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Sunday 1 February 1998 | |||||||
| Got up and finished moving stuff into the new place. Didn't really do much apart from this. Just took it easy in preparation for Monday morning. | |||||||
Monday 2 February 1998 | |||||||
| Went to look around Mosman Powerhouse squash club. 1 standard, 3 glass backs, a bit shabby round the edges but run by very enthusiastic guys. Turns out you just tell them when you'd like to play, and they arrange a player of your standard as competition (quiet handy). Get drinks and pies in the court cost ($10 per person), arranged a game for Thursday. | |||||||
Tuesday 3 - Thursday 5 February 1998 | |||||||
| Nothing really exciting happened. Turned up at Mosman Thursday for squash around 20 mins early. Played a guy who just happened to be hanging around then my arranged game. Hence was knackered - especially seeing the first serious stuff for months. Turns out this thing only occurs on Thursdays so arranged a game for following week. | |||||||
Friday 6 February 1998 | |||||||
| Played squash with Philip Chun (other possible corporate games entrant on the EDS Optus Account) after work. Managed to take it quiet easy (sorry Philip!). Was very hot and humid though, so obviously got very dehydrated. To remedy this... Went to Fatz - a pasta cafe come restaurant just off Oxford St to celebrate Rachael's birthday. Loads of her workmates there and the usual gang. Ate garlic bread, muscles and a few pasta dishes - very nice. Got pretty drunk on not too many beers, due to earlier sport. Wondered for what seemed like miles to get to another bar, but thought better of having anything to drink. Not feeling too well, made our excuses and did a runner. Fell into the nearest available cab for the trip home. | |||||||
Saturday 7 February 1998 | |||||||
| Woke up feeling a little seedy. Day was a bit off so stayed in bed most of the morning. Decided we must do something though and dragged ourselves out of bed around 1pm and wondered off to Balmoral beach. Very nice calm water due to not being directly on the coast. Other plus points include no weed, and because of the calm water no surfing. This is good as there are no flags to swim between - you can swim the entire length of the beach without fear of being run over. The sea wall also provides good shade later in the day. Despite this I managed to get sunburnt though - doh! Sat around and read the paper, sent some email, swam, etc. etc. Didn't feel much like doing much at night, so ordered some pizza. The meal deal turned up and was far too big for Kim and I (2 large pizzas, garlic bread, coke and tub of ice cream for $22). Ate this and watched TV most of the night. | |||||||
Sunday 8 February 1998 | |||||||
| Lazy Sunday, Wendy came over to inspect the flat, which I think met with her approval (did it?). Caught a ferry to Circular Quay from the end of the road and wondered round the rocks for a while. Had lunch at the Observer hotel. | |||||||
Monday 9 - Thursday 12 February 1998 | |||||||
| Ho, hum... work again. Didn't do much this week Wednesday I was quiet hot after work and felt bad for not doing anything so wondered down to the Olympic pool under harbour bridge for a swim. Was very busy so didn't stay long, but only 10 mins walk from home so was handy. Squash at Mosman on Thursday, had a good game with a guy who ended up being in the same comp. team as we (to commence week 2 March). | |||||||
Friday 13 February 1998 | |||||||
| Friday again - hoorah! Went to the Berry St Tavern for a couple of quick drinks after work. Couldn't stay too long as we had to get over the North Rocks for 7:30 for a quiz night arranged by Karen. Was all a bit of a laugh. Had a freezer bag full or ice and beer, and a load of nibbles (nachos, dips, chips, etc., etc.). The quiz was all in aid of charity, so the quiz master could be easily bribed. Musical questions were a particular money spinner. Team A guess the next few words. If they're wrong, teams bid for the chance to challenge the answer given. The more people drank, the more convinced they got their (wrong) answers were right. | |||||||
Saturday 14 February 1998 | |||||||
| Lazy Saturday after the turmoil of the night before. Went to freshwater beach and stayed there most of the day. The surf was excellent so did plenty of body surfing. The water here is very, very clear (like tap water - really!). Weather was also perfect so slept in and out of the sun. After all the strain (not) had a lazy night with take out curry for dinner and vegging out in front of TV. Pretty sad effort for Saturday though eh? | |||||||
Sunday 15 February 1998 | |||||||
| What are we to do? Another perfect day so just have to go to the beach again. This time it's Balmoral. Only stayed a while though as the sun was really hot. Madness prevailed in the evening and I went to the round robin at Mosman. This is just a turn up and play anyone and everyone (if there's enough time and few enough people) at Powerhouse. Had a couple of tough, and a couple not so tough games. All good fun, but was absolutely knackered afterwards so crashed out and watched the usual Sunday night stuff (a few good comedy shows and a movie) on TV. | |||||||
Monday 16 February 1998 | |||||||
| After work, went to Balmain for picnic with Kim's old workmates. Sat in the park looking over towards the city and bridge. We drove over two bridges in a sort of horseshoe path to get there, yet looking at the North end of the harbour bridge, it looked really close and thought we should really have a boat for this sort of trip. Anyhow, ate a pile of great picnic food (roast chicken, pasta salad, chips and dips, etc., etc.) and had a couple of beers. Very relaxing for me as they hadn't seem each other for a long time so I could just lay back and listen to the girls waffle on. | |||||||
Tuesday 17 February 1998 | |||||||
Got home feeling hyper for some reason, and wanted to go skating as it was a nice evening (as always). Kim had other ideas though so we went for a drive over to Woolwich to see her dad, who always sails over there Tuesday nights (during the racing season anyhow - which would be coming to a close in a few weeks). Wondered along the shore for a bit as we missed the start, then had a quick beer when they came in and loaded the yacht onto it's trailer. This is the maximum size you're allowed to tow apparently (which he does with a Range Rover) and looks a lot bigger out of the water. | |||||||
Wednesday 18 February 1998 | |||||||
| Nothing too exciting, played soccer after work with a few guys from the account and Optus itself. Was all very light hearted and a bit of a laugh. Was pleased to find that people imagine you'll be a soccer wizard just because you're British. Shame I failed to fulfil this particular stereotype! Good exercise none the less. | |||||||
Thursday 19 February 1998 | |||||||
Greg's birthday... woke up unfeasible early to beautiful morning, so sat on the balcony and fed the lorikeets for a while, attracted loads of them with my stash of grapes. After work (and an account meeting which overran) took the train to Seven Hills to meet Kim.
Went over to Castle Hill RSL for a few drinks to celebrate Greg's big 24(?) with Karen, Kim, Pete and the young lad himself. Drinks were very cheap here (as at all RSLs apparently). Greg and Pete ended up playing the pokies as usual as the place emptied. We soon followed, leaving by midnight. | |||||||
Friday 20 February 1998 | |||||||
| Had the worst train journey ever into work, feeling very ill, as I said to someone in a mail that day, "I'm sure they put poison in the beer here." | |||||||
Saturday 21 February 1998 | |||||||
| Got up and had a half hearted attempt at shopping in North Sydney. Couldn't find anything really - the shops in North Sydney are mainly food courts (for all the office workers) with a few shops thrown in as an after thought, rather than the other way round which is the norm. Went back home then on to meet Flea and Alex on Narrabeen beach. Really wild surf, was a really struggle to get out of the water. In the evening we caught a cab over to the Pyrmont Bridge Hotel to meet a load of people. Greg and Karen showed up, along with the rest of the gang, and a load of Karen's old school friends (or were they workmates?). A few of us wondered round the corner to Star City to check that out. Most impressive thing there is the two story circular fish tank they have on the gaming floor. Load of pokie machines (one arm bandit things to those in the UK) and a few blackjack and roulette tables. Downstairs there are a number of theme bars, so we ended up in an Irish one with some dodgy live music on. Drank a bit more, then left not long after Greg poured beer on Kim! Passed the hotel again to say hello to Karen who was still sat there with her friends (it was 2:30am by now) and caught a cab back home. | |||||||
Sunday 22 February 1998 | |||||||
| Woke up too early (by the birds again). Kim had a craving for McDonald's hot cakes, so she went and fetched breakfast which we scoffed in bed. Don't know if this was a good idea or not given the delicate state of my stomach but it stayed there so can't have been that bad an idea. Struggled out of bed and decided to go to a beach. Headed for Balmoral but then decided to go to Freshwater to make the effort of getting out of bed worthwhile. Was very busy and the surf not really good for catching waves (to many dumpers) so just laid under the umbrella and slept. Thought about visiting friends in Manly on the way home, but seemed like to much of an effort so just went home and crashed out while watching TV.
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Monday 23 - Friday 27 February 1998 | |||||||
| What a lazy week. Didn't do anything much at all. Played soccer after work on Wednesday as usual, but that was really it on the evening activities. This was probably to do with Kim starting a second locum position at Balmain for the other 3 days in her week (she was already working Wednesday & Thursday at Westmead). On Friday night Kim came up to Berry Street Tavern to have a few drinks with my workmates and I. Played pool for a while before people started to disappear (this was meant to be a quiet after work drink up). We ended up leaving around 9:30 I think, just as the place started to get a few night time drinkers in (it's open 'til 4:30am at the weekend). | |||||||
Saturday 28 February 1998 | |||||||
| After the wonderful weather of the week, woke up to very dull day. Kim decided she had to go over and see her mum and do some stuff at her place. I couldn't be bothered so stayed home and finished doing the laundry (we started before she left), watched TV, surfed the net a bit and generally lazed about. We don't actually have a machine in the flat, but there is a shared laundry in the block. This is cool, as it's pretty cheap ($1.20 a load) and when no-one else is using it (like too early on a Saturday morning) you can do three loads at once. Later on we went over to Circular Quay on the ferry on route to the Opera House. I bought some tickets to a David Helfgott concert earlier in the month from someone at work who would no longer be able to make it. Took in a few tunes from the Symphony Orchestra, before hearing a few from Helfgott himself. In case you don't know, Helfgott is the guy who's featured in the film 'Shine'. He played the piece which was also featured (Rachmaninov's piano concerto #3) and was supposed to have driven him nutty in the first place. And I can tell you - he still looks to have a few screws loose! Although he can also play the piano pretty well (obviously). The SMH critic didn't really like the performance, but I thought it was OK - although I think we could have done without the occasional singing along ('Laaaa, la, laa' came out a few times) - I told you he was a nutter! After the concert we wondered over the ANA hotel to visit Horizons cocktail lounge. This is on the 36th floor of the hotel and apparently has great views. I say apparently, as it was a bit busy so we weren't let in to check it out ourselves. As we'd been to the concert, we were a little over dressed for your average bar down in The Rocks, so went home and ordered a very nice Malaysian take out instead. | |||||||
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