PhilipOMeara

Thursday March 22nd Had a very leisurely get-up and then pottered around Sydney all day. I'll spare you the details, but I bought some souvenirs for my housemates, saw this and that and just generally pottered. It was freezing cold, a chilly 21 degrees. When I got back I suggested to Jim and Em that they go out for the evening together and take advantage of my presence here. They did just that, and Jack and Flossie must've detected something of the sort as they would not go to bed. We had lovely big prawns courtesy of Masterchef Australia (Jim's friend Andy worked on the programme) with chips. Nom nom nom. At about 10pm Jack started crying and I went up to see what the problem was. He was scared of a monster, and I'm pretty ... read more

I know, these titles are getting crapper. Monday 19th March Back in Sydders I decided to go-a-wonderin'. I got to Sydney Museum and have to say, not as good as Melbourne. It's like they looked at Melbourne and said "let's do a crapper version", or Melbourne looked at Sydney and said "let's do a better version". Anyway, spent a couple of hours there, looking at dinosaurs and interactive digital features that don't work before stopping out to Hyde Park which, unlike its namesake in London, is TINY. This always surprises me given the size of Australia generally that their cities and parks therein are much smaller! I also popped to St. Mary's cathedral - catholic-tastic and strangely had a sideways Jesus lying under the altar. He was post crucifixion but nevertheless seemed to be pretty chilled ... read more

Byron Bay. A beach, some clubs, pubs, shops and hostels, and only beautiful people (except for the Brits, of course). I checked into the Hostel with the typically a-bit-too-cheery staff. “Oh no” I thought. Wisely booked into a mixed dorm which normally has a majority of girls in, strangely. Much better as they smell less. 10 beds, 8 girls – a good smell to non-smell ratio. For some reason the place was awash with Swedish, then Germans (although Germans are ALWAYS EVERYWHERE YOU GO, god bless’em), then Yankees, Canadians, Brits, Dutch, Danes, the occasional French or Italian (though rare). But I’ve said it before and I’ll do so again – it’s brilliant to be a native English speaker cos den THEY have to speak MY language and I can be all lazy and stoopid with no ... read more

Sunday 4th March Jim and I looked after the kids while Em had a monster lie-in. When we got back Star Wars Episode I was put on, which I'm still bitter about (not that it was put on, but that it exists). After we had elected characters (I suggested I was luke skywalker and Jack reacted disproportionately tantram-like) I played Star Wars with Jack (this means picking up plastic power tools and attacking each other). Killing is Jack's thing these days, and he said, in an educational way that one might say "when we take something we say 'thank you'" except he said "when we kill we do it like this." Then slashed a power tool through the air. Killing is fun at that age, ain't it? He also has learned to temper outrageous demands by ... read more

I know, I know, it's not south east Asia, but it's still foreign! I went for a long weekend (4 days) with my friend and flatmate (we don't have a single word for this in English, unlike in German when they just tack words together. This would no doubt be friendflatmate. In English we have to make do with spoonerisms. In this case "friendmate" doesn't work because that's tortology, and Bex wouldn't appreciate "flatfriend") Becka, to visit Ed Perugia (aka EJP), friend and former housemate, in his new residence in the stadt of Dusseldorf. Day 1 The last time I went on a plane with Becka, on the way there she had a big freaking out session and we had to spend the whole trip with her asking, with panic in voice "why have the engines ... read more