work for most of it as well meaning that I had the house to myself for the first time since arriving here. I was planning on just chilling out for the weekend despite agreeing to go to a gig with Todd and his missus on the Friday night. The Force were also playing the Sharks (who caused a big upset at the weekend defeating the top of the table Kiwi side the Blues) but my usual partners in crime for watching the rugby were either in the UK, Karratha or working. So I was considering sacking the whole night off and saving bucks and chilling out. Then my boss offers me box tickets to the game an hour before I'm heading off. Fantastic! Free entry, food and beer for the next 5 hours. Sweet! Headed off to the gig afterwards too and had a brilliant night. The Bamboos were tops - a great funk band with a great bassist and drummer. Even managed to make it into the local music mag Xpress as well. Plus I won $150 on the game as I'd bet the Force would score first with a pen and then win by 12pts or less (last one looked pretty dodgy with 5 mins to go and Gitteau has a pen to take the Force 13pts clear but he hits the post making my bet safe). All in all a top (and free) night. Easter weekend was a big one too. Picked up 2 crates of Corona on Thursday after work and me and Gav went through the lot in 1 night and a couple of hours on Friday afternnon. Excellent! Also went paintballing again on the good friday to add to the bruises from 2 weeks previously. Had a huge session on Easter sunday - got tot he pub at half 11 to watch the rest of the rugby 7s that was being played at Adelaide (Wales finished 3rd and England got knocked out by Kenya - the rugby powerhouse of a nation that they are!) and got kicked out at 10 I think. Gav got stopped at the bar about 8 so had to drink water but he was still shit faced. Then it was a big family dinner on Monday (roast beef, pork and lamb that was cooking all morning and smelled so good and strong that you could smell it on the drive 25m away). After which I decided to stop drinking for a while to try and give my body a rest. Lasted until last night when I couldn't resist the black stuff anymore and had to have a couple. Although that was the 3rd time I was in a pub over the weekend so it was pretty good going. Going to be good next weekend... Trying to last until Gav's birthday on the 3rd May so only got a couple more weeks to go (Bryant, how did you go so long???). Off now to try and dig up some photos to wack on the blog I've taken over the last few weeks. Taff

Been a while!

It's been a bloody long time since I posted anything up here so I think I'll do this in stages otherwise you'll have a lot to read! I emailed you all saying I'd applied for a senior stato post nearly a month ago. Well I'm hoping to find out about it tomorrow - you can see why WA is nicknamed the Wait Awhile state. Had 2 interviews for the job and the last one was with a director of a HR firm that were brought in as a third party assessment. He told me on thursday after the interview that his recommendation would be to offer me the job so it boils down to whether they believe I'm up for staying beyond the end of this year. That's right kids - if I get the job I'm planning on staying until 2009 at least meaning I'll be needing a sponsored visa which the company will have to sort out if they want me to carry on working for them come the end of the year. I'd kinda already decided that I wanted to stay until then anyway - whether that was another year on a working holiday visa or being sponsored. If I stay for 4yrs I can get residency which means I can then come and go as I please. But that's a long way down the track... got to get the job first! If I don't get it then I'm not sure what I'd do. In the mean time I'd carry on where I am until the 6 months is up and after that I'd have to see what opportunities were available. Not too many stato posts here in Perth so if I wanted to do that then heading East is probably my best bet. Melbourne ot Sydney... tough choice! But I'm not thinking about that at the moment. What I am thinking about is the couple of good gigs I've got coming up in the next few months. Watching the Black Keys down in Freo next month which should be pretty good, then it's Maximo Park on the 19th August in Perth. That should be really good as their new album is chuffing brilliant! Been kinda busy on the weekends lately too - keeping myself pretty busy. Back end of last month was Donna's birthday and we were meant to go deepsea fishing but the swell was too big so it got cancelled. Me and Gav got pissed in the city instead throughout the afternoon down on the Esplanade in the Lucky Shag (barmy army HQ for the Perth leg of the Ashes tour - no doubt full of pasty English muppets like Riley) before heading off up our mate Todd's hawaiian party (Gav got really dressed up and put on a AC/DC shirt). So all in all a messy day and night. This led nicely into paintballing on the saturday for Donna's birthday. I shot anything that moved and pretty much anything that moved shot me. Caught one lad in the nuts and he wasn't wearing a box so he dropped like a sack of shit. Made me realise how close it was to being me as I got hit in the top of my thigh. Shot Donna a lot as well. Then it was back to the Flying Scotsman in Mt Lawley (just north of the city centre) for a good drink. I'll tell you about the other weekends in my other posts. Until next time...

Friday 9 February 2007

Big weekend.............

Hey Kids! Last weekend was a bit of a busy one. Involved a lot of sport, booze and music. Lets start with the sport. Went to see Western Force kick-off their super 14 season and it was abysmal. They lost 8-7 in what can only be described as amateurish style. Imagine the scenario: your pack is getting shoved all over the park but you're dominating the line-out and you have a penalty on their 22 10m in with 10mins to go. Do you a) kick the points to put you in the lead for the first time in the game; b) kick to touch for your lineout and spin the ball quickly to the backs for a try; c) kick to touch for your lineout, go for the driving maul and get pushed into touch by their superior pack? Well option c is what they chose, squandering any chance of a win. Rubbish. Also rubbish was the crowd. No-one sings!! Riley was right about the Aussie singing. They don't know any songs and only get involved if they're winning. As for the rest of the weekend's sport, well Utd pummeling Spurs was nice to watch (more on that later just for Riley) but the Wales-Ireland game was appalling. Great phases from Wales for most of the match but some equally abhorrent play too in a couple of patches. Why oh why didn't Cekaj just watch that O'Gara kick go into touch???
I've jumped ahead of myself here a bit. I should try and put all this in some sort of order. On Friday I went down Subi to watch the super 14 game and it was then onto the Irish Club for a decent (yes decent!!) pint of Guinness. Mind you, we got to the club sober as they shut the bar 20 mins before the end of the game - what the hell is all that about???? Heathens!! Saturday involved a lot of chilling by the pool as it was really hot (topped 45) and then I headed down to Donna's pub The Queens in Mt Lawley. After a few refreshing ciders we bought a carton and headed back to Donna's for some darts before heading off to the Inglewood to watch the Liverpool derby (very disappointing). Got back to Donna's around midnight and it is at this point I should have called it a night and headed to bed as I had the Big Day Out the next day. Unfortunately there was a 21st next door so I took a load of cider and headed over and promptly drank till 3 talking to people who had no idea I was. Great stuff!!
All that cider (and Guinness during the football) and only a KFC to eat the day before meant that I was not feeling too great in the morning. In fact, I had a monster hangover which will please a few people no doubt. Took me an hour or so of chucking at the Leederville where I was meeting Gav and Ricky before heading down to BDO. Once there though I was alright. In fact the day was amazing. Saw a fair few bands including some local talent. Pics as follows:
Little Birdy. Lead singer lives opposite Donna! Eskimo Joe. Brilliant band. Go and download them! Latest is called Black fingernails, red wine. Kasabian. I'm sure you all know these. They were fucking amazing. 2nd best band of the day easily. Killers. Need I say more?? Actually I do. They'd be great in a hall or a closed stadium, but on the open field they were not so hot. At least not for us. Jet. We watched these from the beer tent. Thirsty work watching bands all day! They were pretty good but the crowd ruined it and the gig was paused half way through whilst security pushed everyone back. Pesky kids! Finally. We get to the act of the day. This was the 2nd best set I'd ever seen so it suffices to say it blew me away. (Only Kelly and co. have outdone this on a cold December day in the Millennium Stadium in 2003.) I give you.... MUSE!!! Ok, so the pic is really bad and it was also at this point that my batteries gave out so had to switch to my phone. Gutted! This happened last time I went to BDO!! As it was a big weekend, this rant is also going to be big. Still need to talk about the 6 nations. After BDO me and Gav headed to Northbridge (via Donna's as I needed trainers - not allowed flip-flops in a pub after 7 usually) to Rosie O'Grady's to watch the rugby. The Celtic game was on as we got in so there were a few oohs and aahs before the real event. All I can say is that it was a bit shambolic at times. Ireland were lucky to have 13 players at one point. How many times are we going to see hands in the ruck and players not penalised for it? I should have guessed they were going to get away with it as soon as the Kiwi ref walked on . They're the masters at it after all! In fact the ref was atrocious. There was one incident where Peel kicked the ball in to touch thinking he'd get the deliberate knock-on by the Irish forward on 3m from the line and was rightly flabergasted when the ref awarded Ireland the line-out instead of a scrum 5. What cheered my up (apart from the good Guinness... I tell you, Bryant and Riley you need to come to Perth) was the crushing defeat of Spurs later that evening/morning. Great stuff! Also, a special mention to Pussy Bunny. The man has learned the meaning of the c word... commitment that is. All those who know him, go and pester him to find out what it means. All I'll say is that he's going to be needing a bigger flat... Till next time!! Taff

Friday 2 February 2007

All good things come to an end...

It's happened... I've been given a job. I'll be working for the loss management company starting on the 12th Feb. That means I've got 10 days of freedom left so I'll make the most of it before re-joining the real world! I'll probably head down to Margaret River for a few days next week - back in time for Lesley's birthday on the weekend. Then it'll be work, work, work. Although I am looking forward to it (yes, I am weird). What's great is that I'll be earning more than I was in London, for less responsibility and the cost of living is less. Sweet!! Not sure what I'm going to do in terms of living yet. May move to Donna's, but may also try commuting from North Perth. We'll see. What I think I'd really want to do is find a flat/house share somewhere in West Perth where the job is as walking to work would be ideal. Subiaco is a prime candidate as is Leederville but we'll see how things pan out. Right, got to earn my keep and do some cleaning before heading to the beach. I'm off to watch Western Force kick off their season against the Highlanders in the Super 14 league tonight too (that's rugby to all you ignoramuses out there!) which should be a good match. The Force have made a couple of signings over the summer including Matt Gitteau so the standard of the backs should be pretty good - they're just light up front in the pack. Speak to you all soon... Alex

Tuesday 30 January 2007

Update!!

Hi guys, thought I'd best give you an update on what I've been doing. I can't believe I've been here over 4 weeks already - it's a bit mad to think about it but the up side is that I've been doing a lot of nothing in that time. I've been doing some job hunting - got 2 interviews tomorrow (31st Jan) with a loss management company as a financial/data analyst and with BankWest as a SAS developer. 1st sounds more appealing as it's only for 3 months initially, with the view to extend to 6. I don't think my SAS skills are up to development yet! Apart from the job hunting I've been doing a lot of sitting by the pool or on the beach. Oh and playing snooker. Although my break hasn't got out of the teens yet so a lot more practice needed! It's been kinda annoying not really being able to do anything as I don't want to blow my money as I'm not sure when I'll be in a job. Potentially it could be as early as next week which means I would have missed out a little bit. If not I'm planning on either going down south to Margaret River for a few days to bum around in a hostel and visit all the wineries or head up North somewhere. It was Australia day last week too, on the Friday. A load of us went down to Mullaloo beach to play football, cricket, drink, swim, drink and drool over the fine array of women on display (pics below). The entire day we listened to the Triple J Hottest 100 which is basically a countdown of what listeners thought the top 100 songs of 2006 were - the top 3 were all Aussie bands which was a first in many years. The weather was hot too - the entire weekend saw tops of over 40 with it dipping down to a swealtering 23 during the nights. Keeping with music, I've got the Big Day Out to go to on Sunday which should be a top day. Me and Gav have worked out who we're going to see and it's going to be impressive. New Rules For Boats, Sleepy Jackson, Little Birdy, Eskimo Joe, The Vines, Kasabian, Killers, Jet, Muse & Violent Femmes! The forecast for the day so far is a mild 27 which means the day should be sweet. On the weekend the original forecast was 37 which would have been quite painful indeed! Once I know more about the jobs I'll let you all know and I'll post some pics up from BDO next week. Hope you are all good and I'll speak to you all soon. Till next time... Pics from Australia day... Trust me that the bird in the photo is fit. You can zoom in and look for yourself - may have to brighten it up a bit. Another great shot from where we were camped all day. These two had matching bikinis on. Fantastic! What I did fail to get a pic of was the many Aussie bikinis on display - as one lad said "I'd quite like to be the Southern Cross right now". The guys who were left by about 7pm. We'd been on it since 10am so there had been a couple of casualties by then. After this it was back to my house for more beer, bbq, pool and spa - oh, and loud music!

Tuesday 16 January 2007

Nathan & Karen's wedding pics

Some pics from the wedding...
Rich (aka Papa Taff), Dad, Mam, Rene and Mike (Rich's best mate).
My three cousins, Donna, Nath and Gav
Left: Karen, Brian, Roz and Rhys, Nathan & Karen's son
Below: Nathan, Karen and the bridesmaid, Tyler (Nathan's mate Alan's daughter)

A Taff In Oz

Hi guys. This is my blog for my adventures in Australia. I will be regularly (beer permitting) be updating the site with pics and notes on what it is I've been getting up to. Until then... Alex/Taff/Welsh Monkey